No date with VIII: Next ‘Star Wars’ movie will not film in Arizona despite rumor
Apr 5, 2016, 5:32 AM | Updated: 10:15 pm
(Disney/Lucasfilm via AP)
(Disney/Lucasfilm via AP)
PHOENIX — We don’t want to burst your bubble, but a galaxy far, far away will not be getting closer to the Phoenix area anytime soon.
A rumor began floating around this week that the next installment of the “Star Wars” series would be filming in Surprise, a suburb of Phoenix, sometime next year.
Despite WCPM3.com claiming it had reports from “numerous news outlets,” a quick Google search proved that to be untrue.
The website also claimed the location was handpicked by Episode VIII writer and director Rian Johnson for a previously-unknown planet in the “Star Wars” universe.
The rumor said Johnson would hire a lot of extras from the city to appear in the film.
While Surprise and and Arizona would undoubtedly love another claim to “Star Wars” fame — remember, part of “Return of the Jedi” was filmed in Yuma — we’re sad to say BB-8 won’t be rolling down US 60 anytime soon.
“We wish this story was true,” a city spokesman said in an email.
On WCPM 3’s “about” page, a clear disclosure dashes hope in a way that even Obi-Wan Kenobi couldn’t help:
“WCPM 3 News is a fantasy news site. All news articles on wcpm3.com are satire or pure fantasy.”
Though the fake article seems more like something we would have seen on April Fool’s Day, we’re guessing the site waited to release the story just before “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” hit shelves on DVD on Tuesday to generate more groans page views.
KTAR’s Lauren Grifo contributed to this report.
