Cantina Talk: The Last Jedi's Secrets Are Starting to Leak

March 20, 2019 | Story | No Comments

There's slightly more than a month to go before Star Wars: The Last Jedi makes it to the multiplex, and Disney is reportedly already leaning on theater owners to toe the line in order to be able to show the movie. Does the studio's strict set of guidelines mean they know they've got a masterpiece on their hands? Or is it just a quest for box office domination? While you ponder those important questions, here's what else has been happening in the galaxy far, far away … but be warned, there are at least two potential spoilers ahead for those who seek to avoid such things.

Han Solo Is a New Man—Well, 80 Percent of Him Is, At Least

Source: Internet rumormongering

Probability of Accuracy: The odds are worryingly good.

The Real Deal: So, it turns out the reshoots on Solo: A Star Wars Story might have been just a little more extensive than people thought. Like, a lot more. According to a report on ScreenRant, citing the latest episode of The Resistance Broadcast, new director Ron Howard reshot around 80 percent of the movie after he was brought on board, a process that reportedly almost doubled the budget. That's the kind of reshoot that makes the last-minute Rogue One reshoots look like less of a big deal. Of course, Lucasfilm hasn't commented on this rumor, nor is the studio likely to, so perhaps this should merely be filed under "Who can ever tell?"—but, given the time the reshoots took, it's far from impossible. What is it about these Star Wars Story movies, anyway?

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Luke Skywalker Almost Didn't Appear In The Force Awakens

Source: The Last Jedi himself

Probability of Accuracy: As on-target as Luke's Death Star killshot.

The Real Deal: Did you know Luke Skywalker almost didn't appear in The Force Awakens? It's true; Mark Hamill said so himself. That's not to say that Lucasfilm didn't want Skywalker in the movies. Instead, Hamill wasn't sure he wanted to reprise his role. "I thought, why mess with it? The idea of catching lightning in a bottle twice was ridiculously remote," he told The New York Times. Nervous that audiences didn't really want to be disappointed by the sight of older versions of their heroes, he felt convinced that he wouldn't have to say no to J.J. Abrams because there was almost certainly no way Harrison Ford would return as Han Solo … and then he did, forcing Hamill's hand. "Can you imagine if I was the only one to say no? I'd be the most hated man in nerd-dom," the actor said. So, now you know: Harrison Ford is the man who saved Star Wars. Who'd've thought it?

Did Kylo Ren Just Spoil The Last Jedi?

Source: Adam Driver, either accidentally or dropping an amazing tease

Probability of Accuracy: Is this some Sith-inspired misdirection?

The Real Deal: Just how casual does Adam Driver get during interviews? Apparently pretty loose considering fans are freaking out over some beans the actor spilled in a recent chat with British GQ. (Read on at your own risk; you have been warned.) Talking about the different layers of his character, Driver said, "The person Kylo's pretending to be on the outside is not who he is. He's a vulnerable kid who doesn't know where to put his energy, but when he puts his mask on, suddenly, he's playing a role. J.J. had that idea initially and I think [director] Rian [Johnson] took it to the next level." Pretty straightforward. But then Driver added, "You have, also, the hidden identity of this princess who's hiding who she really is so she can survive and Kylo Ren and her hiding behind these artifices." Is… Is that Rey he's talking about? Technically, it could be Leia, hiding behind her identity as a general, or perhaps a new character, but it definitely sounds like Rey. The question then becomes: Is this really something that Driver could accidentally let slip, or is this some kind of strange misdirect about Rey's parentage? (Also, if she is a princess, who are her parents? Outside of Leia, there aren't any other royals in the series…)

Did a New Poster Just Spoil The Last Jedi?

Source: A piece of artwork, of all things

Probability of Accuracy: Difficult to say, but it seems pretty likely, considering.

The Real Deal: How much faith do you put in a poster to be true to the movie it's advertising? That's a question many fans are pondering after a new international poster for The Last Jedi showed Luke Skywalker with a lightsaber, despite everything else leading up to the movie suggesting he had rejected the Force and the Jedi Order entirely. Will Luke end up having to go back to his old ways for some as-yet-unknown reason during the movie? Or is this a piece of artwork that knows exactly what fans want and isn't above manipulating them to ensure that they buy tickets? All will be revealed in a month and a half.

Why Chewbacca Likes Porgs So Much

Source: The man in charge of making aliens for the galaxy far, far away

Probability of Accuracy: If you can't trust the man who makes decisions about this kind of thing…

The Real Deal: Finally, something about The Last Jedi that isn't a potential spoiler.

By now you probably know that fans are very excited about the porg in the new trailer for The Last Jedi. But what you might not know is that Chewbacca is wild about him too—and with good reason. According to Neal Scanlan—the man in charge of the Creature Workshop for all Star Wars movies—the porgs were designed with Chewie in mind. "That porg [on the Millennium Falcon in the trailer] in particular shows some very Wookiee traits in the way he’s colored," he told Empire. "His patterning is very similar to Chewie’s." Scanlan also revealed that the Caretakers of the Jedi Temple on Ahch-To are related in some way to the porgs, and that the crystalline foxes briefly glimpsed in the latest trailer are a product of their environment. "The theory is they’ve fed off this planet for so long that their fur has become crystalline," Scanlan suggested. "They’ve taken on the very surface of the planet they live on." Pretty cool, huh?