Stories from the set

Filming of some scenes featuring Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley took place in September 2015 on the rocky island of Skellig Michael, about 15 kilometers west of the coast of County Kerry, Ireland. In 2014, the final scene of the film «Star Wars: The Force Awakens» was also filmed there.

Joaquin Phoenix turned down the role that Benicio del Toro played.

Initially, director Rian Johnson was planned to direct «Star Wars: The Force Awakens». In the end, he directed «Star Wars: Episode 8».

Ryan Johnson was so impressed by Henry King's films "Twelve O'Clock High" (1949) and Mikhail Kalatozov's "Letter Never Sent" (1959) that he organized screenings of them for the actors before filming.

Production of the film began on February 15, 2016.

This is the last film featuring American actress Carrie Fisher, who died on December 27, 2016.

The film's title was published on the official Star Wars website on January 23, 2017.

Initially, in March 2015, it was announced that the world premiere of the eighth episode of «Star Wars» would take place on May 26, 2017. Later, in January 2016, it became known that Walt Disney Pictures had moved the film's release forward by seven months — to December 13, 2017 worldwide and December 14 in Russia. The date change was due to the great box office success of the previous film «Star Wars: The Force Awakens», which also hit cinema screens in December.

The original title of the film is Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Director Rian Johnson stated in an interview that he meant the word «Jedi» in the singular. However, the film was still released in Russian with a plural subtitle, «The Last Jedi».