Rian Johnson teases Luke and Rey’s relationship in Star Wars: Episode VIII

Production may have wrapped on STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII last summer, but we still don't know all that much about Rian Johnson's follow-up to J.J. Abrams' STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. Unlike other movies in the main Star Wars saga, we do know that EPISODE VIII will be picking up pretty much immediately after THE FORCE AWAKENS left off, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) finally meeting Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on the planet of Ahch-To. Rian Johnson recently told USA Today that he didn't "want to skip ahead two years," as he wanted to "see the very next moment of what happens."

How Rey and Luke relate to each other is the key relationship in Episode VIII, and Johnson says “a large part of the movie” will be spent addressing why Luke’s there and what he’ll do next. Like Luke, Rey has been pulled into a bigger world by connecting with the Force, “but part of what’s she’s dealing with is the realization that she has this power and this gift,” Johnson adds. “She’s taking her first step to coming to terms with this thing inside her that she never knew was there and is just starting to reveal its potential.”

“It very much feels like what we all go through in adolescence, the dawning of this new chapter of our lives." The director adds that the deepening of familial themes in Episode VIII is "a huge part of especially Rey’s character, something that was a really powerful part of her setup and something I really wanted to dig into with this."

After STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS left us hanging with the image of Luke Skywalker giving Rey the stare down, I think most of us are quite anxious to hear the Jedi Master finally speak after a more than thirty-year absence. In fact, Rian Johnson says that the question of "what's going on with Luke Skywalker" will be the essential question at the heart of EPISODE VIII, saying that he's "approaching it with a take that I hope feels honest and real and is going to be interesting to folks and make sense." Luke won't be the only character we find out more about in EPISODE VIII, Johnson also wanted to discover what really makes Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) tick by figuring out "the most difficult thing each of them could be challenged with now [and] seeing how they handle that."

It won't all be doom and gloom however, Rian Johnson is hoping that his film will give us a fun ride rather than piling on the darkness as most middle chapters tend to do. "I want it to be a blast and to be funny and to be a ride the way The Force Awakens and the original Star Wars movies were." Oh, and by the way, Johnson has also known the title of the upcoming sequel ever since he penned the very first draft. Any guesses?

STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII is set for a December 15, 2017.