Star Wars Episode VIII is “similar to Empire Strikes Back” says Adam Driver

Filming on the latest entry from the far, far away galaxy finished up last month, and so begins a long drip-drip feed of information as we collectively attempt to comprehend what the entity known as Star Wars: Episode VIII will look like. New evidence has arrived from an interview with Adam Driver – aka Darth Vader fan club president Kylo Ren – who chatted to Collider about the script for the Star Wars sequel.

“It’s great,” Driver told Collider. “It’s similar to how The Empire Strikes Back has a different tone. For that, people always go, 'Oooh, it’s dark,' but I don’t know that it necessarily is. It’s just different in tone in a way that I think is great and necessary but also very clear."

Driver also praised his new writer-director Rian Johnson. "[Johnson] trusts that his audience is ready for nuance and ambiguity," Driver said. "He’s not dumbing anything down for someone and that’s really fun to play. I learned a lot of things about my character through his writing. And he’s the most polite, unassuming guy. He was appropriately territorial about some things but would still be the first to admit when something’s not working.”

And by Driver’s account, there is no coasting on the coattails of The Force Awakens’ record-breaking box-office haul. “The stakes are even higher, I think,” he says. “No one’s relaxing. Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but I didn’t feel more relaxed as if we’d accomplished anything. It’s one more reason we have to redouble our efforts.”

With Lucasfilm snipers presumably ready to fire at the merest suggestion of a spoiler, Driver seems understandably reluctant to give too much away, but it’s still a small, interesting insight into what will almost certainly be next year’s biggest movie.

Rian Johnson is now into the thick of post-production, ahead of a 15 December 2017 release date for the still-untitled Episode VIII. In the meantime, we have the first Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One, to look forward to this December – which, handily, you can read all about in the latest issue of Empire, on sale now.