Carrie (and Gary) Fisher confirm that Space Bear is the working title for Star Wars: Episode VIII

A rumor first appeared via MovieCastingCall.org earlier this year about a secret production name for Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII. Now, via social media, Carrie Fisher (and her popular pup, Gary Fisher) has confirmed the rumor, snapping a shot of her chair at Pinewood Studios. Get ready for Space Bear to hit the big screen December 15, 2017!

Of course, the title Space Bear isn’t going to be what appears on movie theater marquees next year. Working titles are used on a lot of major releases and rarely have all that much to do with the plot. Return of the Jedi famously featured the working title Blue Harvest and Lucasfilm even went so far as to invent the faux tagline “Horror beyond imagination.” J.J. Abrams’ recent The Force Awakens was rumored to have filmed under the title AVCO, while upcoming Rogue One is said to be going by the codename Lunak Heavy.

Over at Marvel Studios, recent production codenames have offered slight winks to the fans. The Avengers was known as Group Hug, Age of Ultron as After Party, Captain America as Freezer Burn and Ant-Man as Bigfoot, to name a few. So while you shouldn’t expect the next Star Wars saga film to focus on a Space Bear per se, we may one day have a much better idea about from where the Space Bear name originated.

Space Bear is written and directed by Rian Johnson and continues the storylines introduced in The Force Awakens. The film welcomes back, in addition to Fisher, cast members Mark Hamill, 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 newcomer Kelly Marie Tran.

Space Bear is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin and Tom Karnowski.

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