‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Director Explains The New Planet Seen In The Trailer

Star Wars: The Last Jedi recently released its first teaser trailer. When digging into Easter eggs from the trailer, we wondered what planet that AT-AT battle was talking place on. It’s a unique setting — likely filmed at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah — where the speeders’ stabilizers kick up blood red dirt just under the salty surface:

It’s a scene reminiscent of the battle on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, and this isn’t the first time The Last Jedi has been compared to Empire Strikes Back.

Now director Rian Johnson has revealed to Entertainment Weekly the name of the planet and more. It’s called Crait, and Johnson says it’s the location of “an old rebel base there that’s now abandoned” and “ends up playing a key role in the movie.”

“It’s way out there. It’s very remote. It’s uncharted,” says Johnson. “It’s a mineral planet and so there are mines on it.”

[…] But what is the significance of the red surface that’s kicked up by the fighters? Red is the symbol of blood in basic human nature — but blood can stand for violence or family. Maybe both, in some cases.

Johnson nods at this. “Go ahead and run with that,” he says.

Johnson also said the Resistance pilots seen flying the speeders “have to deal with a very pressing and immediate threat.”

Is the threat that Poe Dameron’s X-Wing is about to get blown up again? Because everybody needs to stop blowing up Poe’s X-Wing. He’s running out of X-Wings. This is ridiculous.

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Star Wars: Go Ahead And Run With That opens December 15th.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)