"Star Wars: Episode VIII" is over 600 days away — (You're counting, right?) — but that doesn't mean fans can't start getting excited for the next movie.

Director Rian Johnson released an image on Tumblr early Monday reminding fans that filming on the eighth film in the saga will be starting soon.

What are we looking at?

That's Pinewood Studios in London, the lot where much of the production on "Star Wars" will take place.

Johnson isn't the only one who has been teasing the start of filming on the next "Star Wars" movie.

John Boyega teased his "Episode VIII" haircut on Snapchat recently and actress Daisy Ridley showed off a partial note along with some flowers from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.

C-3P0 actor Anthony Daniels says he has read the script, and joked he wanted to share the story with everyone.

Johnson had a pretty clever response to Daniels' eagerness to share more about the film.

We do know a few things about "Episode VIII."

The main cast, including Captain Phasma, will be back along with a few new faces including Benicio del Toro. Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan has also hinted "Episode VIII" will be "weird," different from other films in the series.

Recently, the film was pushed back several months to a December 15, 2017 release date.

While the obvious reason is that Disney and Lucasfilm would like to duplicate the box-office success of "The Force Awakens" this past December (the film has made over $2 billion worldwide so far), other reports suggest the film was partly pushed back to make way for rewrites which include adding more of fan favorites from Episode VII.

Similar to "The Force Awakens," much of the new film will be shrouded in secrecy. However, unlike J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson's a little more social media friendly, which means fans may get some more looks behind-the-scenes as "Episode VIII" gets underway. We'll have to wait and see.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: If there's one movie you should watch before the Oscars, this is it