One might think that rumors out of the galaxy far, far away would subside once Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters. One would be wrong. Even as director Rian Johnson's film continues to get headlines for its costume choices, box office hauls, and lost scenes, gossip about the future of the franchise was spreading throughout the internet. Just what's going on with the next film coming out of the Star Wars universe? Read on. Many porgs died to bring you this information, because Chewbacca ate them before he learned better.
Was Last Jedi Not Long Enough For You? Get Ready for Some Good News
Source: Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson
Probability of Accuracy: If anyone would know, he would.
The Real Deal: At two and a half hours, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the longest movie in the Star Wars series yet—but the home release is going to make it even longer, with around 20 minutes of deleted scenes being added to the DVD and Blu-ray edition. Writer/director Rian Johnson told Collider what to expect. “There’s an extended sequence with Rey and the caretakers, which are the nun-like fish creatures. That’s actually one of the biggest things that was taken out of the movie,” he said. “And there’s this incursion on Snoke’s ship, I mean there’s a lot of stuff that was cut out of that, with Rose and DJ and Finn, and some of it is particularly fun.” There’s also apparently one more test between Luke and Rey on Ahch-To, as well. Suddenly the wait for the movie’s DVD release (rumored to be late March) seems far, far too long, doesn’t it?
So, About Kylo's High-Waisted Tights…
Source: The Wall Street Journal, of all places
Probability of Accuracy: They did get a high quality still of shirtless Kylo, so there’s no denying that they know what they’re doing.
The Real Deal: Perhaps the most surprising Last Jedi story to appear in recent weeks is this Wall Street Journal piece about the high-waisted tights Kylo wore in that one super-uncomfortable scene of him Force-communicating with Rey. (Don't pretend like you know know exactly which one we're talking about.) For one, it was surprising because it was in the Journal, but also because it focused on how hard Shirtless Buff Kylo Ren was to pull off for cosplayers. The piece even quotes Last Jedi costume designer Michael Kaplan, who said, “The world of Star Wars is not our world… Kylo Ren is not some hipster in hip-hugging jeans. Think Errol Flynn swashbuckling coolness as a point of departure. Hide that navel!” So, now you know. (Also, let’s be honest: Kylo Ren most definitely is some hipster in hip-hugging jeans, even if his wardrobe doesn't reflect it.)
The Last Jedi Underwhelms in China
Source: Box office results
Probability of Accuracy: Numbers don’t lie, although the positioning of the reporting of those numbers might skew your understanding a little.
The Real Deal: Turns out, there was one place where The Last Jedi wasn’t massively successful: China. To the surprise of many fans, the movie under-performed when it opened in the second-largest box office in the world, despite a major promotional push from Disney. Indeed, it didn’t even top the charts in its opening weekend, being beaten by a movie called The Ex-File 3: The Return of the Exes, which… yeah. "The historical performance of Star Wars in China has not been earthshaking," comScore analyst Paul Dergarabedian told CNN. “Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon in the United States and other parts of the world, but in China, the original films did not have a wide theatrical release and were not part of the cinematic culture." Nonetheless, the movie was the top Western movie in China in its first weekend, as well as being the sixth-biggest US release in the country of all time. Pretty good for a failure, all things considered.
Is Ewan McGregor Pulling Some Kind of Jedi Mind Trick?
Source: The second Obi-Wan Kenobi himself
Probability of Accuracy: Can dissembling be accurate, per se?
The Real Deal: After winning a Golden Globe this past weekend, Ewan McGregor found himself addressing the bantha in the room: Is he involved in the quasi-announced Obi-Wan Kenobi solo movie that’s currently in development? Turns out, he was playing things cool: “There’s a lot of talk, and I’d be happy to play him again, but I don’t know anything more than you do.” Is this some kind of Jedi mind trick to get everyone to stop asking, Ewan? Because it’s not going to work.
Solo Moves in Mysterious Ways
Source: Reddit, and Donald Glover (not together)
Probability of Accuracy: Fans are likely to know soon…
The Real Deal: The still-troubled Solo: A Star Wars Story is just four months away from release—assuming that it doesn’t get pushed to a December date, keeping it in line with the other movies in the franchise—but that doesn’t mean it’s finished yet. In fact, one poster on Reddit claims that the movie is just about to start its second round of reshoots at the end of the month, to continue into February. This either means post-production will be done with weeks left before the movie’s release, or the movie really will shift its opening. Meanwhile, Donald Glover—who plays Lando Calrissian in Solo—told reporters during a TCA appearance that things weren’t as tense as they might have appeared during new director Ron Howard’s time on the project. “I think we were never faced with anything like that and he did a good job of coming in and didn’t want us to change what we were doing at all. He wanted us to be comfortable with our vision.” Glover even said that there had been “not a ton” of reshoots of previously filmed scenes, as far as he was aware.
More Cantina Talk
Related Video
Movies & TV
The Last Jedi Cast Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions
Star Wars: The Last Jedi stars Mark Hamill, Laura Dern, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson and Kelly Marie Tran take the WIRED Autocomplete Interview and answer the Internet's most searched questions about Star Wars and themselves.