Star Wars: Episode VII is now known as Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Here's everything we know about the new Star Wars movie so far.
A long time ago, Star Wars fans thought they had seen the last of the franchise in theaters. But on October 30, 2012 Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars would live on in the form of a new trilogy. And now, almost two years to the day since that announcement, Star Wars: Episode VII has completed principal photography, and is now known as Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
We'll start this off with stuff you mostly already know, and then potential spoilers will have to be clicked on in order to get there!
J. J. Abrams is directing Star Wars: Episode VII, with Simon Kinberg and The Empire Strikes Back co-writer Lawrence Kasdan as consultants. Initial press releases reported that the script would be written by Michael Arndt, scriptwriter of Toy Story 3, but in October of 2013 it was announced that Kasdan and Abrams had taken over scriptwriting duties.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Cast
The cast of Star Wars: Episode VII is as follows: 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. It's likely that some of the new cast members will play the offspring of characters like Han, Luke, and Leia.
Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie will also be in the film in undisclosed roles. Additionally, Carrie Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, has joined the cast. What role she's playing remains to be seen, but there's some serious speculation about a rather obvious choice. Christina Chong is also on board in an unnamed role.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Story
The plot will focus on a trio of new characters, possibly including the teenage characters described in the open casting call in December of 2012, along with “some very familiar faces.” The film will take place 30 years after Return of the Jedi and the story will not mesh with that of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The new Star Wars timeline will only contain the six previous films as well as The Clone Warsand Rebelsanimated series, although future novels, comics, and video games will all be part of Lucasfilm's new Star Wars canon.
In particular, the events of Rebelsmay have some bearing on Episode VII but we'll get to that soon enough...
By virtually all accounts Han Solo will play a "gigantic" part in the film. However, he isn't necessarily going to have all the trappings that you normally associate with the character. What does that mean? Well, that would be spoiling, but there have been some reliable reports out there about this if you want to read them. You can get a look at some new Han Solo concept art right here, too.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Villains
There are villains both new and familiar for Star Wars: Episode VII. It's probably no surprise that Stormtroopers will appear in some capacity, but we've speculated about whether or not the main baddies will be Sith based. However, some recent details (which are more credible than your usual batch of rumors) about the specific nature of the villains have surfaced. It's VERY spoilery, so we've opted to keep quiet for now, but if you want to know, you can read about them here and here.
If those details are true (and we think they are), it's going to dramatically change the dynamic of the franchise, even beyond the films themselves!
Also, and this is just us, but Max von Sydow pretty much has to be playing a villain, right?
Everything Else
Principal photography is complete! Of course, in a Star Wars movie, this is barely half the battle, of course. Unsurprisingly, John Williams will be returning to provide the music, as will sound designer Ben Burtt and supervising sound editor Matthew Wood. Fight coordinator Nick Gillard said on Twitter that he is not working on the new films.
If the film sticks to that December 18, 2015 release date it will be the first live action Star Wars film not to be released in May.
What are your thoughts on Star Wars: Episode VII? Tell us in the comments! And May the Force be with us all...
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that's your thing!