rian johnson

If all you Star Wars fans are still alive out there, congrats for surviving one of the most exciting Fridays in ages! The cast of Star Wars: The Last Jedi showed up at Star Wars Celebration Orlando this afternoon and unloaded a galaxy full of exciting reveals.

Finally, the wait is over and the very first footage of Star Wars: The Last Jedi has arrived! If you haven’t already passed out or exploded into tiny specs of dust, congrats!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in theaters in just about eight months, and we still haven’t gotten a trailer for the eighth movie in the saga from a galaxy far, far away. Presumably, that all changes today at Star Wars Celebration, where The Last Jedi will be teased with a gala panel full of guests, surprises, and (we assume [we hope (we pray)]) some footage.

If you thought things around Star Wars would get less secretive now that the notoriously unforthcoming J.J. Abrams wasn’t directing things, think again. Even knowing what we know about Star Wars: The Last Jedi based on the events of Abrams’ The Force Awakens, there might be even more uncertainly around Rian Johnson’s eighth episode in the Star Wars saga.

Over the years, the Star Wars movies have gradually matured. We saw a shift from the original trilogy in how Darth Vader was personified — first a faceless villain, then a tragic former father — and then the prequels took us back to see the bad guy’s fall from grace. With this new trilogy, we’re given a new masked villain with a red lightsaber at the head of an evil organization, but Kylo Ren seems like the least bad of all the Star Wars villains, or, at least the one for whom you most want a redemption arc. There’s a reason for that.

Okay, relax, it’s not what you think. The Force Awakens is still one of the most successful movies in box office history. The criticism, when there was any, shared a similar theme: it was way too similar to the very first Star Wars movie A New Hope. There’s even a shot-by-shot comparison video that details every location and scene the sequel borrowed from the original. A lot of people figured this was the fault of the studio, Disney wanting to play it safe rather than give J.J. Abrams his head so he could take the franchise in a new direction. And it’s true, there are so many callbacks to the original in The Force Awakens that at some point you just want to throw your hands up and yell “OKAY! We get it! This is a Star Wars movie!” Today, Adam Driver raised some eyebrows while talking about Episode 8 by drawing a comparison to The Empire Strikes Back, but not in the way you think.

The Force Awakens was a pretty epic return to the world of Star Wars, and it’ll be interesting to see how Rian Johnson follows it up with Episode VIII. We’ve seen a few set photos (though nothing particularly revealing), but with the sequel not hitting theaters until December 2017, it’s going to be quite a while before we see anything substantial. While John Boyega isn’t at liberty to say too much about Episode VIII, he does offer a couple of pieces of info that should help you manage your expectations.

Okay, before you get too excited, you should know that while these are most definitely new photos from the set of Star Wars: Episode 8, they don’t reveal anything mind-blowing. They’re just a couple of great photos shared by Rian Johnson, featuring a familiar piece of aircraft, a console and a mysterious First Order operative. The director released the photos to celebrate the halfway point in production, which means we’re that much closer to learning more about the upcoming sequel.

Lucasfilm released an announcement video a couple of weeks ago to kick off production on Star Wars: Episode VIII, showing just a tiny glimpse of footage that made it look as if Rian Johnson was picking up where J.J. Abrams left off. If you had any doubts that Episode VIII would begin where The Force Awakens ends, Daisy Ridley has confirmed that this is definitely the case — and that Luke Skywalker will have much more to do this time around.

Much has been made of the diversity in the new era of Star Wars, with J.J. Abrams smartly casting the franchise’s first black and female leading characters in John Boyega’s Finn and Daisy Ridley’s Rey. They weren’t the only diverse part of The Force Awakens, which boasted a noticeably varied assortment of genders and ethnicities in its supporting and extras casting, but many fans are still wondering when — or if — we might see an openly gay character in the newly inclusive franchise. According to J.J. Abrams, it will happen, and soon.

Not too long ago, there was a rumor going around that Rian Johnson had a secret production codename for Star Wars: Episode VIII — a totally believable rumor, given that most major films shoot under secret titles and the practice is fairly common. Episode VIII’s codename is secret no more, as Carrie Fisher (and her insanely adorable dog, Gary Fisher) has revealed the sequel’s production title, and, like most codenames, it’s one you never would have guessed.

Good morning, happy Monday. Have you settled in at work, shaken the snow off your boots, maybe had a cup of coffee? Good, now hold onto your goddamn hat, because Star Wars is happening again.