UPDATE 3! Star Wars: Episode VIII Filming on Skellig Michael – Day 1&2! Actor Jimmy Vee Spotted. Filming Expected to Wrap Today?

Jimmy Vee

After the delay of one day, due to bad weather, Star Wars: Episode VIII has officially started filming today. Keep checking this article as we will be updating it regularly, with new info from the first day of filming…

 

 

According to local newspapers, the conditions at sea off the South Kerry coast today are perfect for filming, with bright sunshine and no winds.

 

 

IrishExaminer reports (via Terence Mulvey):

 

A crew of around 100 people and cast members, including Mark Hamill who will reprise his Luke Skywalker role, are expected to be on the boats due to leave Portmagee today at 7am.

 

Nathan Hamill

 

Hamill’s son Nathan was spotted checking in to the Butler Arms Hotel in Waterville yesterday afternoon — no surprise as the actor’s three children accompanied him to Kerry last year also for filming.

 

A private jet landed at Kerry Airport at 10.30am yesterday and some time later, four limousines were seen exiting the airport.

 

Other crew members are staying in the newly refurbished Sea Lodge Hotel also in Waterville, while others will stay in the Ocean View holiday village in Portmagee, which has been booked out for the duration of filming with security men on duty around the clock.

 

 

Heli

Other sources suggest that actors are staying in a five-star hotel in Killarney.

 

Also another source, who we believe to be 100% reliable, told us that Daisy Ridley’s stunt double Chloe Bruce is already in Kerry! She was also present during the filming there last year.

 

 

Mark Hamill’s son Nathan posts a beautiful scenery from Skellig on his Instagram account:

 

Skellig. #Ireland

A photo posted by Nathan Hamill (@nathanhamill) on

     

 

Some interesting tweets from Owen O’Shea, a journalist at Radio Kerry:

 

 

   

 

Stay tuned for more updates!

 

 

 

UPDATE!

 

The IrishExaminer has a nice update on the first day of filming:

 

There was a flurry of activity yesterday on the pontoon in Portmagee at around 4.30pm when one of the actors, believed to be playing R2-D2, got off a returning boat, with security men attempting to block him from the view of two waiting photographers.

 

Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson and the film’s producer, Ram Bergman, were among a party of around 10 crew members, who were spotted dining in The Moorings restaurant in the village on Monday night.

 

 

Jimmy Vee
Jimmy Vee

 

This matches with the story we told you a few days agothat a few droids have been locked on the island, including R2-D2. We believe the actor seen it the title image is Jimmy Vee, who is part of Warwick Davis’ casting agency for short actors. He is probably replacing Kenny Baker as R2-D2, since the conditions on Skellig are really tough and Mr. Baker is known to have severe back problems for some years now.

 

 

 

UPDATE 2!

 

Also, according to journalist Owen O’Shea, today or tomorrow might be the last day of filming:

 

 

 

 

This is a bit brief, but considering all the talk about the negative impact that the filming will have on the island, it’s not surprising at all. They will probably shoot somewhere else as a stand in for Skellig, and now just filmed some brief shots with the actors in the typical local environment.

 

 

Portmagee

 

 

UPDATE 3!

 

Thanks to our reader Terence Mulvey, we now have the latest news from Owen O’Shea at Radio Kerry:

 

  • Portmagee conditions today were good. Boats left port at 7 am with cast and crew
  • They are finishing the filming early because it went well and proceeded quickly
  • Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley are actually staying in Waterville in Butler Arms hotel
  • They travelled to Skellig by chopper, so that’s the reason for the limited photos

 

Well it appears that this is it. We will update the story if something new appears but most likely the real Episode VIII filming will commence next year, after The Force Awakens hits theaters. The early filming on Skellig was mainly done because of the last days of good weather on the island. The next window is in April, which makes me to think that filming will start before that. Probably February or March.

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

79 thoughts on “UPDATE 3! Star Wars: Episode VIII Filming on Skellig Michael – Day 1&2! Actor Jimmy Vee Spotted. Filming Expected to Wrap Today?

  • September 15, 2015 at 6:43 pm
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    Nice! I wonder if it’s a coincidence that Gray called the capital city of Than and Ciena’s homeworld of Jelucan “Valentia” in Lost Stars. I wonder if there is a connection with the Skellig Michael location? I doubt it, but a cool coincidence for sure.

    • September 16, 2015 at 7:14 pm
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      Rey Kyrell it is!

  • September 15, 2015 at 6:45 pm
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    Good… Goooooood…

  • September 15, 2015 at 7:02 pm
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    Woohoo!

  • September 15, 2015 at 7:20 pm
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    Now let’s just hope this isn’t the only place they shoot Luke in Ep. 8

    • September 15, 2015 at 8:12 pm
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      It may very well be. I won’t automatically praise these new films like some people on this message board just because George Lucas is out of the picture and the fact that there is new management.

    • September 16, 2015 at 12:18 pm
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      Personally I wouldn’t mind if it was. I don’t really want to see Luke, Han and Leia behaving like ‘The Expendables in Space’. Although I suppose it all depends how it’s handled.

  • September 15, 2015 at 7:42 pm
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    They’re driving land rovers? Welp, this movie is going to suck.

    Skellig Michael, destroyed by Disney = an island now at one with the force.

    • September 15, 2015 at 7:56 pm
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      its like the CIA is making this movie

    • September 15, 2015 at 9:31 pm
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      The Land Rovers are confined to the mainland buddy, little chance of the production crew destroying the island.

  • September 15, 2015 at 7:51 pm
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    im so effin jealous lol what a life. not only do you get to be in star wars but you fly around the world with your family, go to beautiful islands, stay at 5 star hotels and getting paid for all this. well back to the real world 🙁

  • September 15, 2015 at 8:10 pm
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    Daisy Ridley’s stunt double? This must be **spoiler*** her official training with Luke Skywalker after they officially meet in the last moments of the Force Awakens. Makingstarwars.net is sounding more spot-on by the week.

    • September 16, 2015 at 3:09 am
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      It would certainly seem to debunk the idea that Rey shows up to Skellig Michael only to tell off Luke Skywalker and thereafter join up with Kylo Ren. Don’t remember where I heard that one, but some have speculated that she may go dark at the end of VII. Doubtful if it is true that VIII picks up with her still on Skellig Michael with Luke.

  • September 15, 2015 at 8:13 pm
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    Hope they manage the way the cast list for Ep8 is released seeing as it’s filming now before ep7 comes out,if certain actors are not mentioned then it could give away any spoilerish deaths.

  • September 15, 2015 at 8:21 pm
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    Nice! I wonder if it’s a coincidence that Gray called the capital city of Than and Ciena’s homeworld of Jelucan “Valentia” in Lost Stars. I wonder if there is a connection with the Skellig Michael location? I doubt it, but a cool coincidence for sure.

  • September 15, 2015 at 8:40 pm
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    SW EP VIII – Luke Shoots First

  • September 15, 2015 at 9:24 pm
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    Man, so excited to see how Skellig Michael will be rendered on screen. The view looks breathtaking.

  • September 15, 2015 at 11:59 pm
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    So strange to think ep8 is already filming!

    Not that it’s necessary, but I wonder if Nathan might stand-in for his dad for some shots. They could grey him up a bit for long shots.

  • September 16, 2015 at 1:38 am
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    So bizarre to think we have a solid outline for this entire Trilogy already but none of us common people know it. And Episode 8 has a script, probably more or less complete, that we won’t know anything about until about 2 years from now. Still can’t believe this is happening. Ahhhhh! 😀

  • September 16, 2015 at 2:10 am
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    how long has the screenplay been finished and how long to write?

  • September 16, 2015 at 2:17 am
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    I hope no one spots Harrison Ford on set before we see episode 7. That would be the ultimate spoiler to find out that Han didn’t die in episode 7. Point is, they need to be careful with filming to avoid major tip offs before we even see episode 7. .

    • September 16, 2015 at 5:56 am
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      No I think it would be great if he showed up. Totally throw everyone off thinking he doesn’t die, when in reality he does.

      • September 16, 2015 at 6:28 pm
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        I’ve always wanted a movie to do something like this. Make a big deal about how an actor is signed for multiple films and have him visit sets but then kill him off. It would annoy a lot of fans, but it would put some mystery back in things like the marvel movies where we know who lives based on future movies.

  • September 16, 2015 at 2:37 am
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    Bad weather cancelling the first-day filming of a Star Wars movie? Huh. NEVER HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE.

    (if anything it’s a sign that it’s going to be a good movie =3)

    • September 16, 2015 at 8:20 pm
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      It’s not a “sign” of anything other than the weather in the area being normal for this time of year.

  • September 16, 2015 at 6:02 am
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    One of the other websites that covers all Star Wars related news said that Kenny Baker actually was seen ashore. Could be true or false cause the person who said this wished to remain anonymous and didn’t show the pictures they supposedly took.

  • September 16, 2015 at 10:42 am
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    While I’m glad Luke will be back in Episode VIII, I hope it’s not as a Force Ghost! Before all the crazy rumours about Luke only popping up in the final scene, there were other rumours about Luke playing the Obi-Wan style role (and dying).

    • September 16, 2015 at 12:06 pm
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      I don’t think they would need him on location if he were a force ghost.

      • September 16, 2015 at 4:15 pm
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        Excellent point! I hope you’re right!

      • September 16, 2015 at 9:20 pm
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        Think they would actually. As a condition to appearing in RotJ, AG demanded that they find a way to shoot him on set with MH. It’s been possible, using nothing but optical compositing and photo-chem process, for thirty years. Not saying I think he IS a ghost, just that it would be entirely possible.

    • September 16, 2015 at 9:18 pm
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      Think it’s pretty clear that Han is really the Obi-Wan role, and the sacrificial lamb for E7.

    • September 19, 2015 at 9:29 am
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      I don’t think Luke only being in the final scene is a “crazy rumor” — pretty sure it’s a foregone conclusion.

      • September 19, 2015 at 11:54 am
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        Let’s just say I’ll believe it when I see it. If it turns out to be true, I’ll admit I was wrong.

  • September 16, 2015 at 12:41 pm
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    Ewoks. Confirmed!

  • September 16, 2015 at 1:58 pm
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    The whole blacked out windows and “big star” talk, I hope it’s Harrison Ford……

    • September 16, 2015 at 4:24 pm
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      this year I’m unable to track his private jet N6GU to confirm.

    • September 17, 2015 at 8:48 am
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      It would be really funny if all of those shots of “Rey and Chewie” flying the Falcon at the end of the movie are just because Han was out the back having a snooze, not because Rey has inherited the Falcon…

      • September 17, 2015 at 11:31 am
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        Ha! Indeed.

  • September 16, 2015 at 2:01 pm
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    Cursed EU flag.

  • September 16, 2015 at 5:10 pm
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    Just found this interesting snippet from http://www.andrewjack.com/films-actors-dialects.htm – Andrew Jack acted as an accent coach on Ep VII for:

    ‘Daisy Ridley – RP. John Boyega – American.’

    John Boyega doing an American accent is no surprise, but ‘RP’ means that Daisy Ridley will be doing posh British. Her real accent is already quite close to that, yet they thought it was worth hiring a dialogue coach to get her to go full ‘I thought I recognised your foul stench when I came on board’ posh 🙂 This isn’t just ‘let’s go with the actor’s real accent’, it’s a deliberate choice meant to convey something.

    In Star Wars terms, a British accent is from Coruscant or the Core Worlds – the hub of the galaxy, very urban and NOT likely to contain a backwater desert planet like the one she’s living on. So their choice of accent for Rey could imply:

    1) Rey hasn’t always lived on that planet – she wasn’t placed there as a baby the way Luke was on Tatooine.

    2) She had a privileged early childhood – she may look like an urchin but she sounds like a princess.

    3) It’s possible she wasn’t raised by any of the original main cast (although this is moot, because children of immigrants often pick up the local accent while their parents don’t. So if e.g. Han and Leia raised her on Coruscant – very likely if Leia’s as involved in galactic politics as we’d expect – Rey could come out sounding British while they still sound American.)

    What does everyone think?

    • September 16, 2015 at 5:28 pm
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      : Jakku is Tatooine. Rey and the Falcon are the prize Han Solo finally paid to someone linked to Jabba.

      • September 16, 2015 at 5:40 pm
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        NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

      • September 16, 2015 at 6:24 pm
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        Are you assuming Rey is indeed a solo? Because I really don’t see Han as the type to sell his kids into slavery. After all he’s done for the republic and the fact that hes dating a princess, someone could lend him a few credits instead of him selling people.

        The only way this could be even partly true is if bounty hunters kidnapped Rey as a baby to random her, but she escaped and is now living on her own.

        • September 16, 2015 at 10:04 pm
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          You are absolutely right. I was actually kidding!

    • September 16, 2015 at 5:49 pm
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      I met Andrew Jack in 1994. On the set of Restoration with Robert Downy Jr and Meg Ryan in Crickhowell

    • September 16, 2015 at 5:54 pm
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      Very nice catch! Who from the OT trilogy has a RP dialect? Grand Moff Tarkin! And he was from ERIADU where they also have the same dialect. So Rey might be either Grand Moff Tarkin’s granddaughter or she’s from the same system….

    • September 16, 2015 at 6:03 pm
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      Carrie Fisher tried a posh English accent for ‘A New Hope’. In the subsequent movies the accent was softened if not dropped.

      • September 16, 2015 at 6:43 pm
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        And it was only in the Tarkin “stench” scene. The rest of the movie she’s full on American.

    • September 16, 2015 at 7:31 pm
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      What if Jakku is populated by survivors of the crashed Star Destroyers and such, and Rey is one of their offspring? I mean, TFA is 30 years after RotJ, so if she was born 10 years after, the ages match up.

      • September 17, 2015 at 12:01 am
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        Nice speculation… it’s not like Disney is going to tell us anything now till December.

        • September 18, 2015 at 1:46 am
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          True!

  • September 16, 2015 at 6:41 pm
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    I thought they wanted bad weather this time? Hopefully it won’t be one of those lame shots where it’s raining despite being completely sunny because they couldn’t coordinate shooting with a cloudy or rainy day.

  • September 16, 2015 at 6:44 pm
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    No article about mark almost falling to his death?

    • September 16, 2015 at 7:38 pm
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      That was during the Ep. 7 shoot in 2014.

      • September 17, 2015 at 12:00 am
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        I wonder why it’s all over the news today.

  • September 16, 2015 at 7:24 pm
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    Will he be in this one for more than 20 seconds?

  • September 16, 2015 at 7:29 pm
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    Thank God Rey didn’t die in VII, as suggested by some. xD

  • September 16, 2015 at 7:39 pm
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    It is crazy to think that we are all speculating about Episode VIII when VII hasn’t even come out yet!

    • September 16, 2015 at 7:40 pm
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      Personally, I find news about the filming of it more interesting than news of its screening.

  • September 16, 2015 at 7:39 pm
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    And that three Star Wars films are in production all at the same time.

  • September 16, 2015 at 8:01 pm
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    Little people make me uncomfortable.

    • September 17, 2015 at 8:20 am
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      Once at work I walked around a corner and nearly trampled a little person. it was so startling that I literally let out a yelp. She and her not-a-little-person boyfriend were not amused and simply stared at me in disbelief for a moment before walking out.

  • September 16, 2015 at 8:07 pm
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    I know this is a ridiculously obvious thing to say, but just think, 3 NEW STAR WARS MOVIES are being worked on RIGHT NOW. thats crazy 🙂 2 are being filmed and the other in post production.. 3 movies already underway fosho… ahhhh, satisfied siiighhhhh……

  • September 16, 2015 at 8:34 pm
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    Ha, they’re still using dwarfs to operate R2’s innards? Talk about sticking to practical effects.

    • September 16, 2015 at 8:50 pm
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      Some may call that dogmatic.

      • September 16, 2015 at 8:57 pm
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        Don’t get short with me

    • September 17, 2015 at 2:00 am
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      Actually, given current technology, wouldn’t that more accurately be an impractical effect? I mean, I get using Kenny Baker – it’s a nice gesture, similar to what Lucas did on the PT films, but this?

    • September 17, 2015 at 3:00 am
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      R2 can be controlled with remote nearly all the time now. Only time Kenny was in him was when he wobbled, right?

  • September 16, 2015 at 8:48 pm
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    This was all a extensive cover up to get more Luke footage because they screwed up.

    • September 16, 2015 at 9:15 pm
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      DP had the wrong lenses on the camera, and all of the footage is out of focus.

  • September 16, 2015 at 10:10 pm
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    Didnt they have a little person as a stand-in for Maz Kanata…

    Who seems to be a Jedi according to most rumors…

    And this location is supposedly some sort of Jedi Temple of sorts…

    • September 16, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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      Its droid(s) not Maz, apparently they have been locked up there all weekend.

      • September 17, 2015 at 1:15 am
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        … you know only one droid in star wars is played by a little person right?

        I am saying he is going to be the stand-in for motion capture for Maz Kanata.

        • September 17, 2015 at 6:29 am
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          GONK…GONK….GONKYAKAKOICHEK.
          .
          Calling it now – TFA is an all singing, all dancing Gonk spectacular.

  • September 16, 2015 at 11:47 pm
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    Ewoks confirmed to be living with Luke in the Jedi Temple!

  • September 16, 2015 at 11:58 pm
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    I’m confused now. Wasn’t Kenny Baker seen on the island too?

    • September 17, 2015 at 10:18 am
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      No, it was a false report on several other sites.

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