Hearing that a movie is going to do some reshoots can be scary news, but thankfully Disney and Lucasfilm aren’t making last-second changes to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The filming that is set to take place in Ireland this month are for the next movie.
It was first thought that J.J. Abrams was going to head back to Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of Ireland, this month to film more scenes for The Force Awakens. However, Lucasfilm later confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that this wasn’t true. Instead, the filming is for Episode VIII, which will be directed by Rian Johnson and isn’t coming out until 2017.
Lucasfilm was hoping to keep filming low-key by continuing to film under the title Star Wars without making it clear that they are making a new film.
News that Star Wars filming was going to resume on the Irish island broke because Heather Humphries, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and The Gaeltacht, approved the production this week, reports RTE.ie. She insisted that the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the National Monuments Service will be on the scene to monitor filming to make sure that none of the archaeological sites and wildlife habitats are disturbed.
Abrams also filmed in the island, which is a UNESCO Heritage Site, last year for The Force Awakens. Sources told EW that Abrams did do reshoots for The Force Awakens this summer, but they were done in Southern California.
The Force Awakens opens on Dec. 18 and Episode VIII won’t open until May 2017.
screenshot from Star Wars YouTube video