Since the dawn of time “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” all of the Star Wars saga movies have had one thing in common – they started with fanfare, said the same aforementioned 10 words and introduced a title screen, then revealed an opening crawl that nod to old “Flash Gordon” and “Buck Rogers” serials and set up the movie with vital plot point teases.
Because we know the as-yet untitled Star Wars Episode VIII will pick up without the typical time jump seen during the previous seven movies – from about one year between “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” to roughly two decades between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope“ –what, exactly, is left for the crawl to catch the viewer up on?
Since it would be shocking to not have an opening crawl at all, a pair of hosts from a pop culture podcast based in Illinois have come up with a new theory: what if Star Wars Episode VIII hasa cold opening?
During Episode 158 of “Pop Culture Leftovers,” two of thehosts were discussing rumors about character growth in Episode VIII. How, they wondered, could that be achieved if no time had passed since we left Rey and Luke Skywalker standing on the mountaintop of the mysterious planet of Ahch-To?
Director Rian Johnson confirmed at Star Wars Celebration in London, on July 17, that the newest instalment in the saga would pick up immediately after the credits rolled during “The Force Awakens,” released last year.
“I don’t want to skip ahead [after] that last moment of Episode VII; I want to see what happens next,” Johnson said.
Jacob Elliott, cohost of Pop Culture Leftovers, had a theory of how this could work.
“Maybe we’ll start right there on that mountaintop and we’ll lapse time after that scene,” Elliott said.
“So we’re going to start with that, then we’ll get the opening crawl?” Cohost Brian asked. Brian, traditionally, does not give out his last name on the show.
“Oh, a cold open in a Star Wars movie!” Elliott said. “I actually kind of like the idea of that … still having the opening crawl, but having the cold open first. I think that would really … get me excited.”
“If anybody is gonna do it, it’s gonna be Rian Johnson,” Brian said.
Star Wars Episode VIII has a scheduled release date of Dec. 15, 2017. A trailer and possible title release are expected by the end of this year.
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