‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ Begins Principal Filming In Abu Dhabi Today. Here’s What We Know.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard about this, but some guy named J.J. Abrams is making sequels to that delightful trilogy about galactic political procedures. Abrams’ first film will be Star Wars: Episode VII, which is weird because the last one they made was Episode III. I guess at some point in the future they’re planning to go back and fill in the gap between the third and seventh films. That’s good, because we never found out what happened to that lovable scamp, Jar Jar. I bet he became a powerful Jedi, and gave those Sith Lords a good thrashing.

In the meantime, we’ve got some details about the latest film, which currently has the second unit filming in Abu Dhabi. Word has it that the remote area of the desert they’re filming in is being patrolled by the police and the army, so additional set photos are unlikely to be leaked. That’s too bad, because the last set photos revealed so much. Luckily, the folks over at The National say they have some idea of what’s been going on out there. They claim that first unit filming begins May 13 (THAT’S TODAY!), and that some “unnamed, members of the cast are already here and have been out in the dunes practicing driving the vehicles they’ll be using when filming begins.” Wait, what about these vehicles?

Our sources also report that the sets are getting closer to completion, with a “whole world” having been built on an otherworldly salt lake at one location, a “shuttle-like” spacecraft, a large tower, a “big, centuries-old-looking market”, something the crew are reportedly referring to as the “alien house” and 10 to 15 “really fast buggies” powered by jet engines (landspeeders of Tatooine fame from the previous films, perhaps?)

We have also been told that two lorries of explosives have been brought to one of the sites under high security and that a blast crater has been created. So, it looks like the action in Abu Dhabi could be set to feature a major battle or spacecraft crash of some description.

While we’re on the subject of Episode VII, Jedi News has a rumor on Adam Driver‘s character:

Sounds like Adam Driver is NOT going to play a villain… sort of.

He will be playing the son of Han and Leia, and it seems he will be seduced to the Dark Side, and a main plot point of the movie will be their attempt to rescue him.

That rumor has been going around for a while, but it’s the first I’ve heard of it since Lucasfilm gave the Expanded Universe the axe. However, they did say that creators could still use material from the EU, so it’s plausible. It definitely supports the news that Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan rewrote the script to have the cast of the original trilogy “pass the torch” to the younger stars for the remainder of the films. That could mean that Daisy Ridley or the yet-to-be-announced female lead will play Driver’s sister, who will fight to bring him back from the Dark Side in the remainder of the films.

Unless Abrams throws in a twist ending, and has Han and Leia successfully rescue Driver, and they all fly home on the Millennium Falcon leaving a trail of rainbows behind them.

Via Screenrant

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