Star Wars to Shoot in Kerry!

Be still our fangirl hearts?

Take deep Darth Vader-esque breaths because this is the most exciting Star Wars Episode VII news we’ve heard so far – and that’s counting the fact our tweenage crush Han Solo is re-joining the cast of the new space opera trilogy. Today it was announced that Skellig Michael in County Kerry will be closed for three days at the end of August for filming on the sure-to-be-hit movie. Kerry’s Eye got confirmation from the OPW who said ?Skellig Michael is being made available for a film production shoot on the island… this production is being fully supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Irish Film Board?.

The famous Skellig Michael

Star Wars Episode VII started shooting earlier this summer in exotic locations such as Abu Dhabi and so far Iceland has also been confirmed as a location. Media frenzy has surrounded the secretive production from the start with the casting process generating speculation that Jack Reynor and Zac Efron were attached at one stage. Our patriotic hearts swelled when it was announced Frank and Harry Potter star and most importantly Irish lad Domhnall?Gleeson was joining the production, alongside Oscar Isaac, Girls Adam Driver and the original cast trio of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. The movie is to be directed by Star Trek veteran J.J. Abrams and is due to be released in December 2015.

The official cast photo released earlier this summer. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o has since been added to the cast

The set is being watched like a hawk with initial reports suggesting virtually unknown actors Daisy Ridley and John Boyega will be playing pivotal characters who are instrumental in the search for Luke Skywalker who has been missing since the end of The Return of the Jedi. Can you feel the goosebumps already?

Sadly the production has already been slightly derailed following an accident on set where Harrison Ford broke his leg in an accident involving a hydraulic door. In the meantime we can see Kerry being a pretty popular spot this August.

Jeanne Sutton @jeannedesutun