Star Wars Episode 8: 10 Predictions You Need To Know

10. It Won’t Be As Dark As The Empire Strikes Back

After The Force Awakens regurgitated the plot points of A New Hope practically beat for beat, a fear began to grow that the whole sequel trilogy would just be a retread of previous movies. A fear that led to anger in some quarters, which everyone knows is a path to the dark side.

Thankfully, Johnson doesn't seem to be mining The Empire Strikes Back, at least in a tonal sense. "I want it to be a blast and to be funny and to be a ride," the Episode VIII director told USA Today recently. And although Yoda's debut brought some humour to The Empire Strikes Back, it's hardly 'the fun one.' Luke's cave vision, Han being frozen in carbonite and Vader's limb-chopping in the third act ensured that Empire is remembered as the darkest Star Wars Episode.

It seems inevitable that there will be some Jedi training scenes in Episode VIII, and maybe a parental revelation towards the end, but beyond that, it sounds like this new film won't echo the original Star Wars sequel too much. That's a relief, because imitating great films can only get you so far.