This won't come as the biggest surprise given that Daisy Ridley has already posted a picture to social media of a welcome bouquet signaling the start of her work, but Disney boss Bob Iger has now made the official announcement that Rian Johnson has begun shooting Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Iger didn't go so far as to reveal the movie's title, but he did make mention that it was supposed to start filming last month, but had the date pushed back a few weeks around the same time as the release date was changed to December 2017 from May of that year.
Also on the Mouse House head cheese's agenda? Mentioning that Gareth Edwards is close to wrapping up production on the first stand-alone, Rogue One. “Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we’ve seen so far,” he said. The heist film about rebels stealing the plans for the original Death Star is scheduled for December this year and we're hoping a trailer will be with us soon enough.
And he talked up Lego Movie duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller's forward momentum on the young Han Solo movie, mentioning that it is still targeting a May 2018 release, which is surprising given the recent shuffling of release dates. Chances are that may change.
Finally, Iger said that Episode IX, which isn't on the calendar for release until 2019 has started "production" which in this case indicates that chosen director Colin Trevorrow is starting meetings and work on the script, since he's currently busy finishing The Book Of Henry and is unlikely to be pulling a Spielberg by trying to shoot Episode IX while still editing his previous film.