As the Star Wars trilogy finally draws to a close with the global release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, audiences around the globe are set to discover the destinies of their most beloved characters.
Since 1977, the renowned movie franchise has travelled through many galaxies. Ireland’s Star Wars journey, which began in Portmagee, County Kerry in 2014 when filming of the trilogy began, has spanned some 2,000kms of the Wild Atlantic Way – from the south-western Skellig islands to Ireland’s most northerly point, Malin Head.
Skellig Michael, a UNESCO world heritage site, made a dramatic first appearance to cinema goers around the globe when it featured in the final moments of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where Rey finds Luke Skywalker at the island’s summit.
Skellig Michael’s stone ‘beehive’ huts, sweeping ocean views and trademark emerald green were seen once again by hundreds of millions, in The Last Jedi, as director Rian Johnson, returned to Ireland with his cast, picking up the story in the second instalment of the trilogy. The location scouts were so taken with Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way that key locations in counties Cork, Kerry, Clare and Donegal weare handpicked to represent the planet Ahch-to in The Last Jedi, the oceanic planet which became home to an exiled Luke Skywalker.