#paciwan

[pacificwanderer]

The further we go into this process the more I feel like Reylo is sort of less possible as a big thread in IX and that the emphasis in IX is going to be on the Resistance and this big war...I don't know, I feel like there's a lot of hype over that, and a lot of new roles, and we have so little about the Jedi or the Force or the Skywalkers.

Hey Nonnie,

Honestly, I don’t really think there’s going to be a big war, per se. I think most of the conflict is going to be internal (First Order VS First Order, and to a lesser extent, Resistance VS Resistance), as opposed to a struggle between both factions. Considering that the Resistance is tiny right now and that literally no one wanted to help them on Crait, it’ll be interesting to see what they’re able to come up with strategy wise (cough Force Bond Cough).

As far as the FO, the officers in the FO hate Hux with a capital H, so there’s not much loyalty to be had there. I also think that Finn turning is going to kind of be the catalyst for other Stormtroopers as they come to realize that they have a choice in how they live their lives and don’t have to blindly follow orders.

Also, Hux hates Kylo and is literally planning to overthrow him right now lol.

And then there’s Rey and Ben, who are going to have to come to terms with their affection/connection to one another. And, just as an aside, people love that shit. Even the people who didn’t really enjoy TLJ still cite the Reylo stuff as some of the high points of the movie for them. I think LF knows what they’re doing and epic romance isn’t out of place in SW at all, so I think it’s coming.

I really see this more of an A + B plot movie, as opposed to an A, B, C (hell, D). With an emphasis on the Force Characters (Kylo and Rey) and then an emphasis on the Resistance Heroes (Finn, Poe, Rose). Kind of more in line with how the OT ends up being for much of its runtime. But we’ll see.

Also, and this is just anecdotal, but I’ve been through some wild shit in the lead up to VII and VIII and literally not any of it was worth getting worked up over (even though I sometimes did). Most of the shit that got bandied around as “the truth” was actual bullshit. 

At the end of the day, I’m a Star Wars Fan, regardless of how things turn out for my ships (though I do have hope that things are going to go the way I want them to). Beyond that, I can’t worry about what might be.

Star Wars really is something that I try to enjoy as much as I can, and as someone who’s a worrywart IRL, I just don’t want it to bleed into my fandom too much.

Take heart, Nonnie! JJ is also a hopeless romantic and basically the Father of Reylo, so I think we’re in good hands.

Cheers! 

[pacificwanderer]

Hey! Do you know of anyone who’s made a master post of crew members who post set photos on IG, Twitter or Tumblr? I NEED THEM!!!

Hey Nonnie,

Not that I know of but here are a few that I know of:

John Boyega on IG and on Twitter.

Anthony Daniels on Twitter.

JJ Abrams on Twitter.

Second Unit Director Victoria Mahoney on Twitter.

Mark Hamill (is full of shit and I love him) on Twitter.

Actor, Richard E. Grant on Twitter.

Cinematographer/DPDan Mindel on Instagram.

BB8 puppeteer Brian Herring on Twitter.

Anyone else out there that I’ve missed? I’ll keep adding to this as I find more.

Cheers, Nonnie!

[pacificwanderer]

Prediction for IX I’m pretty confident about: Rey’s costume will probably have her usual arm wraps, but even if that changes she will absolutely have her upper arms/shoulders exposed (or revealed at some point of the movie.) You don’t give a character a Significant Scar like they gave her in TLJ and just never show it in the next movie.

Preach, Nonnie!

I suppose we’ll see, but I’m definitely leaning towards the same conclusion as you. It’s just so obvious and quite literally two hands stretching out towards each other. Like, hitting us with a stick would be more subtle at this point.

I wouldn’t be surprised if her costume is a bit darker this time around as well (if they’re keeping with the same kind of aesthetic as Luke from RotJ, anyway). Some people think it’s going to be all hunkey dory for her, as far as the Resistance goes and while I do think her and Finn will still be close (and hopefully that she finds a friend in Rose), I think her powers (and her Force bond with Ben), will be a huge issue for her #DRAMA.

Kind of parallelling Ben, I think people are going to seek to use Rey for their own ends and she’s not going to like that (JOIN US! We have the Last Jedi!). And, besides, her story is deeply connected to the Force, whereas the Rebellion/Rebel storyline is its own story.

I think we’re going to see both Ben and Rey really having to come to terms with who they are and what they want to be, as far as the Galaxy is concerned, as the Force seems to be pushing them together (which may push Rey away from her friends, ultimately. Though I definitely think this is getting a happy ending for all parties involved).

Also. This is just personal preference. But if I don’t see Ben/Kylo with a hot af off the shoulder cape in IX, THEN WHAT WAS IT ALL EVEN FOR?! 

Cheers, Nonnie!

[pacificwanderer]

I’m hearing that JJ intends to use Mark Hamill sparingly in Episode IX. He wants the younger cast to be at the forefront and Luke will only be in a couple of key scenes (to be filmed later in production). I’m also hearing Luke will have company during one of those scenes... And it won’t be Yoda this time!

Hey Nonnie,

That would make sense to me as well, considering that this movie was supposed to be Carrie’s anyway (in the same sense that VII was Han’s and VIII was Luke’s). But I’d be glad for this to be true. I love Luke, but he’s had 3 movies and we’ll only have one more (UGHHHHH SADNESS) with these new characters, as far as we know.

And I do know that Frank Oz hasn’t been contacted to play Yoda (he’s said so), as of yet, so this is entirely plausible. GIMME BEN KENOBI OR GIVE ME DEATH (though Ewan has been pretty adamant that they haven’t spoken with him lol, poor guy gets asked about SW incessantly). Or Anakin.

Catch me screaming in the theatre if either of those scenarios plays out.

Cheers, nonnie! 

[pacificwanderer]

Sometimes I wonder if Rey’s casting had to do with some planned “who’s her family?” Skywalker hype before TFA and TLJ. She does look a lot like Padme and Shmi, and on the surface I can see why people would pay attention to it. And don’t get me wrong, I love Daisy and her Rey performance, but I would have been happy being introduced to her as an actress through other projects if a WOC played Rey. (Jessica Henwick was even in the high running for it, and I think she could’ve been great too.)

Hey Nonnie,

IIRC, the casting for Rey didn’t actually have the race specified because the woman who ended up playing Jess Pava, Jessica Henwick, confirmed that she auditioned for the role, as you mentioned. I know there were some treatments from George back in the day, where it was kind of a Solo vs Skywalker thing, but that changed as the story developed/changed hands.

Ahh yes, I was right lol. Here’s the original casting call for Rey and Finn, which is open to all ethnicities (they just had to be attractive lol). As far as I know, JJ went with Daisy because she knocked his socks off in the audition and I don’t think they’d cast with that intention in mind, but I could be wrong. I honestly don’t think they expected people to go so hard about her parentage (which is funny because LOL SW fans gonna go ham on every detail, even the details that don’t exist). Even Daisy thought that Rey’s parentage was obvious in VII. I think they underestimated just how much certain fans wanted to see their old EU dreams come true.

I definitely think that there needs to be better representation in the SW universe (* the cinematic universe, the EU is doing a little better in that regard). And I hope, with time, that this will be a given and not the exception. I’m definitely hopeful :)

Cheers, Nonnie!

[pacificwanderer]

I heard somewhere (disclaimer: I could also be wrong or misremembering) that the initial go at the TFA story had the “Kira” character as the Skywalker and the Jedi Killer was just the villain, but that got flipped so the villain would be the Skywalker and Kira wouldn’t be. I don’t think LF ever said they planned a story where the Rey-like character and the Kylo-like character were both legacy characters at the same time, but I think there may have been some moving around between the two.

Hey Nonnie,

That definitely sounds more familiar. There’s a lot of hearsay and speculation and it’s been a while since I read through the Art of TFA and I can’t quite remember what it says regarding their original intent, but I definitely think this could have been the case.

OHHHH I found what I was thinking of/ remembering. It was Michael Arndt’s original work for the SW story. Looks like he was leaning a little too heavily into the generational aspect of the story (Luke, Han, Leia and their progeny), and not really focusing on the new kids. So it wasn’t George I was thinking of, it was Michael (before they reworked it all). Seems like they worked in George’s ideas after the fact?

I wonder how much will be revealed when this series is complete. I’d love to have about a billion details concerning it all lol.

Man, there’s way too much SW stuff in my brain. 

Thanks for the info, Nonnie!

[pacificwanderer]

Cheers to you as well and your welcome! :D I hope somehow we can get some set photos but it must be important that they have this location on lockdown. Makes me think there are some heavy Reylo scenes happening as we speak. How romantic would it be if they was force skyping, Rey went on her own mission and they met up where they first met in Takodana. Maybe there was more in the basement department than just Luke's saber. Perhaps they go scavenging together in the castle ruins? :D

Hey Nonnie!

I hope so too. The last time around, some people got killer photos of the Ahch-To set/Millennium Falcon/Canto Bight haha I imagine security will be tighter this time around. And fingers crossed for the Reylo. Haha I only have about a billion scenarios in my mind. Here’s hoping they can live up to my head canons HAHAHAHA (seriously though, I’m keeping an open mind and trying to let them tell the story they have and not the story I’ve imagined in my head).

Could just be that they need a woodsy/forest set. Doesn’t necessarily have to be Takodana, but we’ll see I guess *cough* Chandrila *cough* lol.

We’ll see! Happy speculating/leak hunting!

[pacificwanderer]

I think Finn and Kylo were originally designed to be the same character. Like, Finn was Han and Leia's son who eventually goes dark after being manipulated by the Jedi Killer who was a random villain. Then they decided to merge the two characters and made Kylo the son AND the Jedi Killer. They turned Finn into a brand new character. Snoke was then added as the big bad manipulative dark side overlord.

Hey Nonnie,

Definitely plausible/probable. I think that whole “son goes to the dark side” thing was a consistent aspect of the story throughout. I’d love for them to release a production journal for these movies. Labyrinth (HAHAHAH, OF COURSE, I AM A LABYRINTH FAN) just released a gorgeous book with a whole tonne of extras (Brian Froud’s costume designs OH MY LANTA), and I’d love to see the same for SW. But that took like 30 years to be released LOL. Hopefully, I don’t have to wait that long for anything ST related.

Here’s hoping that Rian’s documentary-type series ends up happening because I’d love to know more about the process that goes into these films.

Cheers, Nonnie!