'Star Wars' News: 'Episode VIII' Begins Filming While 'Rogue One' is Almost Complete

It has been less than two months since the release of the highly successful Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but Lucasfilm and Disney have no plans of taking things slow.  It has just been announced that Rian Johnson's Episode VIII has already started filming and this year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is almost completely finished!

According to Entertainment Weekly, the announcement was made by Disney CEO Bob Iger in a conference call with the company's investors. Iger confirmed that Episode VIII has already begun shooting this month, although the sequel was supposed to start filming in January.  EW reports that the delay may have been due to the change in its release date.

There is also a possibility that the reason behind the delay is the recent rewrite Johnson ordered for Episode VIII's script. We have previously reported that the script was rewritten to focus more on The Force Awakens' lead characters Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega), rather than give a huge chunk of the film to two new female characters that will be introduced in the sequel.

Disney confirms 'Star Wars: Episode 8' has officially begun filming in London: https://t.co/QSt2AdocVM pic.twitter.com/glvRurrRBZ

— ScreenCrush (@screencrushnews) February 10, 2016

In addition to the Episode VIII update, Iger also confirmed that Gareth Edwards' Rogue One is "virtually completed."

The first Star Wars standalone is practically finished but not much is known about the movie so far beyond a vague plotline and its cast. There have been several rumors about Felicity Jones' character in the film, as there are speculations that she is actually the daughter of Boba Fett while some fans think her father is actually Mads Mikkelsen's character.

Episode VIII and Rogue One aren't the only Star Wars movies that are already being worked on. The highly anticipated Han Solo standalone film has also started pre-production.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will hit theaters on December 16 while Star Wars Episode VIII will premiere in December 2017. The Han Solo movie is scheduled for release in 2018.