There's much we don't know about Star Wars: Episode VIII. Especially as it concerns actors that did not appear in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, some rumors regarding them have started to come out. The first bit of news regards the character being played by Benicio del Toro. It appears we finally have some news regarding who he might be or at least what he might look like.
While this is all still rumor, Making Star Wars is correct more often than not when it comes to those rumors. According to them, Benicio del Toro is playing a "man in black." That's a description of his look, as well as his temperament as he is apparently the sort of character that you don't want to mess with. He is apparently clean shaven with hair on par with the length of Poe Dameron. While some rumors have indicated that del Toro would be playing a villain, and the all black look certainly makes him sound like he looks similar to Kylo Ren, MSW says that the other characters in the film don't treat him like a villain, at least not initially. It's believed he may appear on a casino set which the site recently revealed will be part of the film. MSW compares him more to Lando Calrissian than to any villain, though they also say they have some details, which they're not quite ready to publish, which indicates he's also very unlike Lando.
While Benicio del Toro frequently plays bad guys, the idea that he would be doing that in Star Wars: Episode VIII never felt right. Star Wars: The Force Awakens introduced us to most, if not all, of our primary villains already and introducing new ones this late, unless they're minor, seemed off. And you don't cast Benicio del Toro in a minor role. Unless we meet the rest of the Knights of Ren at some point we don't expect to meet a lot of new bad guys.
Having him attached to a casino does make him seem a bit more like Lando, or even something like del Toro's role of Taneleer Tivan from Guardians of the Galaxy. Why would any of our important characters find themselves in a casino? The most likely reason would be that they're looking for information, something or someone, that they believe they'll find there. Whether Benicio del Toro is the one they're looking for, or just a step on the road, who knows?
So it's unlikely, though not impossible that Benicio del Toro will be a new villain in Star Wars: Episode VIII. Instead, it appears that he'll play an important supporting role for our heroes. Will we see him again after that? We'll have to wait and see. Star Wars: Episode VIII will be in theaters next year.
