Star Wars 8 compared to The Empire Strikes Back by Kylo Ren actor Adam Driver

The Paterson actor has heaped the highest praise imaginable on director Rian Johnson's script

With production on the still-untitled Star Wars: Episode 8 in full swing under the guide of director Rian Johnson, actor Adam Driver has heaped the highest praise upon the follow-up to JJ Abrams' The Force Awakens using the following four words: The Empire Strikes Back.

In an interview with Collider, the Kylo Ren actor - whose new film Paterson will be shown at this October's London Film Festival - claimed the film's script has a lot in common with the 1980 sequel which is long considered a franchise high point.

Driver said: "It’s great. It’s similar to how The Empire Strikes Backhas a different tone. For that, people always go “oooh, it’s dark” but I don’t know that it necessarily is. It’s just different in tone in a way that I think is great and necessary but also very clear. He trusts [that] his audience is ready for nuance and ambiguity. He’s not dumbing anything down for someone and that’s really fun to play."

The Girls actor will next appear alongside Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield in new Martin Scorsese film Silence which is expected to be released in time for awards recognition.

An appearance in Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky will follow, a caper providing Daniel Craig with one of his first roles away from 007 since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2011 (not including his stormtrooper cameo, of course).

Rogue One - the first of three planned Star Wars prequels - will be released this December; it stars Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn, Diego Luna and Riz Ahmed.