Star Wars Director Offers Sneak Peek Of Filming

The director of the new Star Wars film has whetted appetites for next year's release with two pictures from the set.

The black and white images, posted on Rian Johnson's "lousy stinkin tumblr" account, show him in action on the set of Episode VIII.

"Good. Bad. I’m the guy with the microfibre sham," he captioned them.

While the pictures themselves are reason enough for Star Wars fans to celebrate, Johnson also used his post to reveal some big news.

"I can't believe we’re halfway through the shoot. (We’re halfway through the shoot!)," he wrote.

The first image was of a pilot who appeared to be in the cockpit of an X-wing fighter used by the Resistance.

The second looked like it was from on board a ship or base belonging to the First Order.

After a major blow earlier this year, the update will allow those eagerly awaiting the next movie to collectively breathe a sigh of relief.

Disney announced in January it had pushed back the release of the next instalment in the film franchise.

Episode VIII will now hit cinemas on 15 December 2017, seven months later than its initial release date of 26 May 2017.

The company did not give a precise reason for the delay but there were rumours writer-director Johnson - who is making his debut in the directing hotseat - was reworking the script.

Filming for Episode VIII started in February in the same location as scenes for Episode VII, on the island of Skellig Michael, off the coast of County Kerry in Ireland.

Johnson posted his first picture of filming last month, with an image of cinematographer Steve Yedlin, captioned: "Hard to believe we’re wrapping up week four already, it’s just flying by."

Among the stars featuring in Episode VIII will be The Usual Suspects and Sicario actor Benicio Del Toro as well as Jurassic Park and Wild actress Laura Dern.

Newcomer Kelly Marie Tran also joins the line-up.

The trio will join among others, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Mark Hamill, who also starred in Episode VII.