Star Wars: Episode VII Might Return To Hoth
This article is more than 2 years old
Look out for Wampas and Tauntauns! After two years of rumors and speculation, Star Wars: Episode VII will finally go into production at Pinewood Studios in London, England this May. While Disney and Lucasfilm still haven’t even announced who’s actually in the movie, one new report suggests Episode VII might return to a very familiar — and chilly — planet.
According to the U.K.’s Metro, Lucasfilm is taking its production of Episode VII to Iceland. It’s speculated that the Iceland shoot won’t involve the film’s leads, but rather the production team, most likely second unit there to shoot mainly landscape “plate shots” that would be used for scenery and transitions. This led some to surmise that some of the film’s story might take place on the ice planet Hoth.
The Star Wars saga hasn’t returned to Hoth since The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The frozen world was home to the Rebel Alliance’s Echo Base, which was mostly destroyed in Episode V. The Rebels relocated to Echo Base after they evacuated Yavin IV after A New Hope. Considering that Episode VII will take place 30 years after Return of the Jedi, there’s no telling who — or what — might be lurking on Hoth.
It certainly won’t surprising if Episode VII makes some return trips to familiar planets. In The Phantom Menace, we returned to Tatooine after a 16-year real-world hiatus. Perhaps Episode VII will revisit Luke’s home world yet again, or perhaps Dagobah or the capital world Coruscant.
While confirmed plot details are scarce, rumor suggests that Episode VII will focus on the next generation of characters, while also involving Luke, Han, Leia, and others from the original trilogy. Lucasfilm still has yet to announce the cast for the film, with only two months until director J.J. Abrams begins production. Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o met with Disney and Lucasfilm for a potential role in the film, while actors Jesse Plemons, John Boyega, Ed Speleers, Matthew James Thomas, and Ray Fisher are all said to be in the running for the film’s lead.
Star Wars: Episode VII will hit theaters everywhere on December 18, 2015.
