Will Star Wars: Rogue One Visit Tatooine?

On-set story from Star Wars Celebration suggests so.

By Alex Leadbeater /

One of the most interchangeably fun and irritating parts of being a Star Wars fan is how even the most minor detail can, when coupled with other knowledge, accidentally be a massive spoiler; without realising you put two and two together and figure something out (fun) you may not want to know (irritating).

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Here's one example for you I had in the Star Wars Story Group panel (overall a fine hour, even if it was more a "meet the producers" than something super informative). At one point Kiri Hart, Lucasfilm's head of story development, was gushing about Gareth Edwards and delighting in how much of a fan he was, telling a story of how in Tunisia he brought food dye with him so he could have blue milk on set. Cool, right?

But wait a minute, why was Edwards on set in Tunisia, the real world home of Tatooine?

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It could be that, as part of his initiation into the Lucasfilm family he went to visit some classic locations, including the still-constructed homestead. But it could be the he was there to shoot something for the film itself. Nothing too major - otherwise we'd have heard about it before, either through the shooting plan or the ever-active rumour mill - but given that Tatooine is the planet where Princess Leia is heading at the behest of her father at the start of A New Hope, it wouldn't be all that contrived to have it factor in somehow. Perhaps there's an Obi-Wan tease. Or we'll see the Imperial contingent making camp. Or Jedda could actually be on the two-sunned rock. And what of those Han Solo cameo rumours? In terms of practicality, it could be that Edwards was simply getting location plates, with other elements to be added in the safety of a closed set.

There's no other real evidence to back this up, of course, so it's riffing speculation for now. We did see a rocky/desert-esque planet in a sound-less clip shown at Celebration, although that may be a little too close to the originals for comfort.

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Whatever the case, Hart's statement definitely opens up this possibility (even if it is likely nothing). What's your take? Let us know down in the comments.

Star Wars: Rogue One is in cinemas from 16th December.

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