By: Dominic Jones
Principle photography on Star Wars Episode IX, the final chapter in the sequel trilogy, begins this week at Pinewood Studios in London. And while the majority of the production will take place in England, the film will likely have several locations shoots as well. One of those real world locations that will be standing in for the galaxy far, far away in the upcoming film is Jordan, according to a new report from Jason Ward over at MakingStarWars.net.
According to Jason, he's heard from several sources who indicated that shooting on the JJ Abrams directed film will take place in Jordan in the not too distant future. Jason writes that,
"Late last week, I had a brief correspondence with a few sources. The
information I received reminded me of the tidbits they gave me from Star Wars: The Last Jedi
as the production went to Dubrovnik a few years back. The
correspondence consisted of “you won’t believe where we are” and with
pictures of a few landmarks in Jordan. The word on the street for a
while was that filming for a few sequences would take place in Turkey
but now I’m thinking Jordan may have won out in the end."
Jordan was the site of several scenes in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, where it stood in for the planet Jedha. It was also considered as a potential location to shoot the Jakku scenes in The Force Awakens, before the production ultimately went to Abu Dhabi to film that material. This is not to say we will be definitively returning to Jedha or Jakku in Episode IX, although both present intriguing story ideas. Going back to Jakku would bring the story full circle for Rey, who began her life there as a scavenger after her parents sold her to Unkar Plutt, and would mirror Luke's return to Tatooine in Return of the Jedi (as if we needed another reason to compare the two planets!). Alternatively, with Rey has been tasked with carrying forward the Jedi legacy, perhaps a visit to a planet with deep ties to the Force (and Kyber crystals) is in store.
Then again, there is also the very real possibility that the scenes shot in Jordan will not be set on Jakku or Jedha, and are for a brand new location we'll be visiting for the first time in Episode IX.
Jason also drops and interesting tidbit regarding a sequence involving Leia Organa that was planned for The Force Awakens, but never seen. According to Jason, "We also had reason to believe that during the production of The Force
Awakens, there was going to be a shot of Leia and Han dropping young Ben
Solo off at Luke’s academy and saying goodbye to Ben Solo for the last
time."
With the revelation that Leia will return in Episode IX by way of unused footage shot for The Force Awakens, any little bit of Leia footage that's available becomes extra intriguing. While it's unknown if this footage was actually shot or not, if it were it could easily be re-purposed as some sort of flashback that Kylo Ren has--especially if he's struggling with his place on the Dark Side.
As always, this is just a rumor until confirmed or denied by Lucasfilm or Disney.
Follow The Star Wars Underworld on Twitter @TheSWU for more updates about this story and other breaking Star Wars news.
0 comments:
Post a Comment