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.
Franchise creator George Lucas told Bloomberg Businessweek that he begun talks with original stars to have them return to for its new films -- before he had even begun the process of the ultimately $2 billion deal and 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.
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
Disney/Lucasfilm haven't revealed any character details at all however, so which of the newcomers is playing which roles is all speculation at this point.
The site claims Gleeson is NOT playing Luke Skywalker's son. They don't know who he's playing, but they're certain it's not a Skywalker.
The production is set to return to the island of Skellig Michael, a World Heritage-listed island in the Atlantic Ocean, 11.6 km west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. The Skellig is home to some ancient Christian Monastic ruins.. A November shoot is planned--when the scenery will look very different which would indicate that we will see the passage of time at this location.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS BEGIN:
After that comes the rumors and speculative bits. They hear that Skelling Michael Island will serve as the location for the Sith Homeworld, which was called Korriban in the previous expanded lore (no word on what the film will call it).
The location of course is where Hamill's Luke Skywalker has been held captive. In fact they say he was taken shortly after Return of the Jedi which is why Gleeson isn't Luke's so--he has no children:
"We know that the Sith Homeworld was in the re-tooled Michael Ardnt draft of the script, so this next part might be old info we're getting pushed back at us, but: Skelling Michael Island is the Sith Homeworld, the stone hut ruins on that island are a control center and the planet itself is somehow the weapon. That's no moon! That's no planet! MASSIVE BAD THINGS."
Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid who played Emperor Palpatine attended the recent 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 new post from earlier this week Latino Review claims that Palpatine is part of the new trilogy after all--though played by another actor:
"Two independent sources have recently written to us to confirm something we had heard back when production first began. Even though Star Wars: Episode VII (as well as the following two sequels) will feature its share of new villains, the person pulling the strings, the real puppet master, the big bad of the trilogy is none other than Emperor Palpatine. A lot can happen during the fall of an Empire, and maybe the moments we took to see our heroes party with the Ewoks was a forced perspective on something much more sinister. We all know that Lando blew up the second Death Star in the Millennium Falcon, and we know Luke had enough time to carry his dying father to a shuttle bay and unmask him. We also know, from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back that when you throw someone (or in Luke's case, himself) down the tubes of a large space station, you might not necessarily die. My source told me that The Emperor '100%' will appear in Star Wars Episode VII and VIII. Don't look for confirmations from this from Ian McDiarmid, because he's not portraying the Emperor this time. Will this big bad resemble the craggy old man of Return of the Jedi? Now that is the question."
SPOILERS END
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."
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. Kasdan and Kinberg are also indeed writing the stand alone/origin Star Wars features. Company 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.
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 series MVP composer John Williams is set to score Episode VII, Episode VIII and Episode IX.
Kasdan and Kinberg would also join the projects as producers with Kennedy.
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.
Production is scheduled to take place through September at Pinewood Studio in England. The film has a confirmed release date of December 18, 2015.
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