Please do not share the details of this article openly on social media and spoil Star Wars: Episode VIII for those that want to remain spoiler free. These are very general spoilers but lets respect everyone’s wishes and not spoil those that do not appreciate spoilers like us. A lot of this article is superficial detail that will seen everywhere but a few details may be considered spoilers so be cool!

I have always loved seeing the new planets from the next Star Wars film. I feel like the worlds’ color palettes coincide with my mood and dictate which film I will rewatch for the billionth time. The color palette for Revenge of the Sith was inspired by Mark Rothko’s work, for instance. You can see how the blue of Coruscant blends from Utapau’s browns, to Mustafar’s red-hot surface. How the colors of those worlds interface and sit beside one another make up a lot of the visual tone of the films. With this interest in mind, one of the burning questions I had for Star Wars: Episode VIII is what will it look like on a basic level?

In Star Wars: Episode VIII we should see the greens of Ahch-To, a Dubrovnik/casino planet, a planet described to us as “Mars with snow on it,” and the interiors and exteriors of spaceships. Those are the locations we have had confirmed filming for and there could always be more. It can be hard to tell which sets we hear about pertain to which world, especially when the worlds do not really exist in the real world most of the time.

Of those worlds, there’s one we haven’t heard discussed much. We heard about a new planet from Star Wars: Episode VIII last year during filming that appears to be really important to the story of the film, and that is the “Mars with snow on it” planet. The way I heard the set described, it was like Mars, a red ground, but covered with a light layer of snow, especially on the banks and rim of a hallway-sized trench. So imagine “Mars if it lightly snowed” is the mantra for this place. We heard the interiors were not unlike Starkiller Base in the sense that you can see the Death Star-style tech and architecture blending in with the rocks and natural environment.

The planet is likely a First Order-controlled world and it is hard to not speculate that this is where Hux, Phasma, and Kylo Ren meet up with Supreme Leader Snoke after their failure in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The on-set ships for this world also make us lean towards this world being the secret base of the First Order, but that’s just a slightly informed guess. We also were able to pinpoint a “Snowtrooper General” on this set as well for a scene description that somewhat matches what came out of Bolivia recently.

We can’t say for certain, but the filming at the salt flats in Bolivia may have been a realistic environment doubling for a part of this red world. Perhaps what was described as snow is actually salt? Or is the salt doubling for snow? Or it is just another world altogether we can add to the list?

I like the idea of the green and blue world of Ach-To standing beside a red and white planet on screen. Hopefully we learn more about the worlds and environments of Star Wars: Episode VIII soon. I love that feeling Star Wars gives you when you are placed in a new location you know very little about and discover it through the film’s story. The planets of Star Wars: Episode VIII are sounding really cool and probably the best of the new film’s environments we’ve heard of so far.