Disney released some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Star Wars: The Last Jedi as part of its D23 Expo on Saturday, and along with the obligatory shots of sets under construction and EPK interviews, the video serves as a reminder of the saddest fact about the upcoming Star Wars movie: It will be Carrie Fisher’s last film. The actress, who played Princess Leia Organa in the 1977 original before eventually being promoted to general as the franchise went on, died at the end of 2016. But she’d already completed her role in Looper director Rian Johnson’s episode, and, as even the few shots that she appears in in this footage make clear—especially one of her giving Johnson a skeptical look on set—seeing her on screen again will be intense.
But there’s more to Star Wars than General Organa, and the glimpses we get of Johnson’s corner of the universe look great. Some of the behind-the-scenes shots are just wide angles of things we already saw in the teaser—an explosion in a Rebel hanger, Daisy Ridley running at full tilt along a beach—but there are some new revelations here. Most importantly, eagle-eyed viewers will note that Rian Johnson has a sweater with a lobster on it, as confirmed and complete-the-looked by his significant other, You Must Remember This podcaster Karina Longworth:
Is the lobster sweater a subtle clue that we’ll be seeing more of the lobster-colored Mon Calamari species in the new movie? Is the titular Last Jedi, in fact, none other than Admiral Ackbar of “It’s a trap!” fame? Will the sequences in the intergalactic casino feature a full performance of the Mon Calamari ballet briefly seen in Revenge of the Sith, canonically titled “Squid Lake?” Were the Mon Calamari—if that is their real name—just trolling humans with all the squid references? Only Rian Johnson knows for sure, but if we’re lucky, his new movie will be packed with educational, informative, amusing, and, above all, distracting lore about these alien amphibians. Otherwise, we’ll just end up getting depressed about Carrie Fisher.
