First photo from Star Wars Episode 8 set emerges

Director Rian Johnson posted a single black and white image to Tumblr

The first picture - a single black and white image - has emerged from the early days of filming for Star Wars Episode 8.

New director Rian Johnson has posted the image to his Tumblr account (click to view), captioned "Cinematographer Steve Yedlin. Hard to believe we’re wrapping up week four already, it’s just flying by."

Yedlin is stood in a spaceship that looks notably similar to the Millennium Falcon.

Episode 8 will be Johnson's first Star Wars, and did have some shots produced alongside the previous movie, due to difficulties in gaining access to Irish monastic island Skellig Michael. Plot details for the new movie remain sparse.

Only this week, previous director J. J. Abrams has held his hands up to mistakes made in Star Wars episode VII, in particular in relation to one particular scene (Episode VII spoilers ahead).

The scene comes after Han Solo’s death. When the crew of resistance fighters return to Starkiller base to break the news to the others, Leia pushes past Chewbacca and hugs Rey. Fans have suggested that this was strange, as she had only recently got to know Rey yet has history with Chewbacca.

“That was probably one of the mistakes I made in that,” Abrams said. “My thinking at the time was that Chewbacca, despite the pain he was feeling, was focused on trying to save Finn and getting him taken care of. So I tried to have Chewbacca go off with him and focus on Rey, and then have Rey find Leia and Leia find Rey. The idea being that both of them being strong with the Force and never having met, would know about each other — that Leia would have been told about her beyond what we saw on-screen and Rey of course would have learned about Leia. And that reunion would be a meeting and a reunion all in one, and a sort of commiseration of their mutual loss.

“Had Chewbacca not been where he was,” Abrams added, “You probably wouldn’t have thought of it. But because he was right there, passed by Leia, it felt almost like a slight, which was definitely not the intention.”

The next in movie in the Star Wars franchise already has a release date, despite being in the early stages of production. It's expected to arrive in time for Christmas 2017, with a date of December 15, 2017 given.

A pre-production video was already produced, and can be watched below: