Star Wars: Episode IX Production Start Date Rumored

12/19/2016 12:02 am EST

This weekend, Lucasfilm unleashed its newest Star Wars film upon fans, and moviegoers are raving about the installment. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story acts as the studio's first standalone and has helped audiences stave their hunger for Star Wars: Episode VIII. The next saga movie is slated to release next year on the heels of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, but could Lucasfilm already be looking ahead to another film. According to a new source, it seems the studio may be kicking off production on Star Wars: Episode IX sooner than many believed.

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Thanks to Omega Underground, fans have spotted yet another source who's apparently revealed the production start date for Episode IX. The site My Entertainment World is reporting that the movie will begin principal photography in April 2017 in London. This report follows one that came earlier this month from Project Casting who also nodded to the April 2017 shoot. The two sites also indicated that a May 23rd, 2019 release date was possible for Episode IX.

Of course, if these rumors are true, then Lucasfilm will have its work cut out. Production on the Han Solo standalone is expected to begin in February according to Kathleen Kennedy, so balancing the two projects would certainly be a feat. It's certainly not impossible for the two films to share studio space in London, but ComicBook.com's Lucas Siegel is hesitant to bet on the alleged date.

The Star Wars expert questions whether Lucasfilm would be so ambitious to overlay the films. Spring 2017 will also mark the first press pushes for Episode VIII as Star Wars Celebration and other conventions roll around. These conflicting events are all major press points for Lucasfilm, so it may be too much for the studio to try and start production on the final film of the new Star Wars trilogy.

And, if Lucasfilm does go full-speed ahead with the reported date, then may the Force be with them all.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set between the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and shortly before the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. In the film, resistance fighters embark on a daring mission to steal the Empire's plans for the Death Star.

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