Caffeinated Clint
An exciting day for fans of ‘The Wars’ with Lucasfilm – presumably with Disney giving the go-ahead – deciding to release the names of those headed to a Galaxy Far, Far Away with 2015’s “Star Wars Episode VII”.
A photo of the first cast read-through at London’s Pinewood Studios revealed those that had been cast in director JJ Abram’s “Return of the Jedi” sequel : Original players Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew will be joined by franchise newcomers Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson (“About Time”, “Harry Potter”), John Boyega (“Attack the Block”), Daisy Ridley (“Blue Season”), Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”, “Drive”), Andy Serkis (“The Lord of the Rings”, “King Kong”) and the legendary Max Von Sydow (“Flash Gordon”, “The Exorcist”).
Pictured : (clockwise from right) JJ Abrams, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm President and Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan. Copyright and Photo Credit: David James.
Ford is of course reprising his role as cheeky smuggler Han Solo (who’ll apparently be a “gigantic” part of the first film and also around for the next two), Hamill is back as Luke Skywalker (who’ll presumably be some sort of wise old Obi-Wan like Jedi vet), and Carrie Fisher’s back as Princess Leia, sister to Luke and husband to Solo. Daniels and Baker reprise C3P0 and R2D2, the droids who’ve been a fixture in each of the six existing “Star Wars” films and Mayhew is Chewbacca. While it’s unknown who most of the new names are playing, it’s presumed that the younger actors are playing offspring of either the Solo’s or Skywalker’s, while Driver is rumoured to be playing the film’s Darth Vader-like villain.
While there’s no mention of other rumoured returning cast-members like Billy Dee Williams (Lando) or Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine; yep, he presumably died, but there’s been incessant rumours that he’s in the new script), that doesn’t mean they’re not involved – they might only have small parts, and therefore weren’t required at the read-through.
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.”
