Star Wars: Episode VIII Officially Wraps Principal Photography

Star Wars: Episode VIII wrapped principal photography, the main phase of production today, perfectly on schedule. Lucasfilm tweeted the wrap note with a loop of the final slate being clapped, and shared a quote from writer/director Rian Johnson. "Final slate of the final shot. VIII is officially wrapped. Cannot wait to share it with you all!" Johnson wrote.

Final slate of the final shot. VIII is officially wrapped. Cannot wait to share it with you all! -@rianjohnson pic.twitter.com/l4Apk0Ro4i

— Star Wars (@starwars) July 22, 2016

The film started shooting February 15, 2016 officially, but Johnson actually shot one scene, with stars Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) last fall, months before even Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out. The scene was a repeat of the final scene of Force Awakens, which leads off Episode VIII, making it the first Star Wars film ever to have no time jump between from its predecessor.

The production wasn't mired in quite the level of secrecy of the first Disney Star Wars film, with Johnson granting small peeks behind-the-scenes throughout production on his active social media accounts (like the above). Of course, none of those peeks included anything plot related, with many mysteries ready to be explored in the film like who Rey's parents are, why Luke Skywalker has been in hiding for so long, who Supreme Leader Snoke is and what his connection is to the past Empire, and many, many more.

Star Wars: Episode VIII (not final title) hits theaters December 15, 2017, so fans have a fairly long wait ahead before those questions could even possibly be answered. Now comes Johnson and his team's long process of editing, special effects adding, music composition, and the movie magic making process that brings the Force to the big screen once more. Keep up-to-date with all the news about the film on our Star Wars: Episode VIII hub.