Skellig Michael, the World Heritage island off southwest Ireland is reportedly a shooting location for Episode VII, according to local news site Kerry’s Eye:
The Office of Public Works (OPW) confirmed to Kerry’s Eye this week that “Skellig Michael is being made available for a film production shoot on the island… this production is being fully supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Irish Film Board”.
The island is certainly quite picturesque, and there have been rumblings about Ireland before. Head below the cut for a locator map.
Rumor: Marvel making a Princess Leia comic? Bleeding Cool seems to think so, and that it will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con. (But: Third title? What are the other two?)
Badass Digest‘s Devin Faraci has even more on what he’s heard about Episode VII, namely why he believes that Gwendoline Christie’s role was gender-swapped – and may actually be the same role that Benedict Cumberbatch was in talks (or ‘in talks’) for.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that Christie’s character was gender-swapped, and I’m still not convinced it was due to the casting uproar, or if it was Geena Davis or something else in play. But if there’s any nugget of truth in this, I’m glad – in part because I am so, so sick of hearing about Cumberbatch.
Devin Faraci at Badass Digest claims to know the plot of the film. He keeps some details vague, but there is a basic outline that mirrors A New Hope in a few ways.
It does fit in with a few things we’ve heard, like the involvement of Han Solo in a search for Luke Skywalker, and at least one thing we know: Daisy Ridley and John Boyega on a desert planet. But it also raises a few, let’s say sciencey, questions.
Is it plausible? In a galaxy where we have things like sound in space, sure. I guess. Could it be true? No idea. As always, I’m skeptical, but it’s an interesting nugget to hold onto regardless, even if we end up laughing about it in the future.
UPDATE: Faraci follows up with a few more details – including some things we’ve also heard elsewhere about Boyega’s character.
A few more nuggets from Faraci – possible spoilers, etc. – below the cut:
→ Friday means Da7e Gonzales’s Star Wars column at Latino Review, and today he unpacks a few things going on this week. No, we haven’t heard the last of Karen Gillan’s wig. Although she’s using it on her TV show now, it was on the Star Wars set at some point. Still no guarantee of anything, Mara fans. Love, your self-declared Cynic-in-Chief.
Also, people are assuming the Puzzlewood set could be Endor? A different part of Endor would make slightly more sense than Yavin IV, I guess. But I’m still inclined to think that if Puzzlewood is anything, it’s a brand new planet.
But on the plus side, he does smack down on those folks claiming that the ‘outrage’ over the initial casting was a bad thing. (For the record: Still not sorry.)
Of course, the real rumor buried here is this:
I’ve heard that Disney’s Team Star Wars has spun up development on a project involving the history of the Sith that pulls from elements found previously in Knights of the Old Republic and the Golden Age of the Sith parts of the “Tales of the Jedi” comics series.
Naturally, if you buy it, this could be for just about anything (even Episode VII if you believe the whole Jedi Hunter rumor) but that’s still a popular period among EU fans, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it utilized for something.
→ Meanwhile, Making Star Wars is speculating again, this time about a recently revealed Rebels character (not the Inquisitor) and how he may tie into some things we’ve ‘heard’ about Episode VII.
Latino Review claims that Christina Chong has joined the cast of Episode VII. UPDATE: Variety joins in, saying her role in a minor one, while The Wrap says she’s already finished filming.
Chong can be seen in 24: Live Another Day. Genre fans may recall her in a pivotal 2011 episode of Doctor Who, though: She played Lorna Bucket in ‘A Good Man Goes to War.’
Today, Latino Review’s Da7e Gonzales claims that there’s indeed a struggle behind the scenes to push Episode VII back to May 2016, with JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy on one side and Disney’s Bob Iger on the other. (As we’ve heard before – but from LR, so.) Their bargaining tool? Harrison Ford’s leg, which I think has more press than rest of the cast combined at this point.
Of course we know Lucasfilm is still sticking to December 18, 2015 – but then, they would be. That is the release date – at the moment, anyway.
There are a thousand other considerations when a huge corporation like Disney is involved, but from the fan end, would any of us really object to May, if it comes to pass? I’d certainly prefer it, but the movie’s release date was never going to be my hill to die on.
In any case, this paragraph in particular makes the upmost sense to me:
The franchise and it’s spinoff films will likely be big no matter what, but the value of owning Star Wars is owning the bottomless well of potential money and that means plugging into nostalgia. Star Wars as a franchise can’t pull a Rise/Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and drastically change tones, Star Wars can’t reboot. Star Wars is continuous. Kathleen Kennedy cannot have an Episode VII that botches the handoff between Star Was and Star Is.
Star Wars may not really need to be ‘fixed’ after the prequels – I’m not even a big prequel fan and I think it’s silly to say the franchise was ‘broken’ by them – but there is a perception issue in the mainstream. The mainstream thought the prequels were bad. We can argue about whether that’s been softening until the cows come home, but the fact remains that the perception is there and it’s still plenty powerful. It still, to this day, colors how many people see Star Wars.
Kennedy needs to usher Star Wars into something that can last for Disney. She knows they can’t afford to stick the landing by releasing a rushed, subpar Episode VII with the future of the franchise hanging in the balance.
Episode VII will make Disney millions, maybe billons, not matter when it’s released or how good (or bad) it is. No matter what movie it opens against. But if Star Wars is going to last beyond a third trilogy, it’s going to need some careful cultivation. There are a whole lot of people to convince, and most of them aren’t those of us who follow every drip and drabble of news, or who know that just using the terms ‘bad’ and ‘prequels’ in the same sentence will lead to a tedious debate in certain company. Lucasfilm and Disney both need the mainstream, and they need to convince them that Star Wars is, and can be, ‘good’ again.
Of course, this story of an internal struggle and using an old man’s innocent leg as a bargaining chip is only a rumor, and none of this may pan out in any way; You know the drill. And even if it is true, plenty of great films have come from crazier turmoil than this. We simply won’t know until the movie actually comes out – whenever that ends up being.
UPDATE: Moffat’s wife and Sherlock co-producer Sue Vertue has denied the rumor, saying that it’s “news to him!” Original report below:
So. Jedi News reports of rumblings that Doctor Who and Sherlock showrunner Steven Moffat has been offered a Star Wars film. They’re not sure if this is an Episode or standalone, but I’d guess at the latter.
Moffat is… highly controversial to say the least, particularly among female fans. But I do love his early Who (his/Matt Smith’s first full season is what hooked me on the show) and fairy-tale focus. Conflict! Of course, it’s just a rumor.
Rumor: Is Episode VII filming in Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean? The news crew seems convinced, but in all fairness, it could be any number of things – and Star Wars is far from the only big production filming in the U.K. that could make use of a fairy-tale forest, wigs and practice swords.
Here’s a new twist to the Billie Lourd ‘casting’ – The Sun (of course) via the Mirror is now apparently claiming that Carrie Fisher’s daughter be playing the young Princess Leia in flashback scenes, complete with buns.
While I don’t doubt that Lourd and any number of others (The Sun also names J.J. Abrams’ father and father-in-law) will cameo, let’s not forget that British tabloids are the worst.
Skellig Michael, the World Heritage island off southwest Ireland is reportedly a shooting location for Episode VII, according to local news site Kerry’s Eye:
Devin Faraci at 
→ Friday means Da7e Gonzales’s Star Wars column at 
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