Star Wars: Episode VII Officially Starts Filming

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Star Wars: Episode VIIYesterday cameras officially started rolling on J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII. The action began at Pinewood Studios in London, England, and to commemorate the occasion, there are now a couple of pictures from the location. They’re not the most exciting things in the world, but that’s not really the news, the news is that PRODUCTION HAS FINALLY STARTED ON EPISODE VII!

This is the day we’ve been waiting for since October 30, 2012, when it came out that Disney bought Lucasfilm from George Lucas for billions and billions of dollars. That was when they first dropped the bomb that there were more Star Wars films on the way, and since that day, we’ve all been obsessed with every last casting rumor, potential plot detail, or possible location. While that’s been fun, it’s nice to know they were planning to make an actual movie at some point.

Recently we finally got official word on the cast, or at least the bulk of it. Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill will reprise their roles as Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker from the original trilogy. Other returning cast members include Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), and Kenny Baker (R2-D2). In addition to these familiar faces, we’ll get to know John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow in new and different ways.

The first photo came along yesterday with a tweet from Bad Robot’s official account along with the hash tag #dayone. A clipboard with some random scribbling, Abrams’ name, and a classic looking Star Wars logo, it’s hard not to get at least a little bit excited looking at this.

Star Wars: Episode VIIPicture number two appeared this morning on the official Star Wars Facebook page. A shot of the exterior of Pinewood Studios, it doesn’t show much, but there is a big VII logo beneath the studio logo. And then there’s that “now filming” bit below that. Again, that’s the piece that sends shivers up your spine. We don’t know what Episode VII is going to look like, and we’re reasonably gun-shy after the Episodes I-III debacle, but still, it’s hard not to be hopeful as they start production on the new movie.

As we move along, we’re finding out little bits and pieces of what the plot will entail. The story is set more than 30 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, which is all we really know concretely. We also know that they will be filming in Abu Dhabi, which many of us assume means that Tatooine will appear in the film. The latest rumor we heard was that Driver will play Han and Leia’s son who is seduced by the Dark Side, possibly by Von Sydow’s character, and the bulk of the story will revolve around trying to rescue the boy. If this is the case it lends credence to the reports that Han Solo plays a major role and is considered a co-lead.

We’ll probably hear more before Star Wars: Episode VII opens in theaters on December 15, 2015, but Abrams is the one who so steadfastly insisted that Khan wasn’t the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness, so we’ll have to wait and see.

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