Director Gareth Edwards starts shooting next year's Star Wars movie soon - and the casting shortlist is coming together...
NewsUPDATE: Since we ran this story, a further name has been added to the mix for Gareth Edwards' 2016 Star Wars spin-off movie. The actress in question? That'd be Kate Mara (sister of Rooney Mara), who is set to star later this year in the Fantastic Four reboot. She's one of those in line for the female lead in the upcoming Star Wars feature.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Not only is JJ Abrams'Star Wars: The Force Awakensset for release this year, but production is set to start on the next adventure in the series too. That'd be the standalone movie that Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters) is directing, that's set to land in cinemas at the end of 2016.
Rumors have suggested that this one is a heist movie set before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. And The Hollywood Reporteris now saying that testing for the film began in the UK in December, and is continuing in the US now.
So who's in line?
Apparently, on the casting shortlist so far are Tatiana Maslany, from Orphan Black, along with Rooney Mara (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Felicity Jones (recently Oscar-nominated for The Theory Of Everything). The three of them - pictured below - are in line for the female lead role in the next Star Wars, although as you might expect, details on just what that role is are non-existent right now.
Simon Kinberg is reported (albeit not confirmed) to be working on the script for this new Star Wars film, having taken over from Gary Whitta. And it's currently got a release date of December 16th 2016. We wrote more about the prospects of the Star Wars standalone movies here.
THR.
