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‘Star Wars’ News: ‘Episode VIII’ Release Date, Spinoff Title Announced

By Patricia Didelot
Published on: 05:57 PST, Mar 12, 2015

News is breaking that an official release date for Star Wars: Episode VIII has been announced and Rian Johnson is confirmed as the film’s director.

Johnson is set to write and direct the eighth installment in the saga created by George Lucas and will follow the events we are yet to see develop in the hugely anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens, coming out on December 18. J.J. Abrams is at the helm of the awaited movie, which will tell us what happens with the beloved characters of the original trilogy.

Additional news regarding Star Wars indicate the Gareth Edwards standalone film is officially called Rogue One and stars Felicity Jones, multiple entertainment outlets are reporting at this time. The announcements were made at the annual shareholder’s meeting in San Francisco.

Rogue One will begin filming in London this summer and has an opening date of December 16, 2016. The plot for the Star Wars standalone is based on an idea by Oscar-winning VFX supervisor John Knoll and was written by Cinderella’s Chris Weitz, according to Variety.

As with The Force Awakens, plot details have not been revealed. However, rumors from insiders suggests that the spinoffs could center on the early days of the original characters, Princess Leia and Han Solo. Director Josh Trank (Chronicle) is developing a separate Star Wars film.

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens we will get to see older versions of the original characters Lucas brought to life in the ’70s and ’80s trilogy. Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) will return to reprise the roles that launched their careers into stardom.

As far as Rian Johnson’s spinoff, Rogue One, the studio has confirmed it will hit theaters May 26, 2017, almost 40-years to the date of A New Hope’s release.

To say that fans are excited about all the Star Wars news would be the understatement of the century. This is reflected by the instant interest on social media sites such as Twitter, following the announcements.

Are you excited about all the Star Wars news?

[Image via Latino Review/Twitter]

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