End Result of Star Wars Filming in Cleveleys

Well that was a whirlwind of excitement, after the inactivity of Covid lockdown! This seaside town sprang to live for a couple of short weeks in early May 2021. But why was Star Wars filming in Cleveleys?

Shrouded in secrecy, everyone who did know wasn’t able to say anything. But by the time that Cafe Cove was transformed into a sci-fi set, we’d all worked out that filming in Cleveleys was for Star Wars! Spotting Shoretroopers during the day of filming kind of sealed the deal. It was October 2022 when we finally got to see the production shots and it’s worth waiting for!

With sightings of Diego Luna filming in Cleveleys for Star Wars it had to be spin-off Andor. An upcoming American television series created by Tony Gilroy for the streaming service Disney+. It’s a prequel to the Star Wars film Rogue One (2016), following the character Cassian Andor five years before the events of the film. Diego Luna is executive producer and reprises his Rogue One role as Cassian Andor. 

Andor Trailer and Release Date

Well, we’ve waited a while, but it’s finally been confirmed that Andor will hit our screens on Disney+ with a three-episode premiere on September 21 2022. It’s 12 episodes in total, and it sounds like they’re already planning a second season, with another 12 possible episodes. The question is, will they come back to Cleveleys?

And Cleveleys become NIAMOS!

Well, it was worth waiting for! We’ve all been agog, wondering whether we’d actually be able to recognise Cleveleys in the final on-screen version of Disney+ Star Wars spin-off Andor.

I think it’s fair to say we weren’t disappointed – as you can see from these shots from the show. Cleveleys is plainly recognisable – you can’t miss Cafe Cove, the seafront, the concrete wave breaker units and even Mary’s Shell. Our familiar world forms a backdrop to the world of NIAMOS. Shame there isn’t a photo credit to tell fans where to go and find it in real life!

Want to watch it for yourself? The scenes featuring Cleveleys begin at 40 minutes into episode 7 of Andor on Disney+. Let’s see whether Cleveleys is in any more episodes as the series unfolds!

How it all kicked off…

Local Facebook first lit up on 19.4.21 with news of a film production crew arriving in Cleveleys in coming weeks. The information didn’t actually say what was being filmed, but it all pointed towards Star Wars filming in Cleveleys. We haven’t received direct confirmation from any source. But 2+2 does equal 4, doesn’t it? Visit Cleveleys broke the story, with this post, first published on Saturday 24 April 2021.

Back to the filming. Residents close by the promenade received information letters. On Friday 23 April, road closure notices appeared on the promenade and conversation resumed online. Everyone is intrigued! So we set off on a mission to find out and were first to break the story on Saturday 24 April 2021.

We’ve been publishing daily video updates from the location on our YouTube channel Visit Fylde Coast. The most recent updates are at the top of this page, unpeeling the Star Wars visit to Cleveleys!

Remember that you heard it here first!

Why was Star Wars Filming in Cleveleys?

It’s a question that many people have asked! When you stand back and really look at the seafront it certainly looks space age.

But how did location scouts find it?

Our chat with Location Manager Jason provided the answer. For a start Jason is a local man. He attended nearby Rossall School so is very familiar with this stretch of seafront. And he’d worked on the set of Tim Burton’s ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ when it filmed in Blackpool. You might remember the Fylde Coast spotting sightings of Samuel L. Jackson!

Although Jason wasn’t the location scout for the Star Wars filming, he directed the person here who was. And it’s as simple as that!

One final nice touch…

With everything packed away and the circus gone from town… Residents in the vicinity of the set received a thank you letter, saying: “The filming has been a great success and we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time and working in your town, and hope you had a good experience too. We and the production team want to thank you for your hospitality, patience and understanding throughout our preparation, filming and reinstatement. We look forward to seeing your town immortalised on screen next year and thank you for being part of the process.”

From talking to security people, the location manager and crew, we know that they had a good experience with local people and the area. You’re welcome to come back at any time!

The Show’s Over Folks!

You joined us for a walk along a grey and windy Cleveleys seafront on the morning of Monday 10 May. We went for a look to see whether any signs of the Star Wars circus remained at the promenade. Here’s the video from their last day at site –

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Filming had finished the previous week. The last vestiges of the set were being cleared away and the location demobilised. By the next day you’ll not be able to see that anything happened! Except…

Traces of a Star Wars World, left behind!

A ‘distressed’ stencilled effect had been applied to the fascia at the cafe – part of the Star Wars language?

Crew might have removed the stencil but they didn’t clean off the distressing. It looked like a sort of dirty, oily paste that they’d applied. A reverse image of the stencil remained – but only for a few short days.

The Star Wars Effect

Well you can’t say anything other than it’s been great for Cleveleys profile! Usually the quieter relation at the side of it’s noisy parent at Blackpool, Cleveleys is now on the radar of many new people!

As you’ll remember, we were first to break the news here at Visit Cleveleys/Visit Fylde Coast. Local and regional media picked it up a day or two later. Then the story spread to the nationals. And of course the Star Wars fan base were all over it like a rash.

We did an interview for the drive time shows on BBC Radio Lancashire and BBC Radio Five Live. Newsround, ITV news and some other channels also contacted us for information and photos. One of our readers also heard Chris Evans mention it on Virgin Radio!

Hopefully the financial impact of this other-worldly experience will last for a long time to come. According to Culture England, the impact of a filming crew arriving can add £50k a day in extra revenue to an area. With the team here for 8 days that could add up to £400k to half a million extra income for Cleveleys and Blackpool north.

Cleveleys was certainly busier throughout the two weeks. We know that so many of you found this lovely resort for the first time because of the connection. Everyone said how nice it is – and that they planned to come back.

We’ve been spreading the word, showcasing how great it is and encouraging you to sign up for our weekly enews and subscribe to our YouTube channel. That way you’ll keep finding out interesting things from the Fylde Coast!

Star Wars in Cleveleys – Location Updates

Looking back over these exciting few weeks it’s hard to believe it all happened! But it did – and we captured it all to look back at. Here’s what we know about the time when the movies came to town…

How we worked out it’s Star Wars Filming in Cleveleys

If you follow Visit Fylde Coast you’ll know that we are fortunate enough to live on Cleveleys seafront. So we know quite a few of the people who live in the area affected by filming. It’s no surprise then that we’ve had sight of the two letters which the production company hand delivered to local houses on 12 and 19 April.

The letters (from E&E Industries at Pinewood Studios) don’t say what is filming, just that it’s a ’12 part television series’. They also provided 3 plans showing where beach, promenade and road closures would be in place, and when.

Here’s the first video for our YouTube channel, from Monday 26 April –

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Working title ‘Pilgrim’

Good spot by Andrew Roberts who left a comment below on 25 April 2021 that the working title of the film is ‘Pilgrim’. This is according to the road closure notice posted by Lancashire County Council, which states:

THE LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL (CLEVELEYS PILGRIM FILMING PROJECT, NORTH PROMENADE,
THORNTON CLEVELEYS, BOROUGH OF WYRE)

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Lancashire County Council has made an Order under Section 16A of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, as amended, the effect of which will be to temporarily prohibit any motor vehicle, cycle or pedestrian (except for event participants) from proceeding over that length of North Promenade, Thornton Cleveleys including the promenade, beach and north west footway along the promenade from Rough Lee Road to Carr Gate in the Borough of Wyre.

The prohibition will be operative from 0700 hours on Wednesday 28th April 2021 until 0000 hours on Tuesday 11th May 2021.

Why is this relevant? Multiple showbusiness websites quote the working title of the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series as ‘Pilgrim’ – as according to Production Weekly.

What did E&E Industries say?

We contacted E&E Industries on 20 April, asking what they were doing, if anything, to notify the public about the promenade closures. Obviously we said we would be running this article.

This is some of their reply “At this stage we believe that our work with the relevant authorities and notices put out so far combined with the consultation carried out as part of the closures application would cover anyone who could be directly affected by our works.

“As I’m sure you can understand, these are working activities. Given the current COVID regulations we are trying to keep the filming as low key as possible to help with management of the public. I appreciate and understand you see this as an opportunity to promote your business and the local area. However would ask at this time you are aware of what impact that could have.”

What do the locals know?

On 19 April the question was asked on the local Facebook chat group. Sadly we weren’t quick enough to screenshot the answers, but several different people (who we don’t personally know) mentioned Star Wars!

Next, we turned our detective skills to that good old search engine, Google, to see what we could turn up.

12 Part TV Series at Pinewood Studios

Our first search is for ‘filming new 12 part TV series Pinewood Studios’. Here’s what came back on page 1 of the search results…

According to Kemp Films TV Video website, Disney+ spin-off series Star Wars: Andor, starring Diego Luna, is filming at Pinewood Studios from the end of November to July 2021.

According to broadcastnow.co.uk, demand for studio space is rocketing as production gets back on track. New facilities and site expansions are coming down the line. Disney and Netflix have struck long-term 10 year deals with Pinewood and sister studio Shepperton Studios. It will secure film and drama stages that ensure an uninterrupted flow of content.

So that’s that then. We don’t know about you but we reckon 2+2=4!

Perhaps now is a good time to confess that we know nothing about Star Wars… sorry. But we’re just as excited as you are!

What do fans think? 28.4.21

With official confirmation looking completely unlikely, debate is ongoing and will no doubt continue! Most fans are convinced that it’s a Disney+ series – discussing exactly which one it might be.

‘Sunflower’ left a comment on our YouTube channel with their view on what the filming might be. They say: “Disney+ first live-action Star Wars series follows a masked bounty hunter, a member of stoic order of Mandalorian warriors, whose entire world is upended when he becomes the caretaker of a Force-sensitive infant who’s of the same species as Yoda. (Hence, “Baby Yoda.” Perhaps you’ve seen the memes?) The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire but before the rise of the First Order, so chronologically it comes right after Return of the Jedi. Your welcome!” Clear as mud… 🙂

Others suspect the filming at Cleveleys is for the Star Wars franchise “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Cassian Andor”.

Award for funniest comment goes to ‘YouChwb‘ who says: “IMO, if that is a film prop in the water (Mary’s Shell), they’ve brought it in much earlier so it can settle in the sand to give it more anchorage. My other absolute guess is, it is a landed space pod ejected from it’s mothership. And it chose Cleveleys to land because of it’s fine Ales and good pub food. :)”

These ‘pod’ shaped things arrived in Jubilee Gardens car park on Monday 27 April. See them in our Day 2 update video below.

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Road & Prom Closures for Filming in Cleveleys

Seafront businesses remained open for the duration of the filming but only accessible on foot. Jubilee Gardens and the seafront car parks both closed throughout. During set-up, filming and demobilisation, the promenade walkway and adjoining footpaths were all closed – to stop prying eyes!

• From (and including) Cafe Cove all the way to Kiddies Corner
• Alconbury Crescent (the pointy roofed houses) to the Pumping Station at Princes Way/Anchorsholme.
• From Carr Gate to Harvester Pub car park entrance
• Pizza Hut to Kiddies Corner
• Kingsway to pumping station at Anchorsholme, and the junction with Anchorsholme Lane West.

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Setting up Begins – Friday 30 April

We’d been making daily updates from the location at Cleveleys promenade. Nothing much happened until day 5 when setting up of the scenes began.

With all the seaward side of the promenade closed to pedestrians, the set technicians moved in. Cafe Cove got a make-over. A delivery of huge palm trees arrived in the compound at Jubilee Gardens car park. Take a look round in our day 5 video –

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Talking to security personnel and chatting to bystanders we know that it’s attracting a LOT of attention to Cleveleys. Just anecdotally we know that many of you have found Cleveleys for the first time. It’s the most exciting thing to have happened since the sinking of the Riverdance!

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Can you feel the Force? Saturday 1 May

The sun’s shining and there’s a palpable excitement in Cleveleys! It’s starting to get busier on the location for filming what’s believed to be ‘Andor’ the new 12 part Star Wars TV series for Disney+.

Oh, and the production crew have issued a warning that drone detection equipment will be in use throughout. You have been warned!

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Filming Day Arrives… Wednesday 5 May 2021

After some truly awful gales and terrible weather, Wednesday 5 May dawned bright and sunny. With the crane in position it meant an early start for us too.

Arriving at the site at 5.45am, our first production day video is online by 10am. In this one you can see the set ready to go and stuntmen filming.

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This film also catches the special helicopter as it visits, filming aerial views of the seafront and film set. Quite impressive to see it flying so low over the promenade.

Filming Day Part Two

Even though it’s a lovely sunny day there’s still a stiff breeze blowing and it’s very cold. After our own lunch and getting warmed through, we were back on site for the afternoon. For once with good timing for the beginning of our second video of the day, just as filming begins at the cafe.

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Two coach loads of extras arrived, all dressed in summer clothes. The poor things must have been frozen!

Filming begins and the watching crowd is told to keep quiet… Box vans and green screens obscured most of the filming from view. But we did manage to catch this guy… kind of answers the question. It’s got to be Star Wars!

Spotting someone we know to be a superfan, we discover that Stormtroopers-in-beige are in fact Shoretroopers*. They also appear in the Voyager One film. They’re believed to be filming Andor, the prequel to Voyager One.

*Coastal defender stormtroopers, more commonly known as shoretroopers, were a special variant trained and equipped for combat in tropical environments. They operate as sergeants, commanding small squads of regular stormtroopers. On a galactic scale shoretroopers are scarce.

Action!

Take a look at our photos, captured during our time at the location in the afternoon.

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Star Wars Caught in a Storm – Day 2 on set – Thursday 6 May 2021

What can you say. You can only pity the poor actors, half undressed on Anchorsholme seafront when the stormy weather arrived. Hailstones, wind and heavy rain – and bitterly cold. We did manage to catch a tiny bit of an action scene being filmed. Watch it here –

The crowd gathered at the other side of the road was all tucked up in thick coats, hats and scarves. While the actors queued for their prop bags in summer clothes and thin, black-hooded dressing gowns!

Anyway we managed to catch a little bit of the action for you at Princes Way, Anchorsholme. After first calling at Jubilee Gardens to discover that the crew had begun packing equipment away at that location. Here are some of our photos from day 2 of filming – we scarpered just as the big black cloud arrived!

Top marks to Chris Brown who spotted star Diego Luna on the beach adjacent to the cafe location and posted his photo on Twitter. On a cold, windy and wet day he was wrapped in a thick coat and fluffy hand-warmer!

The Show’s Over!

And that’s a wrap! As fast as they arrived they all disappeared. The crew, sets, equipment all left and within a couple of weeks you’d never know it had happened.

A year later and we do know that the council has received numerous other approaches about filming here. Maybe we’ll become another film set again – who knows. But if we do you can be sure that we’ll find out!!