When the cast and crew of Star Wars: The Last Jedi returned to Ireland, they headed straight to Skellig Michael in County Kerry, where Rey finally discovered Luke. But this didn't signal the end of the Irish Star Wars journey. The location scouts were so taken with the Wild Atlantic Way, locations from Cork and Kerry to Clare and Donegal were also handpicked to appear in the movie. And so, cast and crew made the western edge of Ireland their home during filming. And the locals? Well, they were delighted the jedi were coming to town!
When filming at Skellig Michael wrapped, the crew headed to Malin Head in Donegal – Ireland's most northerly point, on the Inishowen Peninsula. Hugh Farren, proprietor of Farren's Bar, recalls the visit well: 'It was unbelievable that Star Wars was filming a mile and a half away from us. The buzz that we had for the month was surreal'. Naturally, Hugh wanted to mark the occasion, so he painted a mural of Yoda on the side of his pub.
Go mbeidh an fórsa leat! — May the force be with you!
LUCASFILM
Further south takes you to Dingle, County Kerry – once called 'the most beautiful place in the world' and whose most famous resident is a dolphin called Fungie. Until now, that is: Justin and Luke Burgess from Bean in Dingle recall: 'It wasn't until someone came in a few times that [we] realised that they were from the crew!' Filming centred around a spectacular headland called Ceann Sibéal (Sybil Head) in Ballyferriter, where lots of activity was going on!
And it was lightsabers at the ready again when Peter Mayhew – 7ft 3in Chewbacca – popped into a local school, Scoil Baile an Fheirtearaigh, to say hello to the kids! The final location was Brow Head, near Crookhaven, County Cork. No stranger to films in this part of the world, former Star Wars actor Liam Neeson filmed some of his 1990s movie, Michael Collins, right here in West Cork.