To date, we have only seen roughly 6 seconds of Rian Johnson's Star Wars: Episode VIII, which was part of a production announcement, and it basically showed Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) staring at... well, nothing. Which means we know next to nothing about what's supposed to happen in the sequel to J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and we have a year to speculate. Huge rumors are swirling around the interwebs about Episode VIII -- some of which even sound true -- including this one, about Rey (Daisy Ridley) possibly fighting a sea monster while she's on the island of Ahch-To.
As you'll recall, Rey (Ridley) ventures to the remote island with R2-D2 and Chewbacca to find Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who has been missing for years. She returns his lightsaber to him, and we smash cut to the end credits... though everything that we have heard suggests that Episode VIII begins right where The Force Awakens ends, and Luke will end up training Rey. Now, MakingStarWars suggests that part of that training may involve Rey fighting a "rather large sea monster," and possibly earns the right to stay on the island as a result of that assumed victory.
The way the site sets it up, Luke is allowed to be on Ahch-To, but Rey is NOT permitted to stay there. Luke has creature minions at his disposal on Ahch-To, which are being described as bird-like creatures with razor-sharp teeth that are sort of like Gremlins. The site even says that they're not dissimilar to the puffins that naturally inhabit the Irish island of Skellig Michael, where Rian Johnson filmed the scenes with Rey and Luke. But Rey will have to convince the creatures to let her stay on the island, allegedly so she can train with Luke Skywalker, and part of that process might find her battling a sea creature... if the rumor is to be believed.
I actually do believe it, if Episode VIII takes pages out of Empire's playbook, where Luke had to contend with deadly creatures while training with Yoda on Dagobah:
So this very well could be a quick scene, but it sounds interesting, nonetheless. It makes me wonder how much time that Star Wars: Episode VIII will spend on Ahch-To, with Rey explaining to Luke all that has happened with Kylo Ren, and the loss of Han Solo, as well as the rise of Snoke (whomever he might be). Part of me would like to fast forward to Luke in full action, but it sounds like he'll be in Yoda mode for a chunk of the next movie. We'll know more when a trailer actually drops, and then when the movie opens everywhere on December 15, 2017.
