The moment we have all been waiting for! Lucasfilm officially announced the cast for Star Wars: Episode VII…
From StarWars.com:
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.
UPDATE!
Few details about the cast by THR:
(click on the names for the IMDb page)
John Boyega
Boyega had a breakout role as Moses in 2011’s sci-fi pic Attack the Block, directed by Joe Cornish. The 22-year old British actor, whose other film credits include Half of a Yellow Sun (which also starred Chiwetel Ejiofor), will next appear in the limited TV series 24: Live Another Day. He’s repped by CAA and Management 360.
Ridley is a newcomer whose past credits are mostly comprised of TV appearances and short films. The British actress appeared on the British TV shows Mr Selfridge and Silent Witness. She’s repped by Jonathan Arun Talent in the U.K.
Driver, who will play a villain, has come into the spotlight in the past two years for his breakout role as Lena Dunham’s volatile boyfriend on HBO’s series Girls. The 30-year-old actor also had a memorable part in The Coen Brother’s Inside Llewyn Davis. Driver took a unique path to acting: He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq, and, after he was discharged, went to the University of Indianapolis for a year before transferring to the Juilliard. He appeared in 2011’s J. Edgar, and has had TV roles on Law & Order and The Unusuals. He’s repped by The Gersh Agency.
Isaac had a breakout role in the Coen Brother’s 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis, playing a struggling musician in 1960s New York. Born in Guatemala and raised in Florida, Isaac graduated from the Juilliard School where he studied drama. The actor’s early work included Robin Hood, Sucker Punch and W.E. He then played Carey Mulligan’s husband in Nicolas Winding Refn’s dark film Drive. Repped by UTA and Inspire Entertainment, Isaac’s has wrapped work on J.C. Chandor’s upcoming film A Most Violent Year and has two other films in the can: sci-fi drama Ex Machina and thriller Mojave starring Mark Wahlberg.
Serkis is known for his motion capture work in some of the biggest films from the past few years. He created the role of ring-hungry Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and plays intelligent ape Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Serkis, 50, earned a Golden Globe nom for playing a serial killer on the British TV film Longford. The CAA-repped actor, who directed second-unit on the first Hobbit film, is attached to direct Warner Bros. upcoming Jungle Book film.
The Irish actor is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, and starred along his father as Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2. Repped by Paradigm, he’ll appear in Angelina Jolie’s upcoming directorial project Unbroken. Also a stage actor, Gleeson earned a Tony Award nomination in 2006 for his role in Broadway’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore.
Max von Sydow has been a working actor since 1949, starring in dozens of films throughout his career, including Through a Glass Darkly, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Emigrants, The Exorcist and Three Days of the Condor. He worked with Ingmar Bergman in 11 films, the first being The Seventh Seal in 1957. The 85-year-old actor’s more recent work includes The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Robin Hood and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, for which he was nominated for a best supporting actor
I don’t know about you but I have the feeling that there’s much more regarding the cast apart from the officially announced list. No word on the military guy role and the female of mixed ethnicity…
UPDATE 2!
Cast photo breakdown by THR:
1. J.J. Abrams, director-writer
2. R2D2: R2-series astromech droid – Unclear what role in new films will be.
3. Harrison Ford, actor – Reprising his role as Han Solo.
4. Daisy Ridley, actress
5. Carrie Fisher, actress – Reprising her role as Leia.
6. Peter Mayhew, actor – Reprising his role as Chewbacca.
7. Bryan Burk, producer
8. Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president
9. Domhnall Gleeson, actor
10. Anthony Daniels, actor – Reprising his role as C-3PO.
11. Mark Hamill, actor – Reprising his role as Luke Skywalker. What could he saying to C-3PO?
12. Andy Serkis, actor — Deep in concentration.
13. Oscar Isaac, actor
14. John Boyega, actor
15. Adam Driver, actor – Playing an unspecified villain. Not looking entirely villainous here, yet.
16. Lawrence Kasdan, writer
There is a God
WoW Jackpot.
Ok so lets start on who the new cast are going to play.
Max von Sydow: evil sith mastermind..Adam Driver: sith apprentice.
Daisy Ridley Oscar Isaac:Solo kids.
John Boyega: lukes apperntice.
Domhnall Gleeson?
andy serkis?. Grandson of Jar Jar lol
Grandson of Jar Jar hahaha.
@Anon 6:12pm, my thoughts exactly!
ok – way out of the box… Any possibility that Max Von Sydow will be Obi-wan Kenobi’s ghost? He looks similar to Guinness…
(hit ‘publish’ too soon) and I’m guessing Gleeson is Luke’s son.
No.Lukes son is ben sky walker.
I agree, Max Von Sydow does look like and could be a very good ghost for Obi-Wan – first thing I thought of when I saw him, lol.
But as for anyone else, anyones guess is as good as mine, and we may just have to wait and see. Serkis could be a digital sith lord – why not?? (not saying that Serkis has to play a digital character in everything that he’s in, but he is very good at it).
Mark Hamill had better be kick ass in this movie – The New Yoda!!!
No one should say “he is too old” because Yoda was 900 yrs old and could still kick ass.
And Tyranu/Dooku was old and he still jumped about (he had his head digitized onto a stunt swordsman for the light saber battles).
Anakin was supposed to be the most powerful Jedi ever – but before he readched his absolute prime & power he was crippled and put in the Vader suite. Luke is his direct descendant and should have a great portion of that power!
Everyone in the movies including Vader says how powerful the force is, even being compared to “the ability to destroy a planet”!!! Yet all anyone with the force has done is pull and push and electrocute things???
Lets see something fantastic with the force – like ripping a star destroyer from the skies like outta Force Unleashed!
It always bothered my that LUcas made some comment about the poor lightsaber dual between Vader and Obi-Wan in A New Hope – yes they were old and crippled warriors, but Obi-Wan should have been able to still flip about like old Yoda and Dooku and an opportunity to put some of this back into the special editions was missed and that fight remains boring.
So come on Luke/Mark – lets see what ya got!!!!!
The movie will ***. The character selection is irrelevant.
While TV has evolved and started to master the longform storytelling method, movies have stayed the same. Netflix for example lets you download a story that is twenty hours in length PER season. You can watch the story without having to wait a year for the next 90min bit.
If the movie was 10 hours long and then released… then the story would be longform and would have all those benefits. But it will be shallow in context and character builds etc… like all movies are compared to good TV today.
The movie is going to ****. Unfortunately. Like the last three did to an extent. The reason is because we see great TV stories and great movie stories are nowhere in comparison today.
No need to have Max Von Sydow as Obi. They would just get Ewan McGregor to play him.
I literally Screamed out loud when i read the title
“there is a god”
…and he decided to make the whole world… mostly male, apparently.
^not when there are millions of screaming foaming at the mouth OT fanatics ready to kill anything to do with the PT.
Yeah they should
Or not
I agree about Ewan. However, I don’t agree that this will suck because you happen to prefer long form television. Look, I love Game of Thrones but my first love will always be grand scale spectacle on the big screen! Each form has it’s virtues and it’s advantages but they are two different forms and each equally valid. It’s not a contest. I faithfully watched 7 seasons of Buffy and six seasons of Lost and I love them both but they don’t have the hold on me that 12 hours of Star Wars films have.
“There is a god.”
And he made the world virtually devoid of womankind. (Or so you’d think from this cast.)
I think Max Von Sydow will be Admiral Gilad Pellaeon
Here’s your big whoop de doo!
Whoooooo awesome
Then you realize that you are chasing the old feeling the movie gave when it was an EPIC story.
Times have changed.
(90 minute movie =/= adequate time to reveal an epic story)
eg…. ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Versus ‘Game Of Thrones’
Different formats. Who could argue against ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ could have been better with a longform storytelling. It’s obvious. That trilogy could have easily been 2x or 3x longer to explain all those characters and scenarios that it just glazed over.
Would you grow up and stop being a buzzkill dude? There is no point to any of what your saying. This is an exciting day, let people be farking excited! And for the record, do you think the original trilogy would be better as a television series than film? Because if you do, you’re a moron. Just because there are well written television shows out in the ether these days, it doesn’t detract from the fact that these films have all the potential to ROCK, and today is one step closer. Fuck off!!!
While I agree that long form is more satisfying, they’re still making 3 movies whether you like it or not. You’re wasting too much energy. Let go
The big 3 are nice, but Mayhew, Daniels, and Baker show more to me that this is heading in the right direction.
I really have to agree. It shows attention to detail, and caring for getting things right.
Kenny Baker? John Boyega? Andy Serkis? … oh dear oh dear. But Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Daisy Ridler, are very interesting choices.
How dare you “oh dear” Andy Serkis! What is wrong with you?!
How dare you “oh dear” Kenny Baker!!!! He has been R2D2 since 1977!!!!! – Wake up.
YESSSSS!
I think having Max von Sydow is huge. He’s an actor with lots of experience and can help the younger actors like Alec Guinness did.
This is pretty cool. Not in a million years would I have expected von Sydow to be in it. (To be honest I thought he was dead)
Yes !
Oh, he’s not dead, at least not yet!
Well played.
SO the only ones I know are Golem, and the guy who does Vigo’s voice from Ghostbusters 2 lol. All the rest seem like fresh new actors which is good
Max Von Sydow is a pretty big Old School actor. He played the elder Priest in The Exorcist and Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Just found out he played Ming the Merciless in the 1980 Flash Gordan, from one Space Opera to another.
And the villain in Strange Brew. (that’s a classic right there)
Brewmeister Smith!
Don’t forget minority report!
Yes Minority Report. I totally forgot lol
He was in Stallone’s Judge Dredd and in Lynch’s Dune as well.
Max von Sydow was also a king in the first Conan film. He sends Conan and the rest of his gang to rescue his daughter from the evil reptilian king, played by no other than James Earl Jones.
He was King Osric in Conan the barbarian as well
good cast
I’m so curious he’s casting Andy Serkis, I’m wondering if he’s playing a live action character or CG as usual. I really wish it’s a live action character… For the rest, it’s pretty interesting! I’m happy there’s no Zack Afron in the movie! And for Daisy Ridley, she looks like Natalie Portman, I’m sure she’s playing Luke or Leia’s descendence!
Yeah, I also hope that the character of Andy Serkis is live-action.
maybe andy will play Zeb from Rebels
Oh no… Andy Serkis = Jar Jar…
He could play a human
Andy could be this military character BUT this could be augmented with CG to make one hell of a cool character
Where’s Billy Dee Williams?
Maybe he will be cast in VIII? Fingers crossed.
I agree with this, we will se him in Episode VIII
Billy Dee Williams wont be in it, as Lando got shot in a drive-bye dealing death sticks in Coruscant’s lower levels, hahahahahahah!
“You don’t want to sell me death sticks!”
Episode VIII lol
We will all be pensioners by then.
90min story…..wait a year or two…. another 90min….wait more.
Star Wars was revolutionary in it’s day. Now it’s just the same old. Episode VII, VIII, IX, X, XI and XII should all be released together or one every two months. Now that would make star wars revolutionary again. Well, at least one movie would be catching up with the far more advanced form that is currently exclusive to TV storytelling.
8:49 PM,
Best show on TV is Game of Thrones. The series releases 10, 1 hr. long episodes each year. That means only 3 of the 5 books included in A Song of Ice and Fire have been covered over a period of 4 years, which also means that the series won’t be over for another 3, 4 yrs. at least.
Now, that’s a good 7, 8 yrs. to tell this story; nothing revolutionary about that. And more importantly, that’s about the same amount of time that it’ll take Disney/Lucasfilm to release this new SW trilogy.
Why are you here? Sprouting your negative rubbish all over the site on a day like today? If you want to go watch TV series instead, GO WATCH. I can only assume you’re the same Anon who believes they won’t be good, because we’re used to better storytelling on television now? Let me ask you this. What would you prefer, the OT as is, or as a 3 season HBO series? Because I know what I’d damn well want. These movies will rule. Go and troll somewhere else, we don’t need any rain on this parade.
What gives with the 90 minute story bullcrap? Star Wars is usually 150 minutes or more, if I’m not mistaken.
Anon@ 8:49 PM
Good god, no.
The best they will do is release one movie per year (per trilogy) like the Lord of the Rings did. If tey released a new movie every 2 months that would be a huge expense to the studio to make, edit etc before they see any return. Plus the audience will get too casual about those released all at once like that and the impact on the box office would be nowhere near as great.
Now once and for all we can officially say that the recast rumors were baseless drivel. Awesome news
Happy for kenny.
Are they really gona stuff him in R2
I bet they let him remote control it
They cast Jesus! Awesome!
You’re not so wacky…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeQifImY4Hk
Could we get the non *special* edition victory dance? Hahah
What a great day !! We now have a cast.
Where’s Lando? Maybe he will be turning up in the next 0ne
Not a whole lot of women here.
Awesome!
Great. A male dominating cast once more… *sigh* Well at least Carrie Fisher and Daisy Ridley are both awesome
Yes, the way it should be. Stop trying to force your agenda on to the movies
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Yes, it would have been REALLY GREAT to see a female lead (<- sarcasm). No misoginy here, but the six movies were about the Skywalkers, who happen to be MEN
PC fascist… You really think the casting directors for this movie would risk the accusation of sexism in a project this large? Just because this announcement doesn’t give you anything real to whine about doesn’t mean you have to fabricate your own reason.
Who knows… Daisy Ridley could have a huge lead. I agree I’d like to see more women in the film too but I think JJ abrams is cognizant of the Bechdel test, I don’t think this will fail that test.
(anon 6.11 PM) Right, I didn’t consider that she could still be the lead, they didn’t just tell us the characters…I wouldn’t like that, just because I’d rather see the Skywalker family line continued in a traditional way, like the old movies. There were, in the lead roles, 2 males and 1 female in the OT, and approximately 2 males and 1 female in the PT…it would be logical and nice to see the same thing in the ST. Also, I don’t think they would risk with such a “new” move. But I’d really like to see a female jedi.
Um.. the main character, IS A BLACK GUY!!! That in and of it self is huge!
“The way it should be”? Women SHOULD be underrepresented in our culture? Why? Women are 50% of the population. Doesn’t it seem a little odd for them to appear far less than 50% of the roles in the stories we tell? Huh, it’s almost like we’re acting like women don’t ever do anything important. That’s idiotic and it’s not an agenda to wasn’t to fix it, it’s recognizing a problem.
Do we know John is the Lead character? I’m so dissapointed if that’s true ha
Also, that’s not to say it will suck b/c of this, but it’s okay to hope for better.
(anon 6.11 PM) @Jeffrey Alfaro I totally agree with you. In fact women are more of the 50% of the population, if I remember right. And it’s a shame that our society (as well as many other culures in the world…) has man in its centre…things are slightly changing, but it will take centuries for women to achieve a role equal to the man. I disagree with what @Walter W seemed to intend, and I think it would’ve been great to see more women here, but I stand on what I told about the female lead: it would be too different from the Star Wars we know and love
We have no idea what the story is and therefore what roles these actors will play – Daisy may be the lead and we see the most of her. Originally it was rumored that a strong young female will be the jedi lead in these new movies, so I guess we wil wait and see.
Well, it’s a movie that is mostly geared towards men/boys. Call me when people are upset that there’s not enough male leads in the Princess Diaries.
actually, princess diaries had a very 50/50 cast, if I remember correctly
Twilight was geard towards girls/women and they had a strong male set of characters. I think you’re forgetting that what really matters is the story itself. If it’s better for the story to focus on a male lead, then let it happen. Just because it may not be entirely politically correct (according to you, Anon) does not in any way suggest the movie will suck because of that. Just quit thinking so negatively. If that were the case, the OT would not be internationally recognized as one of the best film trilogies in history.
Not saying Twilight is a good film trilogy or can in any way be compared to the awesomness of Star Wars, in my opinion; I just thought it was a suitable example as it is internationally loved by many audiences.
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I disagree that SW is for boys. My wife is as much if not a bigger fan than I am. I’d also like my little sisters (8 and 6) to be able to enjoy and identify with the movie. This is not an unreasonable goal. Again, I still think this movie will be fits and I like the cast, just hope there are at least some cool minor female roles to add to this.
I think a team-up of a Jaina style character from Daisy and Luke’s apprentice Boyega would be pretty cool. They are listed first.
While Leia showed a pretty strong princess, she was still originally a Damsel in Distress. Hopefully they’ll mix it up a bit.
Comparing to princesses diaries and saying that it’s balanced because of this implies that if you’re a girl, you’d better be into what society has decided your supposed to like. If I have a daughter I’d like her to have just as many options for SW character to identify with as a son would.
there are so many sexists on this board it disgusts me. By the way people, representing women equally in film is not a bad thing. Just think if this picture had been reversed: 10 women to 1 man, you people would be throwing a fit. Admit it.
If you think there are not enough girls in the new movie then vote with your pocket book and stay home.
Who’s to say that Leia wont also be a jedi by this point? She is a Skywalker. I know she turned her nose up at being a jedi in the EU stories – but those stories have no bearing here.
Anon 4/30/14 7:23 PM
It would be cool if she was, but somehow I see her as a very high up political figure. Someone who is possibly a Senator or has a lot of authority in the new Government.
Harrisson is sueading in the photo! Look under his arm!!
I am curious how one has suede coming out of their underarm.
Looks like sweat hahah
Interesting. I reckon I need to go see Inside Llewyn Davis now. ;^)
I really dig the idea of Max von Sydow in a SW movie. And let’s hope that whatever CGI character Andy Serkis is playing ends up being something as far from Jar Jar as possible!
Inside Llewyn Davis – it sounds like a porno, lol
I like all of the Coen brothers movies, so if they thought they were good actors I think that is good news for Star Wars
Man, I’m glad it’s not just me! Yeah, it totally does.
Hallelujah! OMG Andy Serkis?! YES PLEASE! Maybe a well-done cgi creature in performance capture? That’d be awesome! Big 3 plus Daniels, Baker and Mayhew…what a joy to finally know for sure they’ll be there. It’s a shame Billy Dee Williams won’t be there, I’d have loved to see lando again…still, seen Gleeson in Black Mirror, he did a really good job!
max von sydow has the look of the emperial guy who tortures leia in new hope… either way he has bad guy written all over him…
Max Von Sydow. PLEASE BE THE VILLAIN !
Thinking old jedi in hiding…
Ron’s brother from Harry Potter? That is correct right? Good cast, curious no Palpatine?
ehm…Palpatine is quite dead…
Why the hell would they bring back Palpatine if they’ve made it adundantly clear that the post ROTJ EU stories are now discarded?
there was an early rumor he was involved that’s all.
There was an earlier rumor suggesting Zach Efron and we don’t see him (thank god)
Yes let us all rejoice that there is no Zach Efron. that guy would not be good
Damn right no palpatine – he’s dead and that would totally make the first 6 movies completely pointless. What a strange comment to make.
Could also be that he is being kept a secret. Not in this photo for a reason.
I think you guys just have to let the NJO and Thrawn trilogy go… There’s obviously no place for those plot points.
Don’t think this is the only cast we have. Only by looking at the photo, you can see three additional heads handing scripts below. I’m sure we will get some surprises.
AEHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FINALLY! ONLY GOOD GUYS. But… just me or someone also noted that the cast is small?
This is just the core cast… I’m sure there will be a lot of secondary actors and extras of course 🙂
This is incredible news! So glad to see the original cast of preliminary characters have returned. Now I’m really excited to see where we’re taken in this new trilogy!
Oh yes. I think the cast is a bit small think we might get a few surpises.
smaller supporting roles that will have more say as the story progreses
I think we’ve crashed the star wars site!
Very cool to finally see it official.
Is there some hope to see some guys from New Trilogy? Ian McDiarmind, Ewan, Hayden or Mace?
Mace = Samuel L. Jackson. (Oh, really?)
Highly doubtful. Either way, why would you really want that?
This is the main cast, bet your ass others will have bit parts force ghosts etc
What if Andy Serkis has been cast to play Yoda’s force ghost?
I don’t think so, @dopeyjoe. The wouldn’t cast someone as Andy just for a “force ghost”.
@dopeyjoe that would be nice, but if they bring back yoda they should have to explain why there aren’t Ben and Anakin as force ghosts. Also, with 3po and r2, chewbie and the big 3, they’ve got plenty of original characters, putting yoda with them would be too much. Also agree with @Paulo
“Is there some hope to see some guys from New Trilogy? Ian McDiarmind, Ewan, Hayden or Mace?”
Mace is dead and didn’t learn how to preserve his identity when he became one with the force.
Ewan could return as Obi_wan – but not likely as his recent force ghost was Alec not Ewan.
Mace and Ewan could return as holocron projections though same the Ian – but Ian’s character is truly dead and that’s that. Need to see what new sith these new movies will bring anyway.
Exactly, They could return as holocron projections.
Ian McDiarmind
The Emperor is dead. Although, we’ve never seen a Sith as a Force Ghost…
Ewan
I just don’t think seeing Ewan in old make up as a Force Ghost would cut it. Best not to have him in there, unless perhaps as a hologram in a Jedi Library or something.
Hayden
As a Force Ghost?
Mace
He’s dead. Another Force Ghost?
Agreed 100%, Anon @ 7:32 PM. You put it perfectly. No need to add anything else. Though some folk somehow seem bent to reject logic altogether…sigh…
OK Abrams(&Kennedy) really has the balls. Unknown actors with very little info even on IMDb! Most of them with 1-2 films. Love that. Also like diversity in the cast. White, latino, black for leads. Love it.
WoW Jackpot.
Ok so lets start on who the new cast are going to play.
Max von Sydow: evil sith mastermind..Adam Driver: sith apprentice.
Daisy Ridley Oscar Isaac:Solo kids.
John Boyega: lukes apperntice.
Domhnall Gleeson?
andy serkis?. Grandson of Jar Jar lol
I think that sounds pretty spot-on. Not sure about Oscar Isaac as one of Han and Leia’s kids (he’d be a good bit older than Daisy Ridley’s character) but it’s certainly possible. Then again, perhaps Han and Leia only have a daughter.
I’d actually like to see Andy Serkis do a completely straight, non-CGI role.
Von Sydow’s character is probably old enough to have been around during the Clone Wars, which could be interesting.
As long as they don’t try to tie every new character to an existing character from the OT or the PT, of course… we had a bit too much of the “It’s A Small Universe After All” thing in the PT, IMHO.
Von Sydow is Darth Plageus.
I like that idea, but they would have to be careful it’s not too voldimort-ish.
I’m just going to say it: Domhnall Gleeson, although perhaps a bit old (born in 1983), looks the most like Mark Hamill. Maybe Luke DOES have a direct descendant? Boyega related to Lando?
We can all sit here and gues, come up with crazy and stupid ideas for who is going to play what part until we are all blue in the face – we will just have to wait.
No kidding…
“Boyega related to Lando?” – is that cause he’s black, lol
Yes, yes it is.
The prrrecious is strong in this one…
Andy Serkis to play pack of CGI Rancors
Gollum cold be Yoda’s long lost brother… His evil twin.
Jar Jar … NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
The girl in the bottom left hand corner of the picture looks like the same girl who was reading the bad robot script. Same hair. Also, who is to the right of Kathleen Kennedy?
Oscar Isaac?
Sorry, it’s Brian Burk, producer.
Oh is that Kathleen Kennedy? I was wondering who that was lol. Bryan Burk is to the right.
Who’s sitting between Boyega and Serkis? Is that Oscar?
Max von sidow… WOW.
He could be a Imperial commander or smthing, also the lord sith, but..
what if he plays the ghost of Obi wan… look at pictures of him now in 2014, with beard.. if somebody could do it, is him i believe
A guy his age could play a million different roles. He could be an old Jedi who survived Order 66, found by Luke on some backwater planet in the Outer Rim…a high-ranking imperial officer refusing to let go of the past and making life miserable for our heroes, yes…
Anything BUT a Sith Lord…just too predictable, and if these films are to be any good, they must be able to shock and surprise the audience the way the OT did.
What happen with star wars site????
is that daniels to the left of JJ? i thought it was him talking to mark at the bottom but i’m not guessing that is max?? i’m also curious who’s to the right and left of kathleen and where is kenny? mentioned but not shown
Lawrence Kasdan is to the left of JJ. I’m not sure who Mark is talking to. Probably Max judging by his hair and the fact he isn’t anywhere else in the picture. But could be Anthony Daniels.
thanks… then if that is max that would mean kenny and daniels are both either not there or out of the pic… who’s next to kathleen on the other side who’s back we only see.?
Actually it’s Daniels in the left of Mark.
Seriously? Only ONE new female? Well thank fuck for Carrie Fisher’s return.
Is Star Wars really the place we need to endure gnashing of teeth over politically correct garbage?
How come nobody whines about a lack of male characters in movies like Sucker Punch or Fried Green Tomatoes?
Give all the activist nagging a rest for once!
Stop whining like a woman.
Seen a couple of reports where casting may not be done yet. There is supposed to be that mixed race female character. Unless they did away with her.
Max von sidow = Imperial Admiral or Chief of the New Republic?
April 29th, Pinewood Studios, UK – Writer/Director/Producer J.J Abrams (top center right) at the cast read-through of Star Wars Episode VII at Pinewood Studios with (clockwise from right) 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
excellent… where were you earlier… lol…
We need to get this guy to get some more pics for us haha.
Great job. it is cool to see the original cast back again
Wish I was that “in the know”. Taken directly from starwars.com caption.
lol still useful
Great photo but where is Kenny Baker? Oh yea, in the crate.
I notice some set work in the background… spaceship interior?
Thank god no Zak Efron and no Micheal B Jordan, great cast. Where are the black girls rumored to be in this? A lot of those rumored look like they were BS.
Pretty good choices, great to see six originals back! I think Serkis is a good choice whether its a CGI character or not and there will be some CGI with the practical effects anyway. Ridley, Von Sydow and Gleeson no one predicted!
99% positive Sydow is Darth Plagues.
Why would he be Darth Plagueis? Palpatine killed him 60 or 70 years before the events of this movie.
So we all were told by mr liar puppet master palpatine and so we all presume.. 😉 I also thought he could be plagues but I don’t think so. I hope he’s a sith and has a sith apprentice to mirror the palpatine/vader thing.
I assume that von Sydow is probably the dark side master, with Driver as the apprentice. I still think that it would be interesting to have dark side enemies who don’t necessarily follow the Sith line, but I assume they’ll probably play the safe and familiar card as far as that goes.
I could maybe see Driver as a Jedi apprentice at the beginning of the movie who is power-hungry enough to turn to the dark side by the end of the movie, sort of in the vein of the way that Obi Wan originally described Darth Vader in ANH.
But again, I expect they’ll probably take a more predictable route and we’ll see von Sydow as the new Sith master and Driver as his Vader-ish apprentice from the outset of the movie.
First off, it’s Darth Plagueis, not Plagues. Secondly, he’s dead, gone, finito, muerto. His apprentice killed him in his sleep, period. End of story.
Im thinking Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver are the Solo siblings. Domhnall Gleeson could be the son of Luke if his mother is some new red head character. Im curious if this Max Von Sydow will play some sort of Tarkin like role since a Tarkin book is coming out. John Boyega.. maybe hes lukes apprentice?
Gleeson looks like Kenobi with a beard so he is the surprise at the end of the movie and Boyega is Lando’s kid who will be the comedy side kick that keeps trying but failing with Ridley who is the Solo daughter but Gleeson who is a Solo like character gets the girl.
I Thank You
Are they really gonna put 80 years old Kenny Baker inside R2? seems weird… what if hes gonna be Wicket the old Ewok lol, or maybe some new character, But inside r2? To portray that character in the old movies, he was moving the head side to side and bouncing inside the suit, but nowadays i dont think is needed to do that.
Only one new woman. So much for equality…
Yeah I don’t know why I’m so surprised by the lack of females. A female jedi? female sith? A female LEAD? That would have been freakin’ awesome. I think everyone is going to sort of pat JJ on the back for casting John because of his race and that’s somehow brave or something. But yeah screw the girls there’s very few vagina’s in star wars I guess.
How can you be so certain that Daisy’s role won’t be the primary focus of these movies?
Sounds to me like she’s a lead character. And if she’s a Skywalker, she’s probably going to end up swinging a light saber.
No, it’s not a primarily female cast. Then again, Star Wars never has been a primarily female franchise. I don’t see them really messing with the formula all that much this first time out post-Lucas.
Give ’em time, though. Once they have the new series established a bit more, I bet they’ll start trying different things.
“Star Wars never has been a primarily female franchise.” Exactly. That’s the problem lol.
“How can you be so certain that Daisy’s role won’t be the primary focus of these movies?”
um isn’t it obvious?
nothing is obvious. except that most of the original cast is returning.
“Exactly. That’s the problem lol.”
Star Wars movies have never been musicals, either. How far afield do we want to go with it?
If you’d have read my entire post, you’d see that the point I was making was that Disney isn’t likely to mess with the established Star Wars formula for this first movie in the new series. That’s only logical… they shelled out a fortune to buy LFL and Star Wars, and it makes sense that they would take a pretty conservative approach to Episode VII, it being the first SW movie done without Lucas being at the helm as a producer or a director.
Once they have this first SW movie under their belt, I think that we WILL see them getting more experimental in terms of deviating from the old SW formula. I would expect to eventually see more female leads, female villains, etc.
But to expect that the suits at Disney were going to risk their investment in any way by changing up the old SW formula for this first new film just isn’t realistic. That’s why the cast for this one looks a lot like the casts for the previous SW films, and it’s why we will probably see a very straightforward storyline for Episode VII as well. I’d like to see them get more creative with the plot, the conflict, and the characters, but I don’t think it’s likely to happen this time around.
But with a new SW flick planned for each year from 2015 onward… yeah, they’re going to have a lot of room to play with things down the road.
You go, DEKKA!
So go make your own progressive space opera where control freak women with obsessions over perfect equality win the day!
Honestly, I don’t think comedy is the direction they want to go in. Anyone remember Keira Knightly sword fighting assailants 300 pounds heavier than her in the pirates movie? That sort of thing is as stupid as it is hilarious.
Yeah, it’s ludicrous alright! 100 pound girls beating up 200 pound guys!
Who’s gonna believe that?
It’s like having a guy who can fly, catch bullets with his teeth and punch his way through 3 feet of solid steel – ridiculous!
Who’s gonna believe that either? Ha!Ha!
Ugh bummed out about Andy Serkis and John Boyega. But so excited about Max von Sydow. (Please please please be the new creepy-ass leader of the dark side!). Daisy Ridley, and Domhnall Gleeson I’m super insanely excited about.
When has Serkis ever played a truly awful role?
I never said that. I just think if they wanted a high profile actor, then why pick Andy of all people when there’s far far better actors out there? Hopefully they picked him because the character is a motion capture thing.
We have no idea what role he was chosen for, but it was obviously for a good reason if they took so long finalizing the cast. We can’t make any foolish assumptions.
Adam driver could be a sith, but not just simply a sith as a bad guy jedi, but a sith as race (the dudes with red skin and sort-of tentacles in the face). I think he has the look to be one of these aliens
I think not.
That was EU Sith. The EU is pretty much out of the picture now, except for a few good concepts used for inspiration, and that part of the EU was certainly not one of the best concepts.
has anybody mentioned Karen “Amy Pond” Gillan’s hair in a supporting role yet? (she revealed the wig they made from her hair is currently residing in the SW Props room…lol
hehe Emporer Ming in star wars. You got to love that. 🙂
And Andy Serkis that’s cool.
Very nice cast I love it.
I would be curious to know who the people at the very bottom of the picture are. Supporting cast members?
Looks like Cathy Kennedy is one of them
I guess he means the partial-heads we see at the very-very bottom of the picture
see my post above
What if.. the Harry Potter dude is gonna play the son of chewbacca? maybe the wig of Amy Pond is part of his suit
Why doesn’t anyone think that Adam Driver is not Han and Leia’s kid?
I look at at it this way:
What Star Trek-NG did for Classic Star Trek, could happen here. As long as they do it right. We’re just gonna have to wait and see.
When do you think we will receive a announcement about what the storyline will be, who these actors will be playing?
Anyone try and zoom in on the open script books yet?
Enhance!
ENHANCE!!!
UNLIMITED ENHANCE!!!
Kenny baker is not missing from the photo…………….He is inside R2D2 of course!
I’m surprised this hasn’t been done yet!!!….. Lets look at the original casting call and see how things now line up….
• Late-teen female, independent, good sense of humour, fit. (Daisy Ridley)
• Young twenty-something male, witty and smart, fit but not traditionally good looking. (Adam Driver)
• A late twentysomething male, fit, handsome and confident. (John Boyega)
• Seventy-something male, with strong opinions and tough demeanour. Also doesn’ t need to be particularly fit. (Max Von Sydow)
• A second young female, also late teens, tough, smart and fit. (?)
• Forty something male, fit, military type. (Andy Serkis)
• Thirtysomething male, intellectual. Apparently doesn’t need to be fit. (Oscar Isaac)
The only part not covered is the 2nd young female and I cant place a part for Domhnall Geleeson. It’s likely the part was changed from a female character to a male character. I think it’s interesting in that the part for the 40 year old military type seems it could only fall to Andy Serkis. So he could be in a traditional role instead of doing mo-cap… That would be cool
my gut tells me that Serkis and Isaac should be swapped in your write up.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kurumako, I went back and forth on that myself but it came down to their age.
I hope there is another female lead…
Gleeson is 30 something..
Do you think that second female lead is still in the movie?
Do you think that second female role is still in the finalized version? (Sorry if multi-post, it’s been a bit wonky for me)
Max von Sydow is the big surpise here. With the proper makeup he could certainly do a fully passable Obi-Wan, especially as OB1 would (presumably) be a slightly blurry Force-ghost anyway.
Whatever his part is, the man is in his mid-eighties; they cannot be certain that he will be available for the entire trilogy. If he is not Obi-Wan, could von Sydow be the “mentor figure” that has to die in the first movie of the trilogy, in the grand tradition of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan?
But what kind of mentor, then? Since the character would be old enough to have experienced even the Clone Wars, how to explain that he has never appeared in the films before? Yes, the galaxy is huge, but …
If he is Palpatine’s own master, Darth Plagueis, another chunck EU material goes out of the window. He was described as an alien in the novel named after him. Also, we must then assume that Palpatine either lied or was wrong about Plagueis being dead. (Maybe he left his master for dead, but this guy had been researching immortality, remember?)
Heck, even the notion that Plagueis was necessarily Palpatine’s own master is based solely on EU sources. It was never stated in the movies.
It was pretty much stated in the movies, when Palpatine tells the story about Plagueis, that Plagueis was his master.
I don’t see lens flare mentioned on this list. He is big in every JJ flick.
He’s like a voice over guy, only shows up for post work wearing pajamas and a coffee stained Spongebob shirt.
Anyone notice, that what looks like an opening crawl is on inner side of the r2 d2 box flap?
Just above Abram’s head for clarification…
I am very disappointed, I was expecting an official announcement on May 4th or later.
How dare they announce earlier than I expected.
Only kidding, lol
I am over the moon by the news. I guess they just could not keep it secret any longer with the recent events the past few days.
Just hope J.J. Abrams can get a good performance out of Harrison Ford, looks like he is already practicing for this in the photo.
I really, really like this cast.
I like how there’s young people, older people, and middle aged people. This looks great so far.
The additions of Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis and Max Von Sydow are the most intriguing to me. No clue who Oscar Isaac will be (which is a good thing), but Andy Serkis is a little more interesting to me. I could see him maybe doing mo-cap work for Peter Mayhew (in some more physical Chewie scenes), or maybe even do mo-cap and voice work as Yoda’s force ghost. Sydow could be force ghost Obi-Wan, or he could maybe be an elderly Thrawn. I wouldn’t mind him as a Sith lord either with Driver as his apprentice. Doesn’t matter- this cast is incredible!
Funny that you mention an elderly Thrawn(ish character), I was just thinking that earlier while talking about the new cast.
Daisy Ridley looks very much like a cross between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. Very excited and hope there are a few surprises thrown in for 12/18/15!
If Max Von Sydow grows a Jedi beard he we look amazingly just like Alec Guinness.
If he is to play Bens force ghost then I think I could except that instead of some CGI trickery.
But we don’t know yet, he could be playing a completely different character.
Max as Obi-wan? wtf?? lol no no no no. Hopefully he is the new palpatine.
i’d be willing to say the odds are better than 80/20 he’s bad vs good.
just my guess though… his imd pic archive just makes him look evil lol
and i’m not sure they’d bring in and list a major character for just a small part of a force ghost… unless that is going to be a huge story line in this one and i don’t think so.
anyone else think it’s suspicious that daisy is sitting between harrison and carrie… i’m thinking the get to know your parent’s and establish chemistry phase has begun if she is indeed their kid.. placement of the other characters could be key as well with the younger cast all sitting together on the other side of mark… beside andy … possible trio of jedi and or adam driver sitting alone…sith being separated… who knows. quite possibly the most poured over picture in recent history…
boom. good catch. bet you’re right.
i been staring at the picture all day and all of the sudden that just came to me… the part about harrison and carrie more than anything because i’m going to say it’s almost certain that’s their daughter… the others were more of a specualtion and until we know who’s who it will be harder to tell. also chewie is sitting kind of off to the side and staring at his script… he’s probably got less interaction to worry about and he’s already probably got that down with harrison.
Max von Sydow = 2.07 in this clip from clone wars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsSQVS_ypw8
She was referring to Luke and Leia, who Padme was probably pregnant with at the time.
I wonder what their roles will be. Sure are a lack of females. Presumably the “new trio” will be John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and either Adam Driver or Domhnall Gleeson. Hopefully it’s Domhnall as he is a brilliant character and would bounce off Daisy so well as she seems to be very funny also.
Past suggestion that there will be a major unexpected plot twist and that Harrison Ford has a “gigantic role” so here’s a suggestion: “There is another Skywalker” in Clone Wars suggests that maybe Anakin had a sibling (Sidow), who Luke finds… but he is also a dark side user who finally does what Anakin and palpatine could not. He turns Luke to the dark side. Han Solo, who always preferred a blaster, must ironically kill his friend Luke with just such a weapon…
Or maybe since Episodes VII – IX were supposed to be more about philosophical questions (like good vs. evil, “from a certain point of view”) we learn that the ancient Jedi (Dark Jedi or otherwise) were really the bad guys all along… oppressing the poor Sith. Parallels to attempted white supremacy over other races.
That sounds like something James Cameron would do.
Big Daddy Dave
How do we know Adam is playing a villain?
Gleeson has the face of an Imperial officer if you ask me. Will the Empire play a part in the new trilogy? I really hope so.
Good cast ,I’m so far very happy. Hopefully it’ll only get better and better.
Wow Daisy Ridley looks like Natalie Portman.
The granddaughter pulled a lot of genes from her grandmother. 😀
Thanks for posting the photo with the labels, I was trying to figure out who some of them were, damn guys this is sooooooooooo cool! Way better than any pics we got prior to the PT 🙂
mostly proper character actors and a decent bunch n all … serkis in that ian dury film was amazing ,he can do anything well and max von is geat , like peter cushing .
Cannot wait Star Wars Episode VII is going to be awesome!
Harrison Ford is a fantastic actor. Mark is vastly underrated, a truly humble man. Peter Mayhew IS Chewbacca. Carrie Fisher is the witty soul of her character. Lets not forget Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker who were perfect comic relief throughout the entire saga.
There isn’t a single Star Wars movie with more than one female lead. Here we will have two female leads, stop complaining.
I’m noticing that Luke doesn’t have any female character to play as his spouse. He’s a bachelor or a widower, and this now gives credit to the rumor of a black adopted son and possibly a biological son from his late wife. Or it could be that his wife won’t play a leading role and therefore isn’t mentioned in this casting announcements. Only major cast members are being announced here, which tells me that the big three will be the leads for this film, and gradually the new generation will take up their mantel.
I want more female leads than two. Why female characters are always in minority ?
And people wonder why more women do not like Star wars. They do not have characters with whom they can relate. Because they are almost all of them males.
Star Wars has never been about placating female empowerment fantasies. If you want perfect gender equality, go watch Star Trek.
Because we want more than just two.
Why female charaters are always in minority?
And people wonder why more woman do not like Star wars. Why majority of Star wars fans are males.
Because woman do not have characters with whom they can relate in star wars.
Because almost all of the characters in star wars are males.
”AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 10:34 PM
Star Wars has never been about placating female empowerment fantasies. If you want perfect gender equality, go watch Star Trek.”
And that exactly is one of the biggest flaws of Star wars as franshise.
It is too male-centric.
So don’t watch it.
Not everything needs to be perfectly equal for everyone all of the time. That would be immensely boring anyway.
If you feel that a male-centric franchise is a flaw, make your own female-centric space opera.
I find your lack of faith disturbing. But wow, really, sexism is gross. We don’t want your kind here..
”AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 10:54 PM
So don’t watch it.
Not everything needs to be perfectly equal for everyone all of the time. That would be immensely boring anyway.
If you feel that a male-centric franchise is a flaw, make your own female-centric space opera.”
That is the problem. The majority womens dislike Star wars.
So Star wars is losing more than half of potential viewers.
And you comments are sexist. This world is not full of males with only 1-2 females.
Stop parroting the idiocy your 60s-era teachers and professors are forcing down your throats.
Honestly, no one complains about movies like Fried Green Tomatoes or Sucker Punch not having enough male leads.
So what if Star Wars is male-centric? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Star Wars isn’t meant to be a reflection of U.S. Census data. It’s a fantasy. A story.
So give your fascist activism a rest, and let the story be whatever it wants to be.
Stop ramming your politics down everyone’s throats in every aspect of life. It’s exhausting.
“There isn’t a single Star Wars movie with more than one female lead. Here we will have two female leads, stop complaining.”
wtf? That’s like saying; it’s legal for 100 women to be able to vote but now it’s legal for 200 women to be able to vote. No, people called on the bullshit on that problem, and now all women are able to vote. A slight improvement to a problem doesn’t solve the problem.
A cast should be diverse. Fact. Which mean at least 20% of the cast should be women, and that’s being very generous. Here we just have Carrie and Daisy, while the rest are men. That’s not even hitting a generous suggestion of a simple 20%.
”AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 11:17 PM
Stop parroting the idiocy your 60s-era teachers and professors are forcing down your throats.
Honestly, no one complains about movies like Fried Green Tomatoes or Sucker Punch not having enough male leads.
So what if Star Wars is male-centric? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Star Wars isn’t meant to be a reflection of U.S. Census data. It’s a fantasy. A story.
So give your fascist activism a rest, and let the story be whatever it wants to be.
Stop ramming your politics down everyone’s throats in every aspect of life. It’s exhausting.”
Really?!?
So you live in the fantasy where all citizens are males, with only 1-2 females?
That is really sad world then.
Being male-centric is wrong. It is sexist.
It is the same as hate someone just because it is not male.
I thought that people in the 21st century overcome the narrow-minded thinking like yours.
Wanting diversity is not wrong.
”AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 11:17 PM
Stop parroting the idiocy your 60s-era teachers and professors are forcing down your throats.
Honestly, no one complains about movies like Fried Green Tomatoes or Sucker Punch not having enough male leads.
So what if Star Wars is male-centric? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Star Wars isn’t meant to be a reflection of U.S. Census data. It’s a fantasy. A story.
So give your fascist activism a rest, and let the story be whatever it wants to be.
Stop ramming your politics down everyone’s throats in every aspect of life. It’s exhausting.”
Just because something is a fantasy, does not make it ok.
Being male-centric is not ok. We live in diverse world. And Star wars universe should be diverse too.
More than half of population on our planet are females. You mother is female.
We have 7 males and only 1 female in new cast. And that is sad.
”AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 11:17 PM
Stop parroting the idiocy your 60s-era teachers and professors are forcing down your throats.
Honestly, no one complains about movies like Fried Green Tomatoes or Sucker Punch not having enough male leads.
So what if Star Wars is male-centric? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Star Wars isn’t meant to be a reflection of U.S. Census data. It’s a fantasy. A story.
So give your fascist activism a rest, and let the story be whatever it wants to be.
Stop ramming your politics down everyone’s throats in every aspect of life. It’s exhausting.”
Just because something is a fantasy, does not make it ok.
Being male-centric is not ok. We live in diverse world. And Star wars universe should be diverse too.
More than half of population on our planet are females. You mother is female.
We have 7 males and only 1 female in new cast. And that is sad.
I am sure others have said this. For me, ever since Dark Empire, Heir to the Empire, Jedi Academy, etc I always wondered what kind of Jedi Master would Luke Skywalker be? Would he turn to the dark side to defeat it from within? Would he be more like Obiwan? Well, that wait is soon to be over my friends! The Force is strong with us! Cannot wait to see Jedi Master Skywalker on the big screen! So happy for Mark Hamill, he deserves this! Congrats to the entire cast! 🙂
BUT WAIT EVERYONE. They still haven’t opened the box! Title announcement imminent as well.
and that may be what we get on the 4th!!!!
Lol
And let’s see who is sitting in a DARK COUCH, a part from J.J. :Serkis, Hamill and Gleeson.
And what’s in the boxes behind J.J., Ford and Fisher?
Could Oscar Isaac be Mandalore? Or at least a Mandolorian?
Interesting Idea I could see him playing a Mandolorian
maybe that is what we will get on the 4th.
How many of the main actors will play non human roles??? I want at least one jedi like darth maul and more sith lords!
WHERE’S LANDO!!!!!
Who cares!!!
He’s not in this film and rightly so!!!
What do you mean “Rightly so” Billy D Williams is awesome. I bet he is in episode VIII
Rightly so because this film needs to focus on setting up the new. C3PO R2 Chewie Leia Han and Luke are there because they were the principle cast. Bringing back Lando is definitely a step too far. Sure Billy is awesome and I would geek out. But episode 7 should not be a cheap geeky fangirl-over film, it should be freaking awesome. Will Lando make it awesome? No.
what i really am interested in is what was sitting on the couch behind carrie and harrison? there’s a jack laid on the couch, could that be harrison or jj’s jacket or someone else’s who got up and walked out of the shot… and who is sitting just out of the picture at the bottom who’s heads we only see? surprise characters who they didn’t want identified yet???
sorry mistype.. who was sitting on the couch behind carrie and harrison…
ok another observation… the head at the bottom left… very dark and curly… looks alot like the unkown black british actress that we had heard about as well… hmmmm cooincidence. or not????
Holy fuck
Calm down! It’s Star Wars, not The Borgias or Da Vinci’s Demons.
Why is Lawrence Kasdan in this pic? I thought he left.
Michael Arndt was the one who left and Lawrence Kasdan replaced him…
Michael Arndt was the one who left. Lawrence Kasdan replaced him…
Max von Sydow!!!!! What a pleasant surprise!
Wow.
So people can whine about not having enough female leads on this blog, but people who disagree with that sentiment can’t respond to that?
Is that how this blog works?
Yes.
Because whine about wanting less female characters in star wars is Sexist.
Well yeah because if you disagree to that, you are sexist, which is wrong and those kind of immoral comments should be deleted. 7 new cast members and only 1 female? If you think that’s ok and don’t care about diversity, something’s wrong with that.
It’s perfectly okay. Star Wars isn’t about politically correct diversity quotas, or freedom from sexism.
Besides, Han Solo is one of the most sexist characters in the galaxy. I suppose you cheered when the sexist was frozen.
Han Solo being sexist was a flaw. A flaw is wrong. That’s why he changed. This isn’t difficult to understand. It’s called character development. and damn you sure need some character development..
”AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 11:17 PM
Stop parroting the idiocy your 60s-era teachers and professors are forcing down your throats.
Honestly, no one complains about movies like Fried Green Tomatoes or Sucker Punch not having enough male leads.
So what if Star Wars is male-centric? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Star Wars isn’t meant to be a reflection of U.S. Census data. It’s a fantasy. A story.
So give your fascist activism a rest, and let the story be whatever it wants to be.
Stop ramming your politics down everyone’s throats in every aspect of life. It’s exhausting.”
Just because something is a fantasy, does not make it ok.
Being male-centric is not ok. We live in diverse world. And Star wars universe should be diverse too.
More than half of population on our planet are females. You mother is female.
We have 7 males and only 1 female in new cast. And that is sad.
We live in gender inclusive times. Iconic movies like SW7 should reflect that to at least a reasonable degree. I wanna see flashbacks where Han changes the nappies while Leia is away running the Empire!
How many female characters does this movie need to soothe people’s guilt? Star Wars is a boy’s fantasy series anyway, just like Twilight is marketed to girls. Nothing wrong with either. It’s like one black guy got cast so liberals are moving onto the next thing to bitch about. Besides, I don’t see anybody bitching that there aren’t any Asians, Indians, or other races.
Well somebody here is a fat balding sexist pig. I guess you are allergic to vaginas or something.
hmmm they announced yesterday on twitter that they would star uploading some videos onto youtube starting from today..
“Starting tomorrow we’ll be sharing some new @YouTube specials with you…”
…still waiting..
We just got the movie news of the century, and you are complaining about the lack of a kiddie youtube special? Wow
um I’m just bringing up the simple point that they said they would put up videos and didn’t. Am I not allowed to be curious or something..??
Hamill & Fisher still look decidedly chubby, I sure hope this works..
Hamill will be in robes and they can give Fisher spanx. She does look chubby in the picture but she is very slim.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/16/article-0-1D257AA100000578-836_634x749.jpg
Well, no exercise regime on Earth can reverse time, and they are both supposed to be much older representations of their characters.
Where are the female leads, JJ? (Have you got more up your sleeve)? Wasn’t this supposed to be SW for a new generation – today’s gender inclusive generation?
Exactly.
I want female jedi.
Female Sith.. More female characters.
Only important female characters in SW saga are Padme and Leia. I want more.
OH MY GOSH WHEN I SAW THIS ON GOOGLE PLUS I SERIOUSLY STARTED JUMPING AND SCREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO SORRY I DON’T NORMALLY SAY THIS BUT HOLY CRAP I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God Bless (and no rude replies please)
Caps lock, Viral. Come and get her!
Don’t be a killjoy, Anon 12.38. JJ has just made her day!
Settle down, its more of an inside joke…
I literally Screamed out loud when i read the title
So I saw this at work earlier and had a heart attack…couldn’t believe by eyes! Anyway I think it’s a very interesting line-up. No complaints here. I’m really excited about the newcomers…I hope that in thirty years, those of us who remain will be on a site (or whatever we will have then) like this rumoring the return to Star Wars of the big three from 2015…Boyega, Ridley, and Driver (or whoever they may be).
I come home from my bagpipe lesson, put on Return of the Jedi and pick up my iPad for a wee browse at the latest Ep. VII rumours and I discover this…. To say the least, I’m ecstatic. Casting Serkis & Von Sydow is a stroke of absolute bloody genius. So glad the big 3 are back too. Can any one remember the recent twitter post from Abrams’ production company? It was a box with “Bad Robot” stamped on the panel, at least we now know what (or who) was in it. Mind you, I wouldn’t describe Artoo as bad, mischievous maybe. Lol. Happy new trilogy everyone.
Great news from the wrap please Vidal post it in this site too!
first ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ Box Office Could Hit $2 Billion, Analysts Say
http://www.thewrap.com/star-wars-episode-vii-hit-2-billion-box-office-analysts-say/
second ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ Director J.J. Abrams Still Has Casting Tricks Up His Sleeve
http://www.thewrap.com/star-wars-episode-vii-director-j-j-abrams-still-tricks-sleeve/
From previous posts, Adam Driver is said to be of “Vein of Darth Vader”. I intrepet this to be of the bloodline of Anakin Skywalker who turns to the darkside. He has Darth Vader’s height and from an earlier post someone mentioned that he looked alot like the cartoon version of Han Solo in the Star Wars holiday special . It would make sense that he is the eldest son of Han and Leia. He is around 30 which fits “a late twentysomething male, fit, handsome and confident.”
Daisy Ridley is easily Han and Leia’s daughter and most closely resembles Adam Driver. She passes for roles between 16-20 which fits “late-teen female, independent, good sense of humour, fit”.
I believe that Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley were cast the end of last year which is why the parts were not open to Sam Witwer and Lily Collins whom resemble the actors above.
The two parts that were in the open cast call where for Thomas and Rachel. Rachel was for a women in her late teens, preferribly black or mixed and Thomas was a “young twenty-something male, witty and smart, fit but not traditionally good looking”.
I think that role of Rachel was later changed to a black male in his late teens. The shortlist of actors leaked recently were for these remaining two parts. One for late teens/early twenties black or mixed race male and the other for mid twenties age male with strawberry blond hair. So John Boyega who is 22 fits the male part of Rachel and Domhnall Gleeson as the part of Thomas. Thomas had father issues and Rachel was orphaned. These parts could easily be Luke’s biological son with a Mara Jade type character and adopted son.
An earlier post suggested that Hasbro was no longer to produce action figures of Jacen and Jaina Solo and Ben and Jade Skywalker. These could be the inspiration for the Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson, and John Boyega characters respectively.
Wow this is AWESOME ! the Big 3 are back – that was all I needed to know – however I’m happy with all the cast….
One of the best things about that picture is that George Lucas is not in it. He did what he does best by contributing the initial idea and now it’s up to the talents of others to create the details just like the Empire Strikes Back. And hopefully like that movie it will move forward from what was before without much reference to what came before like Empire moved forward from “Star Wars”. My hopes are a little higher now.
They just announced a ton of actors. One question… who is playing the Lead Role?
Yawn. Wake me when they open the box.
Mightn’t be worth it. Could be Karen Gillen’s red wig in it.
Any chance John Boyega will play Lando’s son? Maybe he could be orphaned because Lando died and Han and Leia promised to look out for him? I can see him having Lando’s charm and wit and sarcasm. I’m probably way off, but we will all have a million guesses before this is all over haha
Okay, here’s a question to put out there. Why today? What is so special about today? I’m not complaining, just curious.
For one thing, I thought they were going to have some grand hoopla to announce it.
http://imgur.com/f5CBAtU
http://i.imgur.com/GBrVlbr.jpg
what the FRIG?!
This will be a day long remembered. It saw the return of the Big 3 and the end of Zac Effron.
Daisy rhymes with Maisie
Yeah
The dudes must be great actors. They certainly weren’t picked for their matinee idol looks. Daisy is the only attractive one of the new actors. Glad to see the OT actors back, but the new crop of guys is not looking good.
Max von Sydow is a great choice to join the next SW movie. Although my first thought after reading he is 85 years old is the risk. The amount of money they are putting into reviving this franchise and Max at that age could pass with a much higher percentage than any of his fellow actors.
“Why is Kasdan there?”
To write scenes for the actors during production. Thats how secret the script is.
“Oscar is playing Han’s kid.”
I dont really see that. He has more of a Latin look to him.
I’d also like to personally thank JJ for not casting any kids for this movie.
It seems it is totally distant with EU, even no jacen-like character or something, I can not see anybody as solo son here, only a daughter may be. Big disturbance in the force. I am glad that the announcement was maid, let’s have our best hopes for understanding the old character ways.
So I’m trying to look at the new cast as to how the casts were done for the PT and OT:
Both trilogies have a trio of humans (Anakin, Obi Wan, Padme and Luke, Han, Leia)
Both trilogies get the two droids.
Both series got an alien sidekick (Jar Jar, and Chewbacca)
Both trilogies got an older teacher for the first movie (Qui-Gon and Obi Wan)
That’s your seven, putting aside that Jar Jar flopped.
I think the human trio might be four with Gleeson (as Luke’s son), Boyega (Luke’s apprentice) Ridley (as the Solo’s daughter) and Isaac (as the other strong male).
The two Droids of course!
And Andy Serkis as the new alien character taking Jar Jar and Chewie’s spot.
Isaac could be the new Han Solo type of bad boy character with a love story with Ridley’s character in the 2nd and 3rd films. Luke would be the Obi-Wan role for the 1st movie.
That would be 8 heroes instead of the 7 that they have done, which is still fine. Luke and the rest of the OT cast might not even be alive for VIII and IX, or are at least out of the spotlight while the young cast takes the torch and carries the story.
And Driver and Sydow are definitely your siths. Driver is simply too fascinatingly ugly to NOT cast as a villain.
Big Daddy Dave
Look to the bottom of the photo – those rear-of-head shots, of people may be supporting cast, or production assistants – who knows? Would certainly be a spoiler to see Ian McDiarmid or Frank Oz revealed in this heraldic press-release, although granted both would be a special effect, not an actual presence on set necessarily.
HEY VIRALHIDE!
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-episode-vii-casting-699924
new female actress announcement coming soon!
it’s Tilda Swinton.
HEY VIRAL!!!!
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-episode-vii-casting-699924
NEW FEMALE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON!
Well, after 31 years of waiting, it’s finally hitting me that we’re really going to see the big Star Wars six together on screen again! Seeing the photo of the script read just brought it all home! And I don’t know that this absolutely precludes the possibility of a surprise cameo by either Billy Dee or Ewan. But I’m happy just to see Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Threepio, and Artoo together again! May the Force Be With the whole team!
how the FUCK are you gonna have a star wars 7 with no lando who was an integral part of the destruction of the second death star
mother FUCKERS
Daisy Ridley = Perfection! This is exactly what they (LFL) were doing by turning every stone. They came up with a fresh-faced beauty who will no doubt steal scenes and hearts. Well done!
Andy Serkis and, the legendary Max Von Sydow are just Pure Win!!!
Thank the Force no Zac Effron.
max von sydovalso was the king that is concerned for his daughter in the first Conan movie
the prequels are good films but its was mostly the expectation that killed them , the e7 film in our heads will bear no resemblance to the actual film , there will be disappointment.
I could hardly sleep last night. Went to bed thinking about Star Wars, how important it was to my childhood, and my hopes for Episode VII. I’ve got a really good feeling about this.
The only thing this movie needs? More women. Like, 15 more women, all in major roles. I want to see Mon Monthma’s granddaughter burning her bra in a show of protest on the steps of Coruscant’s capital. Because that’s what Star Wars is really all about when you think about it. And Han and Leia’s son HAS to be Asian. I’ve been feeling rather guilty all these years for being a white male and that might help make up for it.
THEN everything will be perfect.
I can’t believe all the back lash over “sexist” cast. Only 1 woman? What about Carrie? Do you really think there will only be 2 woman in the entire movie? Now that the cast is announced, people have to find something else to cry about. If the Black actor wasn’t in the film, people would be crying racism. It’s truly sad that people have to constantly complain about everything related to star wars.
Apparently they’re still looking for another female lead so all the feminists don’t have to get their panties all up in a bunch.
http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/star-wars-episode-vii-still-in-search-of-another-female-lead
Lol
And let’s see who is sitting in a DARK COUCH, besides J.J.: Serkis, Hamill and Gleeson.
And what’s in the boxes behind J.J., Ford and Fisher?
Wow, Daisy Ridley bears a strong resemblance to Natalie Portman. I’m willing to bet she’s a Skywalker, and I doubt I’m alone when I say that I have little doubt Max Von Sydow is the main villain. He’s got sith lord written all over him. Back in 2000 when we found out that Christopher Lee was playing the new villain Count Dooku I thought to myself that Von Sydow would have been perfect for the role too. Looks like I’m not the only one who thought he’d be a perfect sith. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself but I would have to say yes, he’s playing a bad guy
I’m seeing a few people on here speculating that Max Von Sydow could be playing Obi Wans ghost. Come on people! Think! If Obi Wan is going to show up in this film it will, without a doubt be Alec Guiness!! It’s very simple. Look what Disney did with Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy. Guiness’s face can easily be re-created digitally, then Ewan comes in and does a voice over and….bam, we get vintage Kenobi!!
yes but there was talk that they did tests and looked like crap. i personally rather they bring back Ewen color his hair and with makeup age him
All I can say is this isn’t the entire cast. Expect a bombshell, or two. I’m sure Frank Oz will return as Yoda’s ghost. And….I know people are going to hate this but don’t be shocked to see Hayden Christiansen’s ghost show up. I honestly think it would be kinda neat to see luke speaking with his father. I believe we will see a CGI Alec Guiness too. What we wont see is Palpatine. I’ve seen folks talking about that. Remember, a sith cannot achieve eternal life. There was a scene written but not shot for ROTS where Yoda speaks with Qui- Gon. He explains this to Yoda. It can only be achieved by someone with love and compassion. No Palpatine….sorry
Expect the title announcement sometime between August and October
well thank you very much! here I am on the wrong side of 40 and all of a sudden I feel ill be turning 10 again at my next birthday!! will I ever grow up??
has anybody notice they seem to be sitting in the middle of a set??