The Star Wars universe that we know and love is comprised of so many different, intricate elements–lost, lonely characters seeking their true destiny; the eternal struggle of good versus evil; a seemingly endless array of daddy issues; fandom-dividing love triangles, just to name a few–but one of the most fun, lighthearted staples of the series is a mysterious, dangerous locale filled to the brim with all manner of aliens, scoundrels, and potential enemies. In A New Hope, it’s the original wretched hive of scum and villainy, the Mos Eisley Cantina, where Luke Skywalker and Han Solo first meet. In Return of the Jedi, it’s Jabba’s palace, replete with unsavory types like Salacious Crumb and the sweet sounds of the Max Rebo Band. In The Force Awakens, it’s Maz Kanata’s castle on Takodana, where First Order spies and family secrets are hidden ‘round every corner. Now, according to The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, we have a new seedy underbelly to explore, one that’s a bit more glamorous than we’re used to seeing: Canto Bight.
According to Vanity Fair’s epic The Last Jedi preview, which hints at a number of tantalizing new details, Canto Bight is a new, Monte Carlo-inspired casino city for “the rich assholes†of the galaxy. If the portraits taken by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz are any indication, these colorful new characters are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Though we’ve caught glimpses of royalty and big city life in the Star Wars universe before (most notably Naboo and Coruscant in the prequel films, Rebels, and new Legends books), most of the films’ focus on the edges of the galaxy ravaged by war and slavery (Tatooine and Jakku) or the military (the Empire and the New Order).
With the New Republic’s capital, Bosnian Prime, destroyed by Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens, Canto Bight is a place where the upper class have “carve[d] a life for themselves where they can live apart from the galactic struggle,†according to Lucasfilm Story Group’s creative executive Pablo Hidalgo. “They found a way to live above it or beyond it. There’s a class of wealthy that have helped build all sorts of loopholes in society that will always ensure that they’ll survive or even thrive no matter what else is happening out there.â€
Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern’s @StarWars: #TheLastJedi characters revealed https://t.co/e5FJ79sVYG
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 24, 2017
As is often the case with Star Wars, there may be more to this new city than meets the eye. In his interview with Vanity Fair, Rian Johnson also shared that Canto Bight is inspired by James Bond films and Hitchcock’s classic thriller, To Catch a Thief. Though Laura Dern’s character, Admiral Amilyn Holdo, is photographed on her own (with endlessly cool lavender hair to boot), doesn’t she look like she’d fit right in with the casino city’s dapper new aliens and party guests? All we know about the Admiral so far is that she’s a high-ranking human officer in the Resistance. It stands to reason that, since she clearly fits in with the upper echelon of Casino Bight, the new Admiral might end up infiltrating the casino. And if we take Johnson’s film references to heart, she could very well be The Last Jedi’s answer to a cat burglar, charming her way to some item or artifact crucial to Resistance efforts.
Either way, we are dying to meet all of these upper-crust characters… Especially this guy:
Who is this dapper goatman at a space casino? I must know. I must…paint him. #StarWars #TheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/I2urrsUN32
— Dan Casey (@DanCasey) May 24, 2017
But what do you think? Are you excited to see a Monte Carlo-inspired city in The Last Jedi? Do you think Laure Dern is the Brigitte Auber of the Star Wars universe? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t miss all the behind-the-scenes photos from Vanity Fair’s illuminating cover story.
Featured image: Paramount Pictures
