Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Everything we know about Episode VIII – The Verge

The Last Jedi Blu-ray is a chance to reevaluate the film’s divisive casino subplot

2018-03-30T11:33:09-04:00

Because George Lucas modeled the original 1977 Star Wars on classic movie serials like 1936's Flash Gordon, the films that followed in the series have followed the pattern, and relied on similarly chapter-based quest plots. Big missions, like the attempt to blow up the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, get broken down into smaller sub-missions, each of which keeps teetering on the brink of failure, necessitating yet another risky scheme. It's a hooky way to tell a story - one cliffhanger at a time.

One of the main narrative threads in Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi follows that same blueprint… at first. Then Johnson throws i …

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Phasma’s deleted scene from Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the version fans deserved

2018-03-07T17:54:08-05:00

Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

One of the biggest complaints about J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens was how it hyped up the presence of a chrome-plated stormtrooper, Captain Phasma (played by Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie), whose actual appearance in the film turned out to be underwhelming. Fans hoped for a bit of redemption for the character in December's The Last Jedi, but she only turned up for a brief appearance and a quick death at the hands of her former soldier, Finn. The latest episode of The Star Wars Show premiered a deleted scene in the run-up to the upcoming home release for the film, one that shows a dif …

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Watch how ILM created Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s opening space battle

2018-02-25T14:41:41-05:00

Star Wars: The Last Jedi scored a handful of Academy Award nominations this year, including one for best Visual Effects. As it did last year with Rogue One, Industrial Light and Magic has released a pair of behind-the-scenes clips that showcase how the film's special effects came together.

The first clip shows off the film's opening space battle, where Resistance starfighters go up against a First Order fleet. Director Rian Johnson used some practical hangar sets and an A-Wing fighter in the scene, around which animators composited their digital magic. They created the larger digital sets and spaceships in the scene, and layered in explosio …

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi is getting a comic adaptation in May

2018-02-03T13:07:57-05:00

The latest Star Wars film is getting a comic book adaptation. Rogue One screenwriter Gary Whitta is adapting The Last Jedi for a six-issue miniseries, the first of which will hit stores on May 2nd.

Whitta will be joined by artists Michael Walsh and Mike Spicer, while former Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Queseda will produce a variant cover featuring Rey on Jakku. On his Instagram page (via io9) Walsh says that they will be adding new scenes and will tell "others from a new perspective."

That's not the only adaptation of the film coming this spring: a novelization, written by Jason Fry, is hitting bookstores on March 6th, which will also conta …

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The Last Jedi’s porgs may be a serious threat to the galaxy’s ecosystems

2018-01-10T08:00:04-05:00

A porg aboard the Millennium Falcon

Kylo Ren, murderous new supreme leader of the First Order, may seem like the biggest threat to the galaxy - but he might have nothing on an invasive species. That's right. What if the real villains of The Last Jedi… are porgs?

Certain characteristics make species more likely to become invasive

Species moved outside of their native range, to new places and habitats, are called alien species (even here on Earth!). On occasion, these alien species have the right combination of traits to become invasive, doing damage to the environment, causing problems for humans, or both. Take the Australian cane toad. Farmers brought them to Australia from Ha …

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi rejects The Force Awakens’ mysteries, and is better for it

2017-12-22T14:09:03-05:00

When J.J. Abrams' Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens hit theaters in 2015, it was no surprise that moviegoers came away with lots of questions. Abrams - known for series like Lost and Alias - is notoriously fond of mystery, which he calls "the catalyst for imagination." In a 2007 TED Talk, he presented a box he bought as a kid, and still hadn't opened decades later - because unopened, it represented "infinite possibility." The Force Awakens suggested a similar infinite possibility, in a universe where 30 years had passed since the death of Darth Vader and the Emperor. The time jump opened up endless opportunities. And though the film returned …

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That bizarre milk scene from The Last Jedi has a basis in dairy science

2017-12-19T11:04:47-05:00

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

There's a strange scene in The Last Jedi as Rey is following Luke Skywalker around his hermitage on the planet Ahch-To. Luke has apparently gotten into the habit of milking the planet's local creatures - the remarkably relaxed thala-sirens that spend their time reclining against the rocks. He walks up to one of the creatures and squeezes green milk from its prominent udders. Then he drinks it, soaking his beard with the stuff.

It's a creepy moment that might be an homage to the blue Bantha milk of Luke's childhood on Tatooine. One thing's certain: in the Star Wars universe, …

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Question Club: Breaking down our favorite things about The Last Jedi

2017-12-18T16:23:43-05:00

The Last Jedi takes a lot of large steps forward for Star Wars, both for this latest trilogy, and for the franchise as a whole. There are some big changes here - in the characters and the scope of the narrative, especially. Our initial Last Jedi review talks about some of the movie's broadest themes and ideas without plot spoilers, but this is a spoiler-heavy space, so if you haven't seen the film yet, this may not be the conversation for you. Let's talk Last Jedi: the big reveals, the twists, and above all, how it met or didn't meet our expectations.

**How are you feeling about the direction Last Jedi takes the Star Wars franchise?**

Thuy: The …

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Science can explain why you want to eat a porg

2017-12-18T13:16:29-05:00

If your first reaction to porgs, the big-eyed animals that recently debuted in The Last Jedi, was that you want to eat their adorable little faces, you're not alone-and not just because Chewbecca tries to have one for dinner in the new film.

Star Wars fans have been talking about cooking and eating these puffin-seal-pug creatures since their appearance in the first trailer for The Last Jedi, and the movie's release has only heightened this terrible hunger. Even the film's stars have weighed in on the issue: Laura Dern came out against porg-eating, while Oscar Isaac is vocally in favor. Various websites have pondered not just the ethics of p …

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10 things we wanted and didn’t get from The Last Jedi

2017-12-18T12:49:53-05:00

Major spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The non-spoiler review is here.

With Star Wars: The Last Jedi, writer-director Rian Johnson made a point of answering questions set up by The Force Awakens, and giving fans some answers they were slavering for. He directly addressed the mystery of Rey's parentage, instead of stringing it out for another couple years. He explained, in brief, why Kylo Ren rebelled, while leaving plenty of the character's past open for later reveals. He reunited Luke and Leia for the final touching moment of closure they really needed, considering Carrie Fisher's death. He even brought Yoda back to lay down so …

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