It's been rumoured for quite some time, but the man himself basically confirmed it - Benicio Del Toro will be the villain in Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Del Toro made the announcement during a red carpet interview with ET, saying that a deal is exceeding close to being finalised.
"I can’t tell you much about it but I think that it might happen. It looks like it’s gonna happen so I’m very excited. I can’t talk too much about it. The script is hard to get. They told me they’d cut my finger if I talk about it."
That's pretty damn good news, we think. Del Toro's an incredible actor and his next film, Sicario, is getting a huge amount of awards buzz. Not only that, Del Toro's no stranger to Disney.
Del Toro turned up in Guardians of the Galaxy as The Collector and had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in Thor: The Dark World. However, Del Toro was also in the final stages of negotiation for playing the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness, but passed for unknown reasons.
Undoubtedly, JJ Abrams - who's producing Star Wars: Episode VIII - is keen to work with him, hence why he's hitting him up for this. Meanwhile, Rian Johnson is prepping to take over the reins from Abrams for the follow-up to The Force Awakens.
The D23 Expo, which is running this weekend in Anaheim, should give us a bit more information on what's happening with Star Wars: Episode VIII - and possibly even give us the title of the upcoming film.
Star Wars: Episode VIII has a US release date pencilled for May 28th, 2017.
