So.  It’s come to this.

This morning a teaser dropped for Episode VIII, a teaser announcing that the movie is now in production.  I honestly have no idea what to do with this.

We all knew that Episode VIII was coming, Disney had announced that there would be three new movies; and even if they hadn’t, Episode VII has done well enough that a second movie would be a viable option.  So why did we need a teaser to inform us that Episode VIII has begun shooting?

My griping about the teaser aside, the announcement did come with some other interesting news.  Along with the main three returning, Captain Phasma will be back (good news for me, as I thought Gwendoline Christie was criminally underused in Episode VII) and we’ll get two new characters played by Benicio del Toro and Laura Dern.  Del Toro has been rumored to be playing a bad guy in the movie for a while now, but it might be nice to see him take on a good guy role for once.  As for Ms. Dern, I would think a member of the resistance or possibly a senator from the Republic would be options for her role, but that’s pure speculation on my part.

At any rate, doubtless there will be quite a few more teasers between now and whenever the first trailer drops.