‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Wraps Principal Photography
Per Deadline, JJ Abrams announced via Twitter that principal photography on Star Wars: Episode IX wrapped up today, February 15.
The core three players in this trilogy, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Issac, are seen hugging each other in a desert setting — possibly Jakku or Tatooine in the film — during the last day of filming.
Besides the core group, the cast also includes a returning Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Anthony Daniels as C3PO, and Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian.
Other returning actors include Adam Driver, Kelly Marie Tran, Lupita Nyong’o, and Domhnall Gleeson.
Sadly, the character of Chewbacca won’t be played by Peter Mayhew, the 7-foot-2-inch actor underwent spinal surgery to improve his mobility. Instead, the role will go to his stunt double, Joonas Suotamo, who was personally trained by Mayhew before the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Carrie Fisher passed away before the filming began on Episode IX, but with clever editing and unused footage of Episode VII and VIII, the studio will recreate her role.
Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, promised not to “digitally revive” her as the studio did with actor Peter Cushing’s likeness in Rogue One.
John Williams will also return to score the film, having worked on 10 Star Wars movies so far.
It feels impossible, but today wrapped photography on Episode IX. There is no adequate way to thank this truly magical crew and cast. I’m forever indebted to you all. pic.twitter.com/138AprtFuZ
— JJ Abrams (@jjabrams) February 15, 2019
The movie will be the last one to revolve around the Skywalker family, the protagonists of George Lucas’ original and prequel trilogies, as well as the Clone Wars movie and TV show.
This may signal a sour end for the last Skywalker in the fictional bloodline: Ben Solo, also known as Kylo Ren, played Adam Driver.
Ben Solo’s turn to the dark side has been central to the plot of the past two films, initially, it mimicked the story of his grandfather, Darth Vader, but soon took an unexpected turn in the eighth episode, The Last Jedi.
It is unknown if he would follow his grandfather’s footsteps and redeem himself with self-sacrifice, or if the story will take yet another sudden twist.
The Last Jedi created a divide in the massive Star Wars fandom, and in the internet film community. There are only two camps, hate it or love it, and those who neither hated nor loved it are eventually dragged kicking and screaming into a particular side.
There’s probably not a better illustration of the divide than The Last Jedi’s Rotten Tomatoes score. It currently holds a 91 percent critics score against a 45 percent audience score.
It’s not unusual for blockbusters to have dissenting critic and audience scores, but it is unusual for the audience to hate a blockbuster more than the movie critics.
It is unknown at this point what the title of the last Skywalker movie will be, though “The Last Skywalker” has a certain melodramatic ring to it.
