'Star Wars: Episode VIII' now filming, Benicio del Toro officially confirmed

Hold on to your hover bikes, Star Wars fans: The new Star Wars movie is officially in progress, and it has Benicio del Toro in it.

According to the official Star Wars site, the filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII began on Monday. Besides del Toro, the cast includes two other new names: Oscar nominee Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran, best known for a few little-known indie movies, including The Rising Cost of Cosmetics and Untouchable.

Del Toro has been rumored to be in the new Star Wars movie since last August, but now it's official. Disney did not reveal anything about the nature of his part in the movie.

Of course, the cast includes a lot of names from Episode VII — Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie and Andy Serkis.

The 30-second announcement trailer (above) reprises the climactic scene of The Force Awakens, in which Rey finally finds Luke on the planet Ahch-To — a.k.a. Skellig Michael off the southern coast of Ireland. Luke looks at Rey, and Rey hands Luke his father's old lightsaber, exactly as seen at the end of the previous movie.

An early scene from "Star Wars: Episode VIII" with Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill.

However, the scene appears to be shot on different film stock, and the close-up of Luke is seen from a different angle. The fact that Episode VIII director Rian Johnson yells "cut" — rather than Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams — suggests the end scene may have already been re-shot and reprised for the beginning of the 2017 film.

Source: mashable.com