Close to eight months have passed since Disney bought Lucasfilm from George Lucas – with the intention of producing new Star Wars movies – and since then, we’ve spent a lot of time on speculation concerning which characters from the previous live-action Star Wars installments will make an appearance in director J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII; not to mention, whether or not bringing back original cast members is a good idea at all.
A month ago the first major casting rumor for a new character – one who would be introduced in Episode VII – began making the rounds, thanks to claims that Abrams may reunite with actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers on the film. The latter worked with Abrams before on Mission: Impossible III, so that doesn’t at all seem like a far-fetched idea, with regard to Meyers playing, say, a Jedi in the film.
Prior to that, all we had to go on was a rumor that the Episode VII script – written by Oscar-winner Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) – could end up featuring a teenage female protagonist; that would mirror how the original Star Wars movie revolves around teen-aged Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Today, we have an unconfirmed casting breakdown that reveals some more details about the main characters in the next Star Wars movie (and helps to add more fuel to the speculation fire).
Bleeding Cool has posted the following character breakdown for Episode VII, which is reported to have begun open casting today in the U.K. (where filming will take place). The site is emphasizing that the characters are “not necessarily to be billed in the order below,” and stressing that the site has “100% confirmed” that the following is accurate. (… But, as always, best to take all this with a healthy grain of salt for the time being.)
- Late-teen female, independent, good sense of humour, fit.
- Young twenty-something male, witty and smart, fit but not traditionally good looking.
- A late twentysomething male, fit, handsome and confident.
- Seventy-something male, with strong opinions and tough demeanour. Also doesn’ t need to be particularly fit.
- A second young female, also late teens, tough, smart and fit.
- Forty something male, fit, military type.
- Thirtysomething male, intellectual. Apparently doesn’t need to be fit.
The late-teen female roles line up with speculation that Episode VII could revolve around the teenage daughter of Han and Leia Solo, be she named Jaina – like in the Star Wars expanded universe – or something else altogether. That doesn’t count out the possibility that one of the young male characters mentioned here is Han and Leia’s son; though, the oldest Solo/Skywalker children probably won’t be twins (a la Jaina and Jacen Solo in the E.U.), assuming the above is correct.
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Meanwhile, the seventy-something male could be a longtime friend of Han’s – who is expected to appear in Episode VII as, most likely, a seasoned general for the New Republic – and the forty-something “military type” could be a fellow who’s being prepped to serve as Han’s successor. Similarly, it seems to be feasible that Meyers is being considered to play the “fit, handsome and confident” male character that is described above (since the 36-year old actor could easily pass for being in his late 20s, by Hollywood standards).
Of course, there are many ways that Episode VII might go wrong, when it comes to introducing new characters and re-establishing familiar ones (see: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull); not to mention, all of the above speculation could be completely off-base, especially if these details turn out to be incorrect.
All the same, there’s plenty of juicy material to be analyzed and discussed here, so feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments section.
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Star Wars: Episode VII is slated to reach theaters by Summer 2015.
Header Image By En-Taiho
Artwork courtesy of Star Wars Wiki, Red Led Better
