And the working title for Star Wars: Episode VIII is...

We recently reported that Star Wars: Episode VIII had started filming, and although it will probably be a little while until we get a subtitle for the film à la The Force Awakens, we now know the working title for Rian Johnson's film: Space Bear.

For the uninitiated, working titles are common practice on big blockbuster movies to help keep the production under wraps; Star Wars: Episode VII was originally known as Foodles, and Episode VIII is Space Bear. The news comes to us via a tweet from the ever popular Carrie Fisher and her equally popular French bulldog Gary.

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The working title isn't the only step the production has taken to try and keep those all important secrets. When The Force Awakens was filming in the UK, eager fans used drones to snap set pictures, but apparently there will be a "special team with drones to remove uninvited drones" to stop that from happening on Episode VIII. Welcome: drone wars!

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 VIII opens on December 15, 2017.

Images: Disney/LucasFilm/Carrie Fisher

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.