In that Star Wars galaxy far, far away, the planet Coruscant may be the “bright center to the universe”, but the planet at the heart of the saga has always been the backwater desert world Tatooine, appearing in all but one of the six existing Star Wars films. According to a report in Badass Digest, Star Wars: Episode VII begins shooting May 14th in Morocco for two weeks, which suggests a return to the desert planet with twin suns is in order. Most of Episode IV, as well as Episodes I-II of the prequels, were shot in Tunisia, but parts of neighboring Morocco were used as Tatooine as well. In fact, nearly forty years later, pieces of sets from the original shoot are still said to be found in the desert.
This, of course, raises the question: What kind of role would Tatooine play in the movie? In the Expanded Universe, Luke Skywalker begins the Jedi Order again and begins to train a new generation of Jedi on a Jedi Academy on the planet Yavin IV, where the old rebel base was located at the end of A New Hope. But what if JJ Abrams wants Luke to reflect where we found Obi-Wan in the original film, living his life out as hermit in the wastes of Tatooine? It seems to me a distinct possibility that’s an option they might use. All I know is that Star Wars: Episode VII starts shooting in just one month, and the movie has no official cast (outside of R2-D2) and we know next to nothing about it. Anyone else expecting an announcement on, maybe, May the 4th?
I think C-3PO is also a definite cast member.
However, that would be a disappointing plot line, if Luke was a Hermit, like Ben Kenobi, because there is no longer an Empire to hide from. Also, there are at least 20 famous planets in the Star Wars, saga, so why use Tatooine again? Of course, I guess some would think that would only be right, since Tatooine is where it all began.