<P> In September 2015, Disney shortlisted the female cast members to Gina Rodriguez, Tatiana Maslany, and Olivia Cooke . Later that month, Benicio del Toro confirmed that he will play the villain in the film, and Mark Hamill was also confirmed . In October 2015, Gugu Mbatha - Raw was rumored to have been cast in the film . In November, Jimmy Vee was cast as R2 - D2 . In November, Kennedy announced at the London premiere for The Force Awakens that the entire cast would return for Episode VIII, along with "a handful" of new cast members . In February 2016, at the start of filming, it was confirmed that Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran had been cast in unspecified roles . In April 2017, at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, Lucasfilm announced that Tran plays Resistance maintenance worker Rose Tico, which Johnson described as the film's largest new role . </P> <P> Second unit photography began during pre-production at Skellig Michael in Ireland on September 14, 2015, due to the difficulties of filming at that location during other seasons . It would have lasted four days, but filming was canceled for the first day due to poor weather and rough conditions . In November 2014, Ivan Dunleavy, chief executive of Pinewood Studios, confirmed that the film would be shot at Pinewood, with filming also occurring in Mexico . In September 2015, del Toro revealed that principal photography would begin in March 2016; however, Kennedy later stated that filming would begin in January 2016 . The production began work on the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios on November 15, 2015 . Rick Heinrichs served as production designer . </P> <P> In January 2016, production of Episode VIII was delayed until February 2016, due to script rewrites . Additionally, filming was potentially in danger of being delayed further due to an upcoming strike between the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television and the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union . On February 10, 2016, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that principal photography had begun, under the working title Space Bear . Additional filming took place in Dubrovnik from March 9 to 16, 2016, as well as in Ireland in May . Malin Head in County Donegal and a mountain headland, Ceann Sibeal in County Kerry, served as additional filming locations . Principal photography wrapped on July 22, 2016, though as of early September 2016, Nyong'o had not filmed her scenes . In February 2017, it was announced that sequences from the film were shot in IMAX . </P> <P> In July 2013, Kennedy announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe that John Williams would return to score the Star Wars sequel trilogy . At a Tanglewood concert in August 2016, Williams confirmed he is scheduled to start scoring Episode VIII . Williams said he would begin recording the score "off and on" in December 2016 until March or April 2017 . On February 21, 2017, it was confirmed that recording was underway, with Williams conducting . </P>

Where is star wars episode ix being filmed