Donnie Yen Might Be Joining The STAR WARS Franchise

Back up the salt truck.

By Jul. 06, 2015

According to a Hong Kong tabloid by the name of the Daily Apple, Donnie Yen - star of the Ip Man franchise and Snowman from Blade II - has joined Rian Johnson's forthcoming Star Wars Episode VIII. Furthermore, the Daily Apple states:

  • Yen will be playing a Jedi.
  • He'll be playing scenes opposite Harrison Ford.
  • He leaves as soon as next month to begin filming. 

All of the above is making the rounds even as we speak, but there's a number of red flags here that really oughtta be addressed alongside the "news". Flags like:

  • The Daily Apple apparently has a flair for the sensationlistic.
  • The original report, once translated, is very confusingly-worded.
  • Episode VIII doesn't start filming next month.

The truth is, we'd love to see Donnie Yen join the Star Wars franchise, but for now - for the reasons listed above and more - this rumor should be considered questionable at best.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, it seems way more likely that Yen would be joining Gareth Edwards' Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, which actually does start shooting very soon. This doesn't account for the mention of Harrison Ford, of course, but who knows if that part's even accurate? Who knows if any of this is accurate? For now, assume that there may be some truth to this, alongside a bunch of incorrect rumormongering.

We'll update when things become clearer. 

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