UPDATE! Oscar Isaac Confirms Presence in Star Wars Episode VIII

Oscar IsaacOscar Isaac, who recently starred in this year’s Ex Machina and will star as the title villain of next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, has effectively confirmed that he will reprise his role from The Force Awakens (Poe Dameron) in Episode VIII in an interview with Moviefone.

 

 

From Moviefone:

 

Moviefone: Were these movies super important to you as a kid? What was your motivation to get on board?

 

Oscar Isaac: Well the history of it. The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was Return of the Jedi. And then J.J., on top of the whole thing was J.J. Nostalgia can only go so far and at a certain point you have to have someone who has a real vision of what they want to do.

 

M: And your next director isn’t too shabby either. Are you excited about working with Rian?

 

OI: Yes. Very excited.

 

 

He also shared a few other interesting tidbits about his role in the film, and his involvement with the franchise in the future:

 

M: What was it like being in an X-Wing?

 

OI: It was very cool, but a little nauseating because the thing is on a gimbal and moving all around. I forgot to breathe and I was like, “Whoa.” But it was very cool.

 

M: They’re doing these spinoffs now. Is there any possibility for your character to star in one of those?

 

OI: I don’t know, you’re going to have to ask them about it…

 

Screen-Shot-2014-11-28-at-8.25.22-AM

 

In addition to Oscar Isaac, it has been confirmed that Daisy Ridley will also be present for Episode VIII (as well as Episode IX, although Isaac’s involvement with that film has not been announced in any capacity). Although it is very early to announce the cast for a sequel before the movie it follows even comes out, it’s interesting to see that two of the new “Big Three” have already confirmed their involvement.

 

 

 

UPDATE!

 

Isaac tried to do some damage control while speaking to /Film, but he was not very convincing:

 

Ah, I couldn’t speak to that. I don’t even know. I think generally…watching the trailer was my only confirmation that I even was going to be in this one so I have no idea. I know that people thought I was saying I was going to be in the next one which is not true. I was asked if I was excited to work with Rian Johnson. I mean of course I would. I’d be excited to work with him. I have no confirmation whether I will or not or anything like that.

 

 

I think no one has any doubts that Isaac will return for Episode VIII. Still it’s really funny seeing the cast trying to tell us something by saying nothing.

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

99 thoughts on “UPDATE! Oscar Isaac Confirms Presence in Star Wars Episode VIII

  • March 20, 2015 at 3:43 am
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    Very nice Pomojema!

    • March 20, 2015 at 6:18 am
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      [Bows]

  • March 20, 2015 at 3:44 am
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    Sooo guys I just watched brothers bloom… holy shit… Rian Jonston is the man. I wasn’t as big of a fan of brick, but bros. bloom & looper are both *really* well written…. I think EP VIII is gonna be killer even if JJ doesn’t knock VII out of the park.

    • March 20, 2015 at 5:16 am
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      Check out his work on Breaking Bad as well! He wrote 3 fan favorite episodes: “The Fly”, “Fifty-One”, and “Ozymandias.”

      • March 20, 2015 at 5:49 am
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        He didn’t write Ozymandias, i’m pretty sure he only directed those and the The Fly is one of if not the worst Breaking Bad episode.

        • March 20, 2015 at 8:25 am
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          uHm…No, it isn’t. ‘Fly’ is kind of a masterpiece when you consider that is basically set in one room, with only two characters (and one of them is off screen for half the runtime) and is still works as a well oiled machine in being tense and entertaining. The directing work on that episode is kiler, as well as in ‘Fifty-One’ and ‘Ozymandias’.

          • March 20, 2015 at 1:57 pm
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            loved all breaking bad, …except the fly, that was the single worst episode of the entire run.

          • March 20, 2015 at 3:23 pm
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            Ozymandias was the best episode. The Fly and Fifty One were not that great.

        • March 20, 2015 at 9:42 am
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          It’s subjective really, the fly was one of my favourite 🙂

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:38 pm
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            I’ve only seen “The Fly”, by coincidence, that is the one episode BB I’ve ever watched. I’m sure there are other better episodes, but from a purely objective point of view, the directing/writing/editing on that episode was pretty high quality. It’s enough of an episode for me to seriously consider bothering to watch the show [i’m a reverse couch-potato, trying new shows causes me physical pain].
            With what I hear of Looper, meh, I’d pay money to watch a Rian Johnson Star wars flick, why not? If he could make two guys taking a really long time to kill a fly moderately not boring, who knows what he’ll do when he’s given an ACTUAL subject to work with, such as star wars? Who knows? maybe it will actually all the way to “moderately good”…

        • March 21, 2015 at 3:15 am
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          I agree about the Fly. I was really into Breaking Bad until that episode. It was like a bad high school experimental play. I eventually got back into it, and fortunately the show got plenty awesome again and sucked me back in. But oh Lord, did I hate that fly episode. Just terrible.

          • March 21, 2015 at 3:18 am
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            I know, it’s all opinion. Of course I feel like it’s objectively terrible, but yes, it’s subjective. Fine.
            Terrible.

  • March 20, 2015 at 3:59 am
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    So, his character has a hero shield in TFA.

    • March 20, 2015 at 4:13 am
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      You seriously surprised here?

      • March 20, 2015 at 4:41 am
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        I’m seriously surprised Isaacs didn’t blab on and on about the film having “practical effects.”

        • March 20, 2015 at 5:14 am
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          Because I’m so sure He’s going to reveal the story and his love of all the CGI that he hasn’t seen yet

          • March 20, 2015 at 6:33 am
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            Why doesn’t he gush over all that CGI in his teaser scene? 😛

          • March 20, 2015 at 2:20 pm
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            I’m pretty sure the x wings aren’t cgi

          • March 20, 2015 at 6:58 pm
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            Well, the inside of the cockpit is real.

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:58 pm
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            Because he directly worked with the physical effects. It makes sense to complement CGI too, but only in the way you’d discuss the score, etc. As far as the actor’s experience, props vs. an empty blue room is of course extremely relevant.

          • March 20, 2015 at 9:17 pm
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            I think aside from the pilot inside & the engine glow, that the X wings in the teaser are superimposed models. The lighting just looks too real to be CGI, that’s one of the telltale signs of when something is animated.

          • March 21, 2015 at 4:30 am
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            Ya…no. I think this is a classic case of a fan boy pretending to know more about the process than trivial facts from watching bts features. They’re not using models for the space battles. If you’re expecting that you’re living in a dream world.

          • March 21, 2015 at 6:41 am
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            I’m a representational artist… You think you know more about making things look real then let’s compare portfolios. I realize there will be a ton of cgi, I’ve already mentioned on this site plenty about the cgi I could make out in the teaser. I remember not being wrong when everyone thought bb8 was cgi 😉

          • March 23, 2015 at 1:57 pm
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            They are using a lot of super imposed models, you will be surprised, I am a VFX animator, and as much as I love cg, I love more when its balanced with amazing practical and miniatures. The argument people make here is a little silly overall, but when I must choose, I’m in the practical effects camp, simply because Lucas *absolutely* overused it, and with only green screen he didn’t have the ‘working with actors’ ability to back him up either.

          • March 23, 2015 at 1:59 pm
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            Oh and apparently via those helicopter pilots all the desert shots with the falcon in the teaser (and I suppose in the movie), was real footage of flight passes 😀 Which is fantastic. Real helicopter footage, super-imposed models with nice colour grading and compositing touches and details in cg. I’m extremely keen.

    • March 20, 2015 at 8:38 am
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      Huh

  • March 20, 2015 at 4:20 am
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    Oscar Isaac = the Han Solo of this trilogy.

    • March 20, 2015 at 4:35 am
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      HAN: Over my dead body!
      POE: Hey, Han! Wait. Why does that line sound familiar? ^_-
      HAN: Yes, I bet you have! *blasts*

    • March 20, 2015 at 4:40 am
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      Oscar Isaacs will probably have the risk-taking, know-it-all personality of Han.
      Finn will be shooting everything that moves and has a “scoundral” side like Han.
      Rey will have the tough mechanic nature like Han (not to mention she might be his daughter.)

      So, this trilogy is going to have three Han Solo characters. (?)

      • March 20, 2015 at 1:02 pm
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        Sounds fine by me. Better than three whinny Luke’s or god forbid three bitchy Leia’s. The Big Three? Nah, just The Big One.

  • March 20, 2015 at 4:37 am
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    Oh yeah, I remember when Daisy Ridley was confirmed for 7, 8, and 9… that was back in the day when she looked like she was going to be the main character and not a supporting cast member. These days, we can’t even get an interview out of her.

    • March 20, 2015 at 4:44 pm
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      This is her first big movie. Thus she is not out promoting other movies and getting asked questions about TFA like everyone else. When its time to start promoting the move then you will have no shortage of interviews from her. That’s how the game works.

    • March 20, 2015 at 4:46 pm
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      Also in what “days” did we ever get an interview out of her?

  • March 20, 2015 at 5:17 am
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    Who shoot first Han or Poe?

  • March 20, 2015 at 5:24 am
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    Haha, nice! Very smooth questioning from Moviefone 😉

  • March 20, 2015 at 5:35 am
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    I don’t know this guy from Adam, but for some reason I just really, really like him.

    • March 26, 2015 at 8:33 pm
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      Adam Driver?

  • March 20, 2015 at 5:46 am
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    I wish they wouldn’t confirm their involvement. I know its kind of impossible to hide it but at least not confirming would leave some level of ambiguity however fleeting.

    • March 20, 2015 at 5:40 pm
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      Ding! Dong! the tension’s gone!
      We know no one will Die!

    • March 20, 2015 at 10:02 pm
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      Given that “Poe Dameron” seems to be one of the new, starring good guys, this was to big expected.

      Chances are all of the new big good guys will survive the entire ST. After all, this is Star Wars, not Game of Thrones.

      • March 21, 2015 at 4:38 am
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        I don’t know.. The casting tells me otherwise.

        • March 21, 2015 at 5:46 pm
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          They’ll make it. Star Wars was always supposed to be more light hearted fair. The prequels aside (which were supposed to be darker by nature, dark times anyone?) The casting tells us nothing outside there is a lot going on in this film. Finn, Rey, Poe are our new big three. They’ll make it through till the end of the trilogy. Who knows what will happen beyond that though.

          • March 21, 2015 at 11:37 pm
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            Exactly.

            SW is light-hearted enough to safely assume that the new stars of the ST will be given plot armor thicker than a Mandalorian’s.

  • March 20, 2015 at 5:58 am
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    Somewhere right now ,Oscar Isaac is having an assassin blow a dart gun in his neck for talking too much.

    • March 20, 2015 at 6:29 am
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      MASTER DOMHNALL: That… is why you failed. -_-

  • March 20, 2015 at 10:26 am
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    Or will he be the Wedge of this series?

    • March 20, 2015 at 1:05 pm
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      No…Not a background fighter pilot…he’s a huge star.

      That’s like asking if Boyega will be like the Stormtrooper who hit his helmet on the door…just because he’s a Stormtrooper.

      • March 20, 2015 at 1:30 pm
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        I think he will be a Wedge-like character…but not the Wedge of the films, who was a minor character…more like the Wedge of the EU’s X-Wing series and Rogue Squadron novels. He might even be a part-time Jedi like Corran Horn (also from Rogue Squadron novels).

  • March 20, 2015 at 1:13 pm
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    If I was him I would carry on living the fun long after filming is over, and design and build$$ my own X-Wing simulator in the garage/spare room. Then he could live out the greatness of his name until the end of his days. Keep the uniform too. After a hard days work filming, back home to relax in the X-wing for a few hours.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRY_HSYwDqk

  • March 20, 2015 at 1:55 pm
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    Well, this minor spoiler represents not feel fear, pain or preocupation for the character.
    Imagine he is about to die. You will know he won’t.

    • March 20, 2015 at 2:59 pm
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      OT: Do you guys think Kurt Russell would make a nice Dash Rendar-inspired character for Episode VIII?

      • March 20, 2015 at 3:27 pm
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        No, I think Kirk Russel should retire.

        • March 20, 2015 at 5:42 pm
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          I thought he had!

  • March 20, 2015 at 2:17 pm
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    A fake character with a fake name will come back for the fake episode 8 of the fake sequel trilogy ?

    Great!

    • March 20, 2015 at 2:53 pm
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      Oh, you can call it ‘fake’ as much as you like, it still doesn’t change the FACT that this is the official Star Wars now – and really, it’s for the best. After the PT, Lucas dropping the franchise is the single better thing that could happen to SW.
      Now, you are of course free to like it or not, but how you feel about this is not going to change things nor will it make the new trilogy less ‘real’. So…get over it, maybe? 😉

      • March 20, 2015 at 3:42 pm
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        Why do you not accept that TFA is really a FAKE thing?
        You could still enjoy TFA even knowing it is fake.
        It could even be a great fake-fan-fiction movie.
        Alwayas fake it will be.

        It is a story made up from scratch by JJ.
        You know JJ ? MI, Star Trek reboot, mystery box, Lost etc..
        More FAKE than this is impossible!

        • March 20, 2015 at 4:03 pm
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          It’s a story made by Lawrence Kasdan, writer of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, how could it be fake?

          • March 20, 2015 at 4:23 pm
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            Kasdan story for Empire and Jedi were based upon draft and treatment that came from the Creator of the saga. Anyway Kasdan work for Jedi and Empire was approved bt GL himself.

            In the case of TFA, we now know directly from George Lucas that the story of TFA is made up from scratch.
            So Kasdan story, JJ story, My story or your own story in this case are the just the same fake thing.
            Expanded Universe of Fan Fiction.

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:45 pm
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            No, it’s not fake it’s real. There’s a trailer and everything. 🙂

          • March 20, 2015 at 9:17 pm
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            Not too mention since SW is now owned by Disney….they can technically do what they want with it and it would not be fake….Holiday special….now maybe that’s fake…..LoL

      • March 20, 2015 at 11:00 pm
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        “After the PT, Lucas dropping the franchise is the single better thing that could happen to SW.”

        No. It’s the second best thing. The single best thing would have been for Lucas to do the ST himself.

        As it is this is a good consolation prize.

    • March 20, 2015 at 3:42 pm
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      Which part of Star Wars was real?

      • March 20, 2015 at 4:20 pm
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        Everything approved by George Lucas is legit.

        Everything else since yesterday was considered Expanded Universe or Fan Fiction.

        So if you prefer TFA and Disney Sequel Trilogy are just Expanded Universe.

        In the future, I hope we will have the luck to read the real story of the sequel trilogy as envisioned by the Creator of all this.

        • March 20, 2015 at 4:30 pm
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          When it comes to Star Wars real and fake depend entirely on your own point of view.

          • March 20, 2015 at 4:56 pm
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            Well, maybe Diseny like you to think like that!

            Before Disney, this has been the situation for almost 40 years:

            Official Canon (everything approved by Lucas)
            Expanded Universe (everything else under Lucasfilm Brand)
            Fan Fiction (everything else).

            We know that we have a complete George Lucas approved treatment for the Sequel Trilogy and at least one complete draft of Ep7.

            But we also know that none, ZERO, of that has been used for TFA.

            It is not a point of view, TFA is just Expanded Universe.
            JJ-Kasdan story is like Thrawn Trilogy, Dark Empire Trilogy etc.. Expnaded Universe.

            The official canon story for the Sequel Trilogy is outhere somewhere and has been approved by George Lucas himself, the Creator behind ep 1-2-3-4-5-6.
            Maybe in the future it will be revealed to the pubblic.

            But everyone is free to believe what Disney want them to believe!

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:18 pm
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            Lucas sold “his story”. So, Disney can put princesses, a fairy named “Tinkerbell”, Dumbo, Mulan…FROZEN in TFA and it would be CANON. You are free to dismiss it…but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not HIS story anymore.

            See guys…I get just as annoyed with this kind of “Lucas is King” as I do with the “New EU” Shtickanery.

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:24 pm
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            Yeah, it’s still being made by lucasfilm, Disney is the distributor. This Fan Fiction crap is annoying.

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:36 pm
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            In truth TFA is produced by Bad Robot and Disney with Lucasfilm now providing almost only technical stuff.

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:34 pm
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            I bet than in the future we will have Luke Skywalker team up with Iron Man and Thor against Henry Potter!

            And it will ok and it will be cannon because Disney say so…

            SW is not Marvel.
            SW core story & Characters all and everyting come from and developed from ONE mind that approved litteraly everything in the process.
            You can forget it or act as it is not true, or hide behind “prequel ruined my childhood”.

            The truth is that SW is George Lucas.
            They should have used AT LEAST FOR THE SEQUEL TRILOGY his material, and his advices.

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:56 pm
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            They tried. They didn’t like it.

            I’m not a hater of the pt…but…they aren’t anywhere near the same greatness the ot is. I can make an educated guess as to why Disney decided NOT to use his idea’s for the st.

            You’re right though…we may see in a few years time crossover projects. I wouldn’t like it…so I won’t buy it. But it’s Disney’s not GL’s.

          • March 20, 2015 at 11:03 pm
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            “I’m not a hater of the pt…but…they aren’t anywhere near the same greatness the ot is. I can make an educated guess as to why Disney decided NOT to use his idea’s for the st.”

            They are exactly the same greatness of the OT. Probably a touch more actually.

            They are using his ideas for the ST. All the information points to TFA being a rewrite of Arndt’s script so it all still has it’s basis with Lucas.

          • March 21, 2015 at 1:32 pm
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            Not a rewrite. Compley brand new story.

          • March 21, 2015 at 5:53 pm
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            They aren’t even close to the same greatness of the OT. To say that they are or even a “touch more” makes me think you turn your brain off when a film comes on.

          • March 20, 2015 at 9:23 pm
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            Anon…you just brought up something as a point that has the opposite effect. Are the Spiderman, Avengers, Thor, Iron Man movies fan fiction; Fakes etc…because their story wasn’t written by Stan Lee?

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:25 pm
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            I hate fake people like you.

          • March 20, 2015 at 5:44 pm
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            You hate when someone told you the truth you do not want to hear.

          • March 20, 2015 at 8:26 pm
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            But it’s not the truth, your just butt hurt that Disney didn’t use Lucas’ scripts. You ever think there might be a reason they didnt, like maybe the scripts were awful.whould you still want them to use em even if they’re God awful? If so, I truly think your an idiot.

          • March 20, 2015 at 6:07 pm
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            The Lucas era is over like it or not. All you can do is wallow in your own misery or make up your mind to give the new movies a chance to entertain you. But whether you do or don’t it doesn’t matter to anyone else.

            I know that sounds harsh and I’m sorry but that is just the way the world is.

          • March 20, 2015 at 11:04 pm
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            “The Lucas era is over like it or not. ”

            ROFL!

            Not really. In the end what they are all trying to do is to make George Lucas movies.

          • March 21, 2015 at 1:36 am
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            But George has nothing to do with Star Wars anymore, so he is correct. The Lucas era is over.

          • March 21, 2015 at 11:10 am
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            “Not really. In the end what they are all trying to do is to make George Lucas movies.”

            Delusional thinking. Why do you think they dumped his treatments?

    • March 21, 2015 at 1:24 am
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      “A fake character with a fake name will come back for the fake episode 8 of the fake sequel trilogy ?”

      If you’re not interested in all this fakery, why are you even here? It’s like someone being served food they don’t like, but still insisting on eating every bite…

  • March 20, 2015 at 4:49 pm
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    Major character of TFA are GL creation, particularly Fin and Rey. So we cannot totally deny his involvement.

    • March 20, 2015 at 5:00 pm
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      No they are not. The big 3 of TFA are completely brand new characters created by JJ.

      • March 20, 2015 at 5:36 pm
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        Is that so? Casting of Jon Boyega as Fin is strongly recommended by GL , according to the news.

        • March 20, 2015 at 5:41 pm
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          Never heard this Boyega-Lucas news before.
          Anyway the 3 new main characters, as many other, come exclusively from JJ brain.

          • March 20, 2015 at 6:05 pm
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            You may be right. I hope Mr J.W Rinzler who published very detail and expensive Making of OT books will show us original treatment by GL in his upcoming Making of TFA book.

      • March 21, 2015 at 12:42 am
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        Maybe they’re GL’s creation or maybe they’re JJ’s, or maybe they’re a mix of both of them.
        But one thing I believe is that until the movie comes out, we won’t know who the ‘new big 3’ really are!

      • March 21, 2015 at 1:27 am
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        Exclusively Abrams? What did Kasdan do, just make sure there was paper in the printer?

        • March 21, 2015 at 10:58 am
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          Kasdan doing Kasdan, dialogues and scrip polish and
          coherency.

          he never has been good in story/plot/characters creation, and those were never his duty.

  • March 20, 2015 at 6:15 pm
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    Fun news to hear, but not that big of a shock. Daisy, Issacs, and boyaga seem to be the new “big 3” of this trilogy so I highly doubted they would introduce and kill him in the same movie. If anyone dies in 7, my money is on legacy cast like Han or favorite minor characters like Akbar

    • March 20, 2015 at 6:28 pm
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      I agreed. FTA has much emerging characters over next episodes such as Glesson,Nyongo,Richarson Sellers, Chong characters. Some of these characters wil be much more utilized in Episode 8.

      • March 20, 2015 at 10:11 pm
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        Of course.

        It’s 5 new faces (Ridley, Boyega, Isaacs, Driver and Gleeson) taking over for the OT’s 5 main good guys and villains (Luke, Leia, Han, Vader and the Emperor).

        The Big Three will be used as a story-telling device mostly: familiar faces to serve as an introduction to the new generation of heroes and villains.

  • March 21, 2015 at 1:33 am
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    That “damage control” part was really funny.

  • March 21, 2015 at 2:20 am
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    What George Lucas isn’t doing these 3 :-0
    Well too bad I loved his inclusion of Mr JJ Binks etc. I bet they won’t even use practical effects then 🙁

  • March 21, 2015 at 3:26 am
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    That was how I understood his comment. He was excited to work with Rian, but he didn’t confirmed he was involved in the movie.

  • March 21, 2015 at 11:08 pm
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    Slash Film should be the ones doing damage control on their Rogue One rumors.

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