Official Star Wars: Episode VII Casting Announced

[redred]

The casting press release of Star Wars: Episode VII has arrived, and here it is in full for you below.

"The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.

"Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker in the new film.

"Director J.J. Abrams says, 'We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.'

"Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015."

Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker will come as no surprise, much like Attack The Block's John Boyega and Girls' Adam Driver who had both been rumoured for a while. Inside Llewyn Davis star Oscar Isaac was only on the rumour treadmill since this morning, while Andy Serkis and Domhnall Gleeson were a complete surprise. Will Andy Serkis act in person or in a mo-cap suit? Start guessing in the comment box below...

Daisy Ridley’s is probably the least well-known name in the ensemble. According to her agency profile, no doubt glowing hot from tabloid types looking for a scoop, she’s 5’ 7”, has hazel eyes and plays between 16 and 20. She has TV work on her CV (Silent Witness, Mr. Selfridge, Casualty and Toast Of London) and also has the next Inbetweeners movie on her schedule.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=40895

[Hal-9000]

Surprised to see all of the old cast members return....I sure hope they don't have them play different characters for novelty

[DemonGeminiX]

No Billy Dee?

[DemonGeminiX]

Max Von Sydow! Wow! He's a heavyweight.

[redred]

Might put him on my death list next year

[Goofy]

Surprised to see all of the old cast members return....I sure hope they don't have them play different characters for novelty

Ditto! tbh i have no idea what part 7 is......... i'm assuming it will just be following on from where ROTJ left off considering the original cast is coming back That means no Darth Vader though

Max Von Sydow! Wow! He's a heavyweight.

The power of christ compels you!

[Hal-9000]

okay...rumors are that the new girl Daisy may be playing Han and Leia's daughter.....pure speculation based on a picture of the 3 sitting on a casting couch

[FBD]

Ditto! tbh i have no idea what part 7 is......... i'm assuming it will just be following on from where ROTJ left off considering the original cast is coming back That means no Darth Vader though

If its going by the books, this would line up with a storyline starting (iirc) with the book Vector Prime...the general storyline is this race of aliens begins setting up shop in the galaxy far far away... (they had some big crazy spaceship and the storyline really makes it seem like galaxies are hugely far away and nobody has ever been able to make the trek to another galaxy, yet they jaunt around their local galaxy in short order...) the aliens hate all artificial technology (gee where'd that one come from) and they have this peculiar natural way of 'growing' technology. I think at this stage of the game, the big alien ship is still outside of the galaxy and there are a handful of alien operatives setting up...problems...and doing their weird terraforming on some planets..
...Luke and Mara Jade begin working on establishing a new Jedi order, jedi council and stuff,
while mitigating the various political bullshits in the galaxy, post empire.
while the sith are extinct (once again)...there are various dark jedi of sorts...
Han and Leia have 3 kids, two twins and a younger one,
and I think its later on in this epoch that Luke and Mara have a kid

they did have some interesting force oriented ideas, esp surrounding the 3 solo kids, think of a sort of jedi mind meld while in combat...amongst other things...

but its been a little while since I've read those.

funny how people said there was no story or character dev in EP1-3....well, there was...in the books. and it was basically all skipped in favor of flashy lights on the screen. but in the books, you know damn well why Anakin turned to the dark side. the movie makes it seem like a flippant whimsical notion.

 

nah, you dont want to know, and they might not do it in the movie because this character is too well liked...and speaking of flippant and whimsical, I never understood why lucas let that happen in the book storyline to begin with, because that was...rather useless, it didnt accomplish anything.

[Goofy]

funny how people said there was no story or character dev in EP1-3....well, there was...in the books.

Never read the books but have watched all the films. I think we all agree we'd have been happy with a lot less Jar Jar Binks and a lot more Darth Maul and Quaigon Jin (dunno if thats how it's spelled Liam Neeson's character!).

[DemonGeminiX]

It's not going by the books. There was an article about that not too long ago. They've (Kasdan and Abrams) written their own story which Lucas advised them on. Yes, they're going to show kids, but there's no word as to whether it's going to be anything like the Expanded Universe. So we may not see Jacen Solo turn to the dark side and become a Sith Lord and have his twin sister, Jaina Solo, kill him. We're not even certain if they're going to use their Expanded Universe names. We don't know if Luke's wife will be named Mara Jade, or if Han and Leia's son kills her, like Jacen did in the books. It's an entirely original story, or so all of the sources have said. It's already been stated that the Thrawn trilogy (+2) won't be used.

The books of Episodes 1-3 filled in the gaps of the movies. The movies were written first, then the novelizations came.

It's not right after Jedi, they've stated on more than one occasion that they were going to follow Lucas' original plan to show what was going on 20+ years after Jedi. That's what Lucas wanted: the first trilogy (1 - 3), then 20 years later (4 - 6), then 20 years after that (7 - 9). So it's going to be 20+ years after Jedi.

This is what I've gleaned from previous articles that came and went.

[Hal-9000]

guess I won't be reading the books now with the Solo kids...

[Hal-9000]

Look at Mark Hamill...I believe he's sitting in the topmost center position..

I watched him in a recent low budget drama/thriller and he has not aged well


*reminded me of Truman Capote in the low budget film

[DemonGeminiX]

guess I won't be reading the books now with the Solo kids...

The Star Wars books aren't bad reads. I believe The Thrawn trilogy got a Hugo award. And they've been around forever.

Look at Mark Hamill...I believe he's sitting in the topmost center position..

I watched him in a recent low budget drama/thriller and he has not aged well


*reminded me of Truman Capote in the low budget film

[Hal-9000]

he looks better in your pic, than the movie I saw him in....really ragged and old looking and it wasn't the part...

kinda cool, kinda weird seeing the old cast again....you know there will be age jokes galore



I've read a few of the books and enjoyed them. I was pointing out that you ruined a plot point concerning the Solo kids so now I don't have to read those...................

[DemonGeminiX]

You read the Hobbit before the movie came out. You still watched the movie knowing what would happen. Read the books anyway.