Star Wars Episodes VIII Gets A Director

Even though Star Wars: Episode VII is only a few weeks into production, Disney has moved ahead with hiring the director of Episode VIII and it is not JJ Abrams. Instead they hired Rian Johnson (Looper). The director will begin work on the script soon. Disney has indicated they hope to get the next trilogy out in an every other year fashion and I guess this move allows them to stick to that schedule as right around the time Ep 7 finishes post-production, chances are Ep 8 almost be complete with its pre-production and on verge of starting filming.

Abrams Posts Response to Set Leaks

While JJ Abrams' desire to keep movie secrets borders on obsession, he does still have his sense of humor. In a letter that he tweet via the Bad Robot twitter account, the Star Wars Episode VII director wrote a letter about the recent set leaks that included a Millennium Falcon set. Probably safe to assume part of the set will be the holographic chessboard that the letter is on. In case can't see the pic it says:

I wish people would stop leaking photos from Episode VII and making ridiculous claims that the Millennium Falcon is in the movie.

JJ

TMZ Star Wars 7 Set Pics with the Millennium Falcon

TMZ was able to sneak on the Abu Dhabi set of Star Wars: Episode VII and take a bunch of pictures. The most significant find is it turns out they are building the Millennium Falcon set and it looks like they are going 1:1 scale for it. Sadly most are screwed up by their oversized watermark (cause still 2005 to them apparently), but regardless you get a look at what appears to be a Tatooine location that has a lived in look that has been around awhile along with (at least judging by the giant creature and Falcon) are going for practical special effects rather than CGI whenever possible. All their set pics can be view here and here.

Two More Join Star Wars: Episode VII Cast

Today Lucasfilm has announced that Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years A Slave) and Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. The pair will join the core cast on the film bringing up the female cast to four. What the roles are was not specified.