Rian Johnson Details The Red Dirt Planet In The Last Jedi Teaser

As expected, Lucasfilm dropped the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi during this year's Star Wars Celebration last weekend. The video offered a lot of interesting footage for fans to go over, one of which is a scene featuring speeder stabilizers kicking up what seems to be red dirt in a fight against a few AT-AT's in the distant horizon.

Seemingly filmed at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, the scene reminds many of the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. Speaking in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson reveals a few more interesting details on the planet Crait. Not only is the place the location of "an old rebel base there that's now abandoned," it also "ends up playing a key role in the movie."

"It's way out there. It's very remote. It's uncharted," says Johnson. "It's a mineral planet and so there are mines on it."

[…] But what is the significance of the red surface that's kicked up by the fighters? Red is the symbol of blood in basic human nature — but blood can stand for violence or family. Maybe both, in some cases.

Johnson nods at this. "Go ahead and run with that," he says.

With Resistance pilots seen flying speeders "to deal with a very pressing and immediate threat" in the trailer, it comes as no surprise that Crait will play an important role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Battles are always a spectacle in the Star Wars franchise, and given the rumors of gorilla-like modifications on the First Order's AT-AT, it seems like we'll have one heck of a fight on the planet.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is scheduled to premiere in cinemas on December 15, 2017. The film features Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Mayhew, Andy Serkis, Anthony Daniels, Lupita Nyong'o Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Benicio Del Toro, Kelly Marie Tran, and Laura Dern.

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