Original Trilogy stars Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Peter Mayhew playing the legendary Wookiee Chewbacca, and Kenny Baker as Astro droid R2 D2 will be back. Warwick Davis is in the film says Variety. Davis has already appeared in two films in the series 1983's "Return of the Jedi" and 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace".
Franchise creator George Lucas told Bloomberg Businessweek that he begun talks with original stars to have them return for new films -- before he had even begun the process of the ultimately $2 billion dollar sale. It's been said that Lucas' actually spent about a year planning the franchise's future before handing the reigns of Lucasfilm over to Disney. All that said we now know Lucas Ideas Were NOT used
The new cast members also include John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson,Christina Chong and Max von Sydow as a villain character. 12 Years a Slave Best Supporting Actress Lupita Nyong'o and Game of Thrones co-star Gwendoline Christie have officially been cast in the film as well. Parkour master Pip Andersen and actress Crystal Clarke have joined the sequel--the pair were two of the 37,000 or so hopefuls who attended casting calls across eleven cities. Miltos Yerolemou, who had a small but memorable role as Arya Stark's sword trainer in the first season of "Game of Thrones," has joined the cast of in an undisclosed role reports The BBC. The role is said to be a minor one. Greg Grunberg has a role in the pic.
A new report over at Making Star Wars today suggests who Gleeson's character might be and how it will have a big impact on the saga as a whole.
POTENTIAL MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Sources claim Gleeson will play the son of Luke Skywalker in the film, and he's an Imperial officer who is hunting the AWOL Stormtrooper Finn (Boyega).
It seems the Rebel Alliance and the remains of the Galactic Empire have been in a Cold War for much of the period since "Jedi" with Luke having gone missing. Part of the reason for the stalemate is that each side has a 'super weapon' capable of destroying the entire galaxy.
Gleeson’s character, a former Rebel who defected to the Empire, is said to be playing both sides in an effort to disarm the super weapons held by both sides. He succeeds, but in doing so he unintentionally turns the war hot. With outright destruction off the table, so begins a more regular war for control of planets and territory.
END SPOILERS
Next--Out doing press for "Kingsman: The Secret Service" actor Hamill spoke with The Los Angeles Times about fan anticipation for the film and actually asked fans to cool their heels otherwise they risk disappointment:
"I wish people would just relax. We're not trying to play games with people. We just want to maximize their experience at the movies where it should be seen and not have it leaked over the Internet. Believe me, it will be here before you know it. Forget about it, that's my advice. Look forward to all the summer movies. I'm telling you, it's just a movie. These people that build it up in their minds like it's going to be the second coming of, I don't know what - they're bound to be disappointed. It's exciting from the standpoint that it's the first of the movies in that universe that's conceived and directed by the fan generation. We've never had that before. Now, Larry Kasdan is one of the old-timers like us, but the captain of the ship is J.J. Abrams and he was a fan of the series, which I find very interesting. They're going to have an input into how things are done in a way that was impossible in the more autonomous period of George (Lucas)'s reign. I hope it's a hit."
Hamil adds that the new trilogy is "really about the new generation" rather than the original "Star Wars" cast members.
Lastly Abrams took a break from post-production on the film to attend the Visual Effects Society Awards in Los Angeles last week.
Collider spoke with him on the red carpet where he talked a bit about the reaction to the teaser trailer released late last year. He's aware of the reaction the controversial Lightsaber:
"I will say that what's been funny is, since the lightsaber's come out, I cannot tell you how many contradictory emails I have received from people who have defended it with unbelievably detailed graphics. I've gotten things that are nuts, and I've gotten people who've shown how it'll kill you and how it doesn't make any sense. It's been the funniest thing to see the arguments that have developed over this thing. It was a number of conversations [that led to the design]. It was a sketch that became a whole thing and, you know, this was not done without a lot of conversation and it's fun to see people have the conversation that we had, but in reverse."
He says there's a long story behind the origin of that particular lightsaber but won't share that until closer to release. He also discussed the mixture of practical and CG effects in the film, with CG mostly being used to remove things rather than add to scenes:
"I feel like the beauty of this age of filmmaking is that there are more tools at your disposal, but it doesn't mean that any of these new tools are automatically the right tools. And there are a lot of situations where we went very much old school and in fact used CG more to remove things than to add things. Having said that, there are obviously an enormous amount of CG effects in the film, and I can't wait for you to see the combination. But it was very important that we build as many sets as we could and that the film have a tangible, sort of authentic quality that you believed that these things were actually happening in a real space with real sunlight, if it was an exterior scene, or if we could build a big portion of a scene and not have anything be blue screen, do it where we could. It was a very important piece of work."
Abrams confirmed he is executive producing the remaining sequels.
A series of trading cards recently revealed that Isaac will play a character called Poe Dameron, Ridley is Rey, Boyega is Finn, the dark hooded Sith character is called Kylo Ren, and the soccer ball droid is BB-8. Stitch Kingdom reports that the studio have registered trademark applications for all of these characters and one more - Captain Phasma.
Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid who played Emperor Palpatine attended the 2014 London Film and Comic Con and confirmed that he would not return to the "Star Wars" universe in the upcoming trilogy--but he didn't rule out a return in a potential spin-off pre-Return of the Jedi:
"I'm definitely not in [Episode VII]. As you know, he's dead by then. I know, we believe in reincarnation, and holograms… But you know, they are going to take many twists on the story as the years go on, and I guess they may go back to a time - I've got no clue, I'm speaking off the top of my head - when the Emperor ran the universe. And I don't want anyone else to play him, do I?"
In a recent post Latino Review claims that Palpatine is part of the new trilogy after all--though played by another actor...
James Earl Jones, the man behind the voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader was asked by Variety recently about the possibility of playing the character in more films, perhaps one of the Spin-Off Films for example set before "Return of the Jedi". He said: "Oh no. I've got no illusions that I will or even hankerings to be in them, but I'm very proud to have been part of the original."
Actor Liam Neeson was asked by HeyUGuys whether he'd been invited back to play his character from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace--Qui-Gon Jinn in the franchise...While the answer was "No" He said that he would be up for a comeback.
Abrams wrote the script with Lawrence Kasdan for the film. Oscar winner Michael Arndt ("Toy Story 3," "Little Miss Sunshine") vacated his job scripting the next film--after disagreements over which characters the film will focus on.
Kasdan ("The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark") and Simon Kinberg ("Sherlock Holmes," "X-Men: Days of Future Past") have reportedly closed deals to pen the final two installments of the new "Star Wars" trilogy. As to the stand alone/origin Star Wars features. Disney CEO Robert A. Iger recently revealed that the studio has three features in the works - not two as previously indicated. "Godzilla" reboot director Gareth Edwards is going to direct the first of the upcoming Star Wars Spin-Off Films. "Fantastic Four" reboot and "Chronicle" director Josh Trank is officially set to direct the as yet Untitled Number 2 stand alone spin-off film.
The plan is to have each of these films come out in the years when we don't see a new episode of the saga - They would come out in 2016, 2018 and 2020. We still don't know which characters these spin-offs will focus on. Current franchise chief, Kathleen Kennedy spoke to Yahoo about the stand-alone films saying that they will NOT affect the main narrative of the Episodes.
While the character was rumored to be getting a solo film last year-Cinelinx posts that the studios are developing a separate trilogy of spin-off films dedicated to the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi--set between the prequel and original trilogy. Their source says:
"First up, they are not talking about an Obi-Wan spin-off movie but a trilogy of Obi-Wan movies . I need to stress that these movies are not connected. They aren't part of a story arc but three separate Obi-Wan adventures set between Episodes III and IV. It seems like the three movie ideas are as follows: One set completely on Tatooine and two where Obi-Wan travels elsewhere in the Galaxy. Qui-Gon Jinn is very much present in these stories. So too is Owen Lars . Several characters from the 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' TV Series would make an appearance. There would be flashbacks to Obi-Wan fighting in the Clone Wars."
Looking ahead "Looper" and "Brick" writer-director Rian Johnson has inked a deal to both pen and call action on "Star Wars: Episode VIII" as well as write a treatment for "Star Wars: Episode IX".
The Avengers: Age of Ultron star Mark Ruffalo previously worked with Johnson on The Brothers Bloom, with Ruffalo playing one half of a brotherly con act. In a recent interview with Collider Ruffalo tells the site that he contacted Johnson to tell him that he wants to be in the sequel.
Kasdan and Kinberg would also join the projects as producers with Kennedy.
Series MVP composer John Williams is set to score the film as well as Episode VIII and Episode IX.
There was a scheduled two-week production hiatus in August to allow for adjustments in the shooting schedule following Ford's recovery from that injury where he broke his left leg. The injury is also said to have happened during filming on a top secret set rather than on the Millennium Falcon set as was widely reported.
Production took place mainly at Pinewood Studio in England. The film has a confirmed release date of December 18, 2015
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