Peter Mayhew Confirmed for Star Wars: Episode VIII. The Actor Teases Big Announcement Coming Soon!

Chewie 03A few days ago, when the official announcement about the start of principal photography for Star Wars: Episode VIII was released, many people noticed that Peter Mayhew’s name was not among the announced cast. Some fans feared the worst thinking that the 71-year-old actor probably won’t return for Episode VIII due to his knee problems. Well, we’re happy to announce that our favorite Wookiee will return for Rian Johnson’s take on the galaxy far, far away, and not only that but Peter might also have a surprise in store for all of us…

 

 

The confirmation came after Mayhew had to cancel his appearance at this year’s Visioncon in Branson this month. (via news-leader.com)

Andrea Smith, spokeswoman for the southwest Missouri sci-fi convention, said Peter Mayhew was called to London to begin filming Star Wars: Episode VIII. “They start filming tomorrow,” Smith said Wednesday. “There was another convention this weekend; he had to cancel that, too. It’s not just us, it’s like, seven conventions.”

It’s nice to see that Peter will have a long presence on the set. Canceling 7 conventions is no joke.

 

And if this news was not enough, the actor announced on Twitter that he is going to be releasing a few pages each day from his own script of the original Star Wars, that will lead up to a big announcement.

 

 

That’s really cool. This actually is the fourth draft of the script for A New Hope and it is titled “Journal of the Whills” by George Lucas. It was released in January 1976 and as you can see still has Luke as Starkiller.

 

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Looking forward to the next post. In the meantime what do you think the big announcement will be about? Tell us in the comments below.

 

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

67 thoughts on “Peter Mayhew Confirmed for Star Wars: Episode VIII. The Actor Teases Big Announcement Coming Soon!

  • February 18, 2016 at 7:13 pm
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    Disney and Fox will be releasing the original theatrical cuts on Blu-Ray and Digital in 2017! At least that’s my hope. Not sure why Peter Mayhew would be announcing it, though…

    • February 19, 2016 at 12:36 am
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      I think he is announcing his retirement. Choosing the 1st script is an indication. This is where it all began for him…It’s a send off…

      • February 19, 2016 at 12:51 am
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        Yep. This is most likely, especially given the choice of script.

  • February 18, 2016 at 7:14 pm
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    That is one used copy. He must have took it with him everywhere to memorize or stored it behind a radiator for the last 40 years.

    • February 18, 2016 at 7:14 pm
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      Star Wars is this man’s life.

      • February 19, 2016 at 5:05 am
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        Says the guy posting on a Star Wars site in the middle of a weekday (yes, I get the irony here).

  • February 18, 2016 at 7:26 pm
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    I am so happy that he is coming back. That Joonas kid did a great job, but you can tell in closeups when it’s Peter. I love him, he is a good man and always was a fantastic SW ambassador.

    Those pages are pieces of Star Wars history. Excited to see what is the announcement.

    • February 18, 2016 at 8:01 pm
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      That chose Joonas largely because he was one tha tall and had same color eyes as Peter.

      • February 19, 2016 at 7:01 am
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        The eyes thing is funny. Has Lucasfilm never heard of colored contacts?

        • February 19, 2016 at 10:59 am
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          Guess they wanted the simpler route first off.

    • February 18, 2016 at 8:39 pm
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      Everyone says you can tell, but I must confess that I cannot.

      • February 19, 2016 at 6:09 am
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        yeah i think they are bs’ing the only time you can tell is in the action scenes other than that you cant ever really tell

  • February 18, 2016 at 7:36 pm
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    It’s too early and unlikely to hope for an Episode VIII title announcement. But that’s what I’m hoping for. 🙂

    • February 18, 2016 at 7:44 pm
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      Could be the title for the Han Solo movie maybe? I hope Mayhew has a role in that, even if it’s just for the sake of good publicity ( I expect he could be featured in non-active Chewie scenes, just like in TFA ).

      • February 18, 2016 at 7:51 pm
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        It’s likely that they will use the new chewie actor, to parallel the use of the new han solo actor.

        • February 18, 2016 at 9:04 pm
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          Yes, I imagine so.

    • February 18, 2016 at 8:02 pm
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      Extremely doubtful at best, this is clearly going to be some kind of personal announcement.

    • February 18, 2016 at 8:38 pm
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      The Force is Wide Awake and Has Breakfast?

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:12 pm
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    That he will also be in the Han Solo movie, and that they’ve found the New autor.

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:14 pm
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    Think it’ll be the Rogue One teaser announcement. That bad boy will be dropping in a matter of weeks.

    • February 18, 2016 at 8:38 pm
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      Why Peter and not the studio?

      • February 18, 2016 at 8:43 pm
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        Very good question, it never states that Peter is personally making the announcement, it just says he’s leading up to it. Believe the fact that he’s leaking the original A New Hope script has Rogue One significance.

        • February 18, 2016 at 11:26 pm
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          Yeah I agree. I mean Rogue One happens right before these first scenes in the New Hope script. Makes sense.

          I have such a good feeling about Rogue One. I’m hoping it’ll be the “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Deadpool” surprise-mega excellent “in-between” movie. Possibly even better than EpVII.

        • February 19, 2016 at 6:59 am
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          It could have to do with the Journal of the Whills. The TFA novelization made it canon, so it might play into Rogue One.

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:25 pm
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    here is just a idea i had. i was thinking of how different it would be if star wars was made this way.

    Prequel trilogy would not exist and would just be knows as the Original Trilogy. basically wipe out episode 1 and start with II.
    Episode 1: Takes place starting with the clone wars and ends with anakin and padme getting married.
    Episode II: Starts with end of clone wars and anakins fall to the dark side but goes in more depth with his transformation to Vader.
    Episode III. Starts with The creation of the empire and work on the death star and shows the first stages of the rebel alliance and a younger luke and leia skywalker and han solo. Obi wan and yoda in his exiled days. (this is what i feel like disney is doing now)

    Original (sequel)Trilogy left as is except for no ewoks!
    Episode IV: same but just more Vader and a saber battle between luke
    Episode V: same but more boba fett action
    Episode VI: same but give clues to what luke is going to do next.

    New Trilogy: Unknown
    Episode VII: Same except more luke with force ghost obi wan and yoda. more forceback of kylo ren and the knights.some kind of memorial service for han solo! NO maz kanata!
    Episode VIII: 1 year later.Starts with the training of rey with luke. Leia meets up with them at the resistance base starts planning attack on first order with poe and finn chewie. First order is weakened after starkiller base destroyed but kylo ren is completing his training with Snoke who teaches him power to bring ones back from the dead. (A clue to snokes origins) Ren and rey fight again and reys family is exposed to be lukes daughter. This time rey is injured and loses her right hand. a skywalker trademark. snoke enforces a clone army to back up the military. his final plan is coming to a close. a new darker threat is in the galaxy
    Episode IX: 3 years later. Starts with Luke completing Reys training. she is now a jedi knight and must complete her destiny by bringing her cousin back to the light and redeeming her family. The resistance is now very strong but so is the first order again. both sides are taking heavy casualties. Luke leia Rey finn poe lando chewie all are leaders of the resistance at this point. Snoke has created a superweapon that harnesses dark force power and is destroying the galaxy. Luke and rey confront him and kylo ren who is consumed by the dark side. Snoke duels luke and rey duels kylo both are almost a standoff but snoke defeats luke when he sacrifices himself to save rey. She uses her powers to make kylo fight on her side and they both defeat snoke and she redeems her cousin but loses her father. kylo uses the power snoke taught him to bring back luke from death and together they destroy the superweapon and end the war. they all start a new jedi academy and peace is restored to the galaxy. THE END

    • February 19, 2016 at 4:15 am
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      we could all think of it dozens of differing ways.

    • February 19, 2016 at 9:41 am
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      Wow, talk about classic SW fan right here. “More Boba Fett, the Ewoks are stupid, f*** the prequels, Han Solo rules…”

      • February 21, 2016 at 8:27 pm
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        So is that bad lol

      • February 21, 2016 at 8:28 pm
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        I don’t hate the prequels but they just really could have been done better

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:34 pm
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    I believe that chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) will be stating that he is also in Rogue One and he will give an anouncement as to when they will release the first trailer to Rogue One. Maybe.

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:38 pm
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    Sounds like a very last minute thing. He wasn’t in the cast announcement. Still, I suppose the uncertainty in keeping convention dates is dependent on the shooting schedule, which does seem to have moved around quite a bit for Episode 8.

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:39 pm
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    Thank God for script doctors Huyck and Katz.

    • February 19, 2016 at 6:58 am
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      Definitely.

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:43 pm
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    You would think that starring in episode 8 was the big announcement.

  • February 18, 2016 at 8:55 pm
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    I think the big announcement might be the title of episode VIII. I hope it’s called Star Wars: Chewies Revenge

  • February 18, 2016 at 9:10 pm
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    Glad to see Peter coming back! I am happy if he is only in one or two scenes where he is seated, and the young guy does the rest, just to know he is there. You have to be understanding of a guy who is 71 years old running around in a suit of yak hair with bad knees!!!

    Still one question puzzles me. Why didn’t Chewie have grey hair in TFA??? I know Wookies live for 200 years, but a touch of grey around the temples would look distinguished! 😉

    • February 18, 2016 at 10:13 pm
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      It was definitely a misstep. Chewie needed a little gray to help him match Solo’s aging. Small gripe. Hopefully they fix it in Ep VIII.

      • February 18, 2016 at 10:39 pm
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        Animals fur doesn’t always grey. My dog lived to be 15 years old and her coat stayed blond and brown the whole time.

        • February 18, 2016 at 11:01 pm
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          True, but it’s what our minds expect to see with an aged Chewie.

          • February 19, 2016 at 4:14 am
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            Our minds need to think a little more sometimes.

          • February 19, 2016 at 6:29 pm
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            Maybe your mind, but not the minds of a lot of people. Most aliens in the GFFA don’t age like humans. Chewie, Ackbar, and Nien Nunb all look the same as last time.

      • February 19, 2016 at 4:14 am
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        Since when do alien’s aging have to match human aging? Chewie was said to be around 200 in the original era, Wookiees live to be 500 years old or so. 30 years is not a lot to a Wookiee.

      • February 19, 2016 at 6:07 am
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        damn nit pickers

    • February 18, 2016 at 11:57 pm
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      You answered your own question. Chewie doesn’t need to gray yet because he is not an old wookie.

    • February 19, 2016 at 4:12 am
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      He’s not even middle age yet.

  • February 18, 2016 at 9:21 pm
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    brian de palma tightening up the original crawl was one of the best things to happen to star wars. that being said, i’d love to read through the rest of that draft of the script.

    • February 18, 2016 at 10:43 pm
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      Brian de Palma is a genious filmmaker. Too bad critics hated Scarface back then. I personally think its one of the best movie in its genre. I’ve hardly ever seen such impressive actting as Al Pachino’s in that movie.

      • February 19, 2016 at 4:54 am
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        I don’t think a lot of people appreciate satire as much as they should. Like how Starship Troopers has become a cult classic but was deemed terrible when it came out.

        • February 19, 2016 at 9:04 pm
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          Starship Troopers was awesome even when it came out. We went and saw it around 7-8 times in the theater. It’s the sequels that sucked balls.

      • February 19, 2016 at 9:03 pm
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        I absolutely loath that movie and Pacino’s performance in it.

  • February 18, 2016 at 10:55 pm
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    Why did my comment get deleted?

  • February 19, 2016 at 12:11 am
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    Despecialised OT on blu-ray will be the big announcement.

  • February 19, 2016 at 12:15 am
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    I reckon the big announcement will be that episode viii will be his last one. His swan song. Realistically, I’m shocked that he’s even coming back for this one. Dude can barely walk

  • February 19, 2016 at 1:11 am
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    BILLY DEE WILLIAMS on board!

    • February 19, 2016 at 4:14 pm
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      cannot express my annoyance properly that Billy Dee Williams still isn’t part of the sequel trilogy… there’s something very very wrong with this IMO

      • February 20, 2016 at 2:23 am
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        totally agree, but hey, the way he’s been omitted from the new EU post-ROTJ materials leaves me hopeful that his fate is fairly open ended right now.. i mean, if they wanted Billy Dee out of the picture they would just say somewhere along the lines in TFA that Lando did die along the way. nothing weve seen so far suggests that sooo yeah. i want to see his comeback soooo badly

  • February 19, 2016 at 2:49 am
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    Aw man. He’s going to announce his retirement isn’t he. As a selfish fan I hate to see him go, but he’s earned it. Chewie would not be the same without him, so I’m thankful for the nearly four decades he has dedicated to the character and the fan base. May the Force be with you, Peter.

  • February 19, 2016 at 6:58 am
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    “I should have known better than to trust the logic of a half-sized thermocapsulary dehousing assister!”

    Oh George Lucas, you were always like this weren’t you?

  • February 19, 2016 at 6:59 am
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    I thought it was interesting that it said in the script that Luke looks much YOUNGER than he is

  • February 19, 2016 at 7:31 am
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    I bet he’ll announce that he will be starring in the Han Solo movie! 😉

  • February 19, 2016 at 11:00 am
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    He’ll probably be selling his transcript, signed. That’s the big announcement I reckon.

  • February 19, 2016 at 11:33 am
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    My guess is he will be attending Celebration 2016. I doubt he would announce anything to do with the movies, as Lucasfilm would want to do that themselves.

  • February 19, 2016 at 2:05 pm
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    He’s marrying a Kardashian.

    • February 19, 2016 at 2:49 pm
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      Well Chewie does have a fugly sister living in the White House.

      • February 19, 2016 at 6:58 pm
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        Nice. You racist fuck.

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