Star Wars Episode 8 Will See Heroes Tested "Immensely," Actor Says

Oscar Isaac, who played X-wing pilot Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will reprise the role in 2017's Episode VIII, has shared some new details on the upcoming film. He told Rolling Stone that Episode VIII will see all of the film's heroes pushed to their limits.

"In the new film, there's a lot more to do. What happens now is the heroes get tested. All three of them get tested immensely," he said, referencing Poe, Rey, and Finn.

Does BB-8 get tested as well? "BB-8's doing all right. BB-8 gets tested too! Everybody gets tested!" Isaac said.

The actor also followed in the footsteps of Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn) in saying that Episode VIII will be "dark," but maybe not that much. "It's the dark second chapter, but not really dark," he said.

You can read the full Rolling Stone interview here.

Poe did not have a very big role in The Force Awakens. Additionally, when he signed on to the movie, he was apparently informed the character would be killed off, though director JJ Abrams later told him this would not be the case.

This isn't the first time Isaac has talked about Episode VIII. In April this year, the actor said he agreed with the idea that director Rian Johnson was taking the series in a new direction with Episode VIII.

"Rian is definitely going to places and investigating things that haven't really been done in the Star Wars universe," he said. "For me, it's so fun getting to explore different things that I wouldn't have expected in this universe."

Isaac also said that, in some ways, Episode VIII feels like an independent movie.

"Certain things we get to play with--this kind of intimacy that we get to find--it's special. It's been really fun," he said at the time.

Episode VIII was originally expected to premiere in May 2017, but Disney later shifted the film's release date to December 2017. Taking Episode VIII's former May 2017 release date is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.