Another Desert

If there is one thing more consistent than almost anything in Star Wars it is that Star Wars loves sand!  It’s soft and sweet.  It gets everywhere so it is very easy to take home with you.  Right?  How else do you explain the use of a desert planet in 5 out of 8 movies so far (6/8 if you count Crait).  Well you can add Episode IX to that list as well.  Once again a desert planet will be rocking.

A Reddit poster on r/starwarsleaks traveled to Jordan where he wished to visit Wadi Rum.  Wadi Rum is the location where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed in 1962.  They were informed that Episode IX filmed in the area recently.  As proof they were shown images of  where the crew had lived, which had not been taken down yet.  In this area the logo “trIXie” was revealed.  This is believed to be the operating title for Episode IX.

There were also video from the filming that were filmed secretly.  The brief scenes captured looked as follows:

“A Shot of Rey and Chewie being tossed in the air after an explosion (this was filmed against a medium sized green screen that hung in the air) the explosion was a practical effect and Rey was wearing a similar costume to (The Force Awakens); an almost identical shot of Finn and some other guy (maybe Poe?) no green screen this time and the explosion wasn’t as big; [and] Rey doing some solo running, jumping, and swinging her lit lightsaber.”

Wadi Rum does not resemble Jakku or Tatooine with rolling sand dunes and golden sand.  If images remind you of anything it would be akin to the Jundland Wastes from A New Hope or the looks of Jedha pre-destruction.  One would guess this will be a new planet, and things will not go well for our Rebellion friends as explosions are rarely good.

Rey’s Lightsaber

In the description of the scenes, the person talks about the details of Rey’s lightsaber.  He described it as ignited and blue.  This suggests either Rey found a blue Kyber crystal, or more likely, used Luke’s crystal to either reforge Luke’s saber or build her own.  Post-production can alter colors at any point, but if you research how lightsabers evolved over the years for stunt purposes, the stunt sabers evolved from fragile sticks to sturdy poles that even light up.  The light helps cast colored shadows that used to be done in post-production.

The way Rey held the two halves of Luke’s saber at the end of The Last Jedi, I was pretty sure she would use Luke’s crystal in her new saber, but i do hope she constructs a new hilt.  We need new designs.

Now while this is all speculation and needs to be taken with a grain of salt, the original post over on Reddit has been taken down, which points to credibility.  Guess we find out in a little over a year.