Star Wars Episode VII and the Mayan Apocalypse

In what would appear to be a desperate attempt at hit-bait and SEO that is totally working, Reuters has posted an article that tries to tie the Mayan apocalypse to Star Wars, because a Mayan temple was used as the location of the Rebel base in Episode IV. The article notes that the same temple was used as Hugo Drax’s base in Moonraker, but that comes at the very end because nobody wants to read about Moonraker again, ever.

“If it is the end of the world, hopefully Luke will come and blow up that Death Star,” said Alex Markovitz, a 24-year-old consultant and Star Wars fan from Philadelphia, looking out over the site of Skywalker’s rebel base. “I see why they shot here. It doesn’t look real. It looks like an alien planet.”

Awesome journalism, right? Then again, I am linking to it so something worked. Actually, the only reason I’m linking to it is this money quote about the plot of Episode VII:

Yavin 4 and the rebel base return to the Star Wars plot in the forthcoming Episode VII, announced in October by the Walt Disney Co, in which Skywalker comes back to the planet to build a Jedi Knight academy. However, fans said that Disney will likely film those scenes in a studio rather than return to Tikal.

Since the article offers zero sourcing for this rumor, and depends upon unspecified “fans” for their information about shooting locations that most likely haven’t even been determined yet, it’s probably total bullshit. But if the world does end Friday, I don’t want to die knowing I could have shared a dubious bit of speculation with all of you first.

h/t Gallen_Dugall