As we’ve seen yesterday, many extras that are being seen in Dubrovnik shoot for
Star Wars Episode VIII are
clad in dark black robes. Recent information that has come to light
suggests that these robes are not meant to conceal the character’s
costumes, but that they
are their costumes – and that, based on
a bit of circumstantial evidence, it appears as though the extras could
be attending a funeral alongside a major returning character.
Unmarked spoilers for The Force Awakens will follow.
A word of warning is that some of this stuff might come across as a
bit of a stretch at times. Then again, we won’t be seeing this film for
nearly two years, so there’s definitely room for this kind of weird
speculation.
Anyway, let’s get the big spoiler out of the way right now: I’m
presuming that the footage being shot will in part feature the funeral
procession of Han Solo, who – as you know – was murdered by his
mentally-unstable son at the end of the last movie. Since he fell into a
burning-hot chasm that was subsequently destroyed by the
implosion/explosion of Starkiller Base, there’s no body left to bury,
but that doesn’t mean that there’s not time for the Resistance to mourn a
fallen hero – based on the below image, it seems as though
Leia temporarily ceases the war effort in order to mourn the death of her husband.
The image above was tweeted by Carrie Fisher herself, but was quickly deleted
back in December 2015.
The outfit itself does not seem particularly Leia-like, so I would
imagine that she’s only wearing it for such a grave occasion. (Indeed,
the site that I’ve linked to outright claims that it’s a funeral gown.)
If I’m on the right track, then both this and the revealed footage of
Luke and Rey on Ahch-To suggest that
Episode VIII will be an immediate sequel to the previous film, which is unprecedented for a
Star Wars movie.
But more importantly is the matter of
where in the Galaxy
the funeral is being held. I can imagine that the planet that is housing
this funeral procession is one of two places – Han’s home planet of
Corellia, or the New Republic’s former capitol, Chandrila. My reasoning
for this really just boils down to a single letter, but bear with me.
Take a look at these characters:
Aside from their resemblance to McQuarrie’s concept art for Imperial Guards (along with the Rebel soldiers from
A New Hope), fans
who are experts in understanding the Aurebesh alphabet suggest that the
headpieces of their uniforms spell out CBPD – with the last two letters
potentially standing for “Police Department”. So if the first letter is
“C”, then that might just refer to the name of the planet. Either
Corellia or Chandrila would be thematically-appropriate – the former was
Han’s birthplace, and would serve as a fitting place to provide
remembrance to one of the greatest heroes in the Galaxy, while the
latter is the New Republic’s former capitol (as revealed in the
Journey To The Force Awakens books) and would likely be sympathetic to the Resistance.
Imperial Guards by Ralph McQuarrie
Also interestingly costume designer Michael Kaplan (the person who is
holding Leia’s costume in the image we’ve already discussed) was on set
during the filming of the procession scene.
Again, keep in mind that this is just a speculation. I am pretty sure
that we will be getting some answers in the next few days. What do you
think? Is Dubrovnik a stand in for Corellia, or Chandrila? Could this be
Han Solo’s funeral? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
