Star Wars: Episode IX photo: Fans seek Prime Jedi clues
A mosaic in a new photo hints at a Jedi history plot point, but these might not be the droids we're looking for.
Warning: Possible spoilers for Star Wars: Episode IX ahead.
Any photo or tidbit released from the cast and crew of Star Wars: Episode IX will be dissected and debated by fans, and here's a new image to chew over.
On Sunday, Dan Mindel, the film's director of photography, posted an Instagram photo apparently from the Episode IX set, with the caption, "Space lights ..... unbeatable quality source of ambient lighting...6000 watts 6 lamps or 3000 watts 3 lamps!"
The photo indeed shows a huge number of lights, green-screen walls, some arch-like structures and a few crew members.
But the lights are secondary to something else in the image. The arch seems to soar over a mosaic image, which had some Instagram commenters wondering if the scene is depicting the first Jedi temple on the planet Ahch-To. The temple was home to a mosaic of the Prime Jedi, the first member of the Jedi Order, sitting in a state of meditation and balance.
"Balance symbol?" asked paintedroseered on Instagram.
Responded vpelto95, "Prime Jedi? That's what I was thinking too."
The image also appeared in the Last Jedi. But the photo is shot from so far away that it's unclear if the mosaic theory is correct.
Other fans had different guesses.
"Are those rebel transport doors?" asked one.
Are those rebel transport doors?
— Chris (@YodatheHobbit) August 13, 2018
Said another, "Maz Kanata's sail barge???"
Maz Kanatas sail barge???
— Daran Philipson (@dazman007) August 12, 2018
And still another ventured, "It (reminds) me (of) the hangar at Theed Palace in Naboo."
It remains me the hangar at Theed Palace in Naboo
— Carlos Gómez (@carlos_salvador) August 12, 2018
Mindel tagged the location as London, which would make sense, because Episode IX just started filming at Pinewood Studios there.
It's not the first vague photo from the much-anticipated film. On Aug. 2, Episode IX director J.J. Abrams tweeted a set photo that appears to show a blurry Finn (John Boyega) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) sitting in the Millennium Falcon's cockpit.
Star Wars: Episode IX will open in theaters around the world Dec. 20, 2019.
