- Smoke on the water, Nerdist News in the sky.
Hi, I'm Tiffany Smith.
Jessica is seriously back on Monday, I promise.
That's a spoiler, and there will also be
potential spoilers in this story, so let's get to it.
Can a galaxy divided against itself stand?
It's the question we'll have to ask ourselves this winter
when Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi hits the big screen.
That's because until now, despite carving out
the core of an entire planet to create
a super weapon that extinguishes suns as fuel,
most people in the Star Wars universe
thought of the First Order as, well, no big deal.
Well, not anymore.
After blowing up the Galactic Republic in The Force Awakens,
it seems like everyone is waking up to the fact
that this Snoke dude means serious business.
This galactic state of the union comes to us
straight from the folks at Making Star Wars.
A rumor they recently published on their site
goes into detail about where we'll be
when the new movie starts.
First of all, as we've already reported,
this entry will be unique to the franchise
since it will open directly where the last one ended.
Until now, each new entry in each trilogy
jumps forward months or sometimes even years in time,
but this one will kick off mere seconds
after The Force Awakens cut to credits,
with Luke either accepting or rejecting
that lightsaber from Rey.
I swear, if he doesn't accept it,
I'm gonna be really, really pissed off,
and if he doesn't talk in this movie,
I'm gonna be really, really pissed off.
Making Star Wars then goes on to report
how other events from Episode VII
will impact the plot of Episode VIII, saying,
"Those who used to laugh at the idea
"that the First Order was a threat
"are either dead or no longer laughing."
Dun dun dun.
Then adding, "The galaxy knows he and his chronies
"are maniacal zealots, coming to conquer its worlds
"and those worlds have to fall in line or resist."
So, it looks like a lot of Last Jedi
will involve the Resistance the First Order
trying to form alliances with various planets
throughout the galaxy, which is probably where
the casino planet will come into play.
As you may remember, we were treated to
a few sneakily snapped set pics from
the casino planet a few months ago,
showing a bunch of inhabitants dressed in tux and tails.
We're assuming that as a casino planet,
it's hoping to stay neutral in the conflict,
similar to the stance of Bespin,
the home of the galaxy's favorite gambler, Lando Calrissian.
But just as Han and crew headed to Cloud City
in order to get a little help from Lando,
we except General Leia is going to hit up the casino planet
to see if she can sway them to her side of the struggle.
Of course, director Rian Johnson has promised
that The Last Jedi won't suffer from the same complaints of
retread that The Force Awakens did,
which I don't even agree with,
because I freaking loved The Force Awakens.
You guys did too, right?
- [Group] Yes.
- Yes, yes, yeah.
Okay, so according to him,
this movie won't follow the structure of Empire
the way the last one followed the structure of A New Hope.
- It's another Death Star.
- But, we have an inkling this is one place where
the Empire inspiration will be felt pretty hard.
We'd even be willing to bet that the First Order
will be waiting for Leia on the casino planet,
just as Vader was waiting for Han on Bespin.
Gambling never pays off in Star Wars,
or in my life because I tried to play
those cute little kitties, the slot machines,
and I totally lost 40 bucks.
So maybe I needed to cheat,
like that dirty Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn.
Maybe that's the only way I would win, right?
Yeah.
And speaking of dirty Jedi, it goes without saying
that the other half of The Last Jedi
will focus squarely on Luke and Rey.
If the casino planet is the Bespin of the movie,
then Ahch-To will be the Dagobah serving as
the setting for Luke to put Rey through the Jedi wringer
that Yoda put him through in the Empire.
That was my Jedi training.
Yeah, I'm not very good at it.
That's why they call me the Smith Lord, not a Jedi.
So, yeah, the promise that this won't be
an Empire Strikes Back clone seems slightly less likely
now that it looks like both plot strands from that movie.
The Falcon crew looking for help and Luke training as a Jedi
will have direct parallels in The Last Jedi, but whatever.
If you're gonna copy another Star Wars movie,
you might as well copy the best one of the bunch.
- Yes, mm.
- But what do you guys think?
Whose side would you take in the coming war
between the Resistance and the First Order?
Let's discuss, and hey,
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Maybe you could make a character
that would be nominated for an Oscar, who knows?
'Cause me and my comic book guru, Jim Higgins,
are teaching a 12 part course on the ins, outs,
ups and downs of crafting your own comic book.
You can find the whole class over on Alpha.
Head over to ProjectAlpha.com to sign up for
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Like, do it right now.
I'm Tiffany Smith.
I'll see you later.