Star Wars Casting Call Says Episode IX Starts Shooting This Summer

No trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi? No problem. We’ve got news about Episode IX, a movie that’s still two years away!

As far as I’m concerned, not a lot of substantial information has surfaced regarding Episode VIII. While we saw some awesome merch packaging for The Last Jedi, it’s been oodles of speculation. Recent rumors posit that Rey will lose her arm, but I’m not going to give them any credence at this time.

Most likely, Lucasfilm wants to hold a majority of their information for Star Wars Celebration Orlando. On today’s episode of the Star Wars show, they announced that a special panel will be held on Thursday, April 13 for the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars’ original release. They even teased a special surprise, but that could mean anything.

(I didn’t use to be such a cynical little skeptic, I don’t know what happened.)

Here’s the announcement episode:

But today also brought news from CBR, who picked up a Star Wars Episode IX casting call. According to the listing, production for Episode IX will begin Summer 2017 in London. Obviously, that’s not that far away. More importantly, that means they’ll wrap principal photography for the final entry on the board before either The Last Jedi or the Han Solo movie even releases. After Episode IX, we don’t have a clue what Lucasfilm plans to do with the franchise.

Furthermore, the listing calls for “new lead and supporting roles.” It seems weird that they’re going to add new leads for the final entry, though. Neither Episode III nor Episode VI included any additions that I’d consider a “lead.” (Don’t even say the ewoks.)

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Regardless, it seems a little early to get the ball rolling on a movie that hits theaters in 2019. Though, I just hope they plan to return to their December release schedule.