STAR WARS EPISODE XIII (MAY 2017)

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The Star Wars sequel trilogy is the third film trilogy in the American space opera franchise Star Wars, created by George Lucas. It is being produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. The trilogy will consist of episodes VII through IX and follows after Return of the Jedi (1983) in the saga's chronology. Lucas originally planned a sequel trilogy in the mid-1970s, but had abandoned these plans by the late 1990s. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm and announced production of a sequel trilogy.

The first installment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, began pre-production on October 30, 2012 and was released on December 18, 2015 in the U.S., following a special premiere screening in Los Angeles on December 14. The film is directed by J. J. Abrams who cowrote the screenplay with Lawrence Kasdan. Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and other main cast members from the original trilogy returned to reprise their roles and co-star alongside Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac.

Episode VIII is planned to be released on May 26, 2017, with filmmaker Rian Johnson writing and directing it. Johnson is also to write a story treatment for Episode IX, which will be directed by Colin Trevorrow.

On June 20, 2014, Rian Johnson was announced as writer and director of Episode VIII and writer of Episode IX. Kathleen Kennedy, Ram Bergman, Lawrence Kasdan, andSimon Kinberg are the producers and J. J. Abrams is the executive producer. Steve Yedlin is the cinematographer. Johnson confirmed in August 2014 that he would direct Episode VIII. It is scheduled for release on May 26, 2017.

In March 2015, Oscar Isaac confirmed he would reprise his The Force Awakens role of Poe Dameron in Episode VIII. In July 2015, it was reported that Benicio del Torowas being considered for a villain; Del Toro later confirmed that he had been cast. In September 2015, it was reported that Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tatiana Maslany, Gina Rodriguez, Olivia Cooke and Bel Powley are on the shortlist for two separate parts. Jimmy Vee was cast as R2-D2, succeeding Kenny Baker.

Like The Force Awakens, filming for Episode VIII will take place at Pinewood Studios near London. Principal filming is scheduled to begin in January 2016. In September 2015, some pre-production filming took place on the island of Skellig Michael, Ireland to take advantage of better weather conditions. In a November 2015 interview with Wired, Abrams stated that the film's script was completed. In December 2015, Hamill, Isaac, Christie, and Boyega were confirmed to reprise their roles as Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron, Captain Phasma and Finn, respectively. Kennedy announced on December 17, 2015 at the London premiere for The Force Awakens that most of the cast would return for Episode VIII.