Mike Audette reports on Episode VIII news, John Boyega award, New York Toy Fair and BoShek!
By Mike Audette // THIS IS NOT A DRILL. EPISODE VIII HAS STARTED FILMING. I REPEAT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!
That is right. Star Wars Episode VIII started officially filming yesterday, Monday February 15th. The announcement came in a press release from Lucasfilm starting with
“Rey took her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will continue her epic journey with Finn, Poe, and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the continuing Star Wars saga, Star Wars: Episode VIII, which began principal photography at Pinewood Studios in London on February 15, 2016.”
With the release they also listed out the returning cast members, omitting Harrison Ford, and announcing three newcomers coming for the film. Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and Kelly Marie Tran have joined the cast. These three new cast members are absolutely wonderful additions to the already diverse cast. And why wouldn’t they be? The Star Wars galaxy is as wide and diverse as it is “far, far away” so it only makes sense to have their cast be as diverse as possible.
The release also featured a video depicting the final scene of The Force Awakens, with Rey reaching out to Luke to give him back his old lightsaber. It also shows director Rian Johnson and a boatload of crew members on Skellig Michael in the process of filming the shot. The speculation of what this means has already begun. I’ll leave that to everyone else, I prefer to take things as they come.
A day before the announcement, one of The Force Awakens breakout stars won the EE Rising Star award at the BAFTA’s Sunday night. John Boyega, coming off an incredible performance as stormtrooper-turned-hero Finn beat out other nominees such as Brie Larsen and Dakota Johnson. Based off of John’s performances to this point in his career, and what can be expected from him in the future, this award is absolutely deserved. If you follow John on any social media platforms such as Twitter or Snapchat, you undoubtedly know just how much charisma and star power he has. In the words of Palpatine, “we will follow your career with great interest!”
Over the weekend was New York Toy Fair and Star Wars product announcements were a plenty. From new Black Series figures such as Princess Leia from A New Hope and a The Force Awakens C-3PO to new 3.75″ figures for Star Wars Rebels season two featuring Darth Maul, the Seventh Sister, new paint-job Sabine, and Princess Leia. Earlier on in the week it was revealed that Maz Kanata would finally be getting her own 3.75″ figure, but it was announced at Toy Fair that she will be included in a “Takodona Encounter” playset that also features Rey, Finn, and BB-8.
Probably the biggest news that came out of Toy Fair was that Rogue One will be getting it’s own Force Friday just as The Force Awakens did this past fall. September 30th will be the date for the Rogue One Force Friday but beyond that we don’t know much else for details on what will be part of the event. Last year brought the release of action figures, clothing, literature and numerous other things for Force Friday and it’s probably safe to say that it will end up being much of the same for Rogue One. I am not a big toy collector, so it’s always the literature announcements that get me jazzed up. Last year it was in early March that the “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” publishing program was revealed, so can the same be expected for this year? It’s only a few weeks away so there’s time to figure it out.
Lastly, this week brought the answer to one of the most-wanted unknown questions from all the back to 1977. Who was BoShek? Well as it appears, Billy Jensen has cracked the case. Billy is an investigative journalist located in New York City and is most known for his work of solving cold cases, and this was certainly the most high-profile cold case in Star Wars. Working online and conversing with prop and set designer Tom Spina, Billy went through a wild chase of online databases, ancestry searches, and contacting numerous people in Britain. After all the work he was able to track down “Mr Frances, Alfred, Basil Tomlin’s” grandson and then daughter and confirmed through him that he was indeed BoShek. You can read the full story here!
