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Star Wars 8 confirmed to start right where The Force Awakens left off

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By Lauren O'Callaghan published 17 July 2016

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Star Wars 8 director Rian Johnson has confirmed that the beginning of Episode 8 will pick up right where The Force Awakens left off. Speaking at Star Wars Celebration Europe, he said: "This movie is going to start right were the last one left off. That final scene in VII, I want to see what happens next."

It's something most fans suspected ever since we saw Rey return Luke's lightsaber to him at the end of Episode 7, but now we have official confirmation that for the first time ever, there will be no time jump between movies. 

So, can we expect lots of scenes of Luke teaching Rey how to use the Force? Probably, but that's still speculation at the moment. Johnson said that the first movie does a great job of introducing new faces, but the "second film is where we start zooming in on the characters and getting to the heart of them, challenging them, and pushing them deeper."

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What do you think about the lack of time jump? Are you pleased you won't miss a moment or worried that there won't be enough time for the story to really move forward? Let us know in the comments below.

Directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Laura Dern, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie, and Benicio del Toro, Star Wars: Episode 8 opens in cinemas on December 15, 2017.

Images: Disney

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Lauren O'Callaghan is the former Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar+. You'd typically find Lauren writing features and reviews about the latest and greatest in pop culture and entertainment, and assisting the teams at Total Film and SFX to bring their excellent content onto GamesRadar+. Lauren is now the digital marketing manager at the National Trust.

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