New ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy to Reportedly Start Filming Summer 2018 in Scotland

Star Wars: The Last Jedi may be owning the box office, but that doesn’t mean the Star Wars saga can simply rest on its laurels. Work is moving forward not only on the upcoming Episode IX, but potentially director Rian Johnson’s all-new Star Wars trilogy as well.

According to a new report from The Scotsman, Johnson’s new trilogy is set to start shooting in June, specifically in Argyll and areas in the north of Scotland. The report cites a source from the Sunday Mail that outlines one of the specific parts of Scotland the film will be shooting in.

“As is now customary with any Star Wars production, the movie is shrouded in secrecy, but they want to shoot scenes around the Rest and Be Thankful,” the source said. “Further filming has been penciled in for elsewhere in the country.”

Rest and Be Thankful is a famous scenic pass between Loch Long and Loch Awe in Scotland and the location would offer an expansive, otherworldly backdrop for any Star Wars film, but like Ireland’s Skellig Michael did in the creation of Ahch-To in The Last Jedi, Rest and Be Thankful could prove to be a prime location for the building of new worlds, something Johnson previously told Wired was a large part of his plan for the new trilogy.

“Well, I don’t know,” Johnson said. “That’s kind of the exciting thing about it. My entire pitch to [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy and Disney was ‘Let’s tell a new Star Wars story. Let’s tell one story over three movies, where we go to new places and meet new people. It’s a brand-new story that feels like a great Star Wars story.”

Going to new places and meeting new people as part of a whole new Star Wars trilogy is something that Johnson may have set up for with The Last Jedi. The film’s final moments showed a slave child on Canto Bight using the Force to summon his broom whilst gazing out hopefully into space.

However, there are some questions as to whether Johnson’s new Star Wars trilogy will be ready to begin shooting in June. At a press event for The Last Jedi back in November, Johnson admitted that he had only just started coming up with ideas for the new trilogy and with that new trilogy in the planning stages, it’s possible that the Star Wars project set to film in Scotland next year is instead JJ Abram’s Episode IX, which Abrams will direct and co-write along with Chris Terrio, has an expected release date of December 20, 2019 — a release date that makes sense if the film begins shooting in June.

Whatever Star Wars-related film ends up shooting in Scotland, fans fortunately won’t be entirely without Star Wars stories while they wait. The Last Jedi is still playing in theaters and the standalone Han Solo film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, is set to open on May 25, 2018.