It’s going to take me a while to get used to the new release schedule for the STAR WARS films. Instead of a film coming out every three years on Memorial Day weekend, we’re getting one every two years around Christmas.

While we wait for the release of the first ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY trailer, we get a look at the first shot of writer/director Rian Johnson picking up where J.J. Abrams left off at the end of THE FORCE AWAKENS. Here’s the “Shooting Announcement” clip releaed today from StarWars.com:

Mark Hamill posted the clip on his feed earlier, and his hashtags are worth the whole thing:

There’s also the obligatory press release, which confirms a couple of details we’ve been anticipating for a while:

Rey took her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will continue her epic journey with Finn, Poe, and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the continuing Star Wars saga, Star Wars: Episode VIII, which began principal photography at Pinewood Studios in London on February 15, 2016.

Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is written and directed by Rian Johnson and continues the storylines introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, welcomes back cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis. New cast members will include Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro, Academy Award nominee Laura Dern, and talented newcomer Kelly Marie Tran.

Star Wars: Episode VIII is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski. Joining the production crew will be some of the industry’s top talent, including Steve Yedlin (Director of Photography), Bob Ducsay (Editor), Rick Heinrichs (Production Designer), Peter Swords King (Hair and Make-Up Designer), and Mary Vernieu (US Casting Director). They will be joining returning crew members Pippa Anderson (Co-Producer, VP Post Production), Neal Scanlan (Creature & Droid FX Creative Supervisor), Michael Kaplan (Costume Designer), Jamie Wilkinson (Prop Master), Chris Corbould (SFX Supervisor), Rob Inch (Stunt Coordinator), Ben Morris (VFX Supervisor), and Nina Gold (UK Casting Director).

Star Wars: Episode VIII is scheduled for release December 15, 2017.

Note, if you will, that Harrison Ford and Max Von Sydow have been dropped from the cast list (for obvious reasons), and we get further confirmation that Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro are joining the fray. Also of interest to credit dorks like me: Abrams retains the role of Executive Producer, which means EPISODE VIII will again be a Bad Robot joint with Lucasfilm (which was a question some of us had following Abrams’ exit from the director’s chair).

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