Star Wars Episode VII Official Cast Announced!
This is the moment for which Star Wars fans have been waiting breathlessly. The core cast of the as-yet unnamed Star Wars Episode VII has been announced!
While the names we all know and love from the original trilogy have been rumored for months, only now has Lucasfilm officially stated that they are officially on board. But those names – Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) – will also be joined by 3 more classic cast members whose faces we never got to see, but are essential to the heart of the saga: Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), and Kenny Baker (R2-D2).
And even though everyone in Hollywood and beyond has been rumored to be testing for the film, we now have the names of the new cast members, which include John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow.
Many of those names are brand new to most of us, but a few should pop out as familiar. Adam Driver is best known for his breakout role on HBO’s Girls, while Andy Serkis, the King of Motion Capture Performances, should be immediately recognizable to anyone who has seen Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, as well as Peter Jackson’s King Kong and 20th Century Fox’s current Planet of the Apes franchise. And then there’s Max von Sydow, who famously played Ming the Merciless in the 1980 Flash Gordon film, which is just incredibly cool since Flash Gordon was one of the many influences on a young George Lucas to make the Star Wars films in the first place. Please, dear god, tell me that Max von Sydow will be playing a villain!
As for the others, it will be fun to see exactly who they will be playing. Odds are good that some of them will be playing the offspring of Han and Leia, though don’t expect them to have names familiar to the Expanded Universe. Anyone else think we’ll get our first look at the characters in costume at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con? I’d start getting in line outside Hall H now.
According to the official Star Wars website press release, director J.J. Abrams stated, “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.
The image above features director JJ Abrams surrounded by his new cast on the still under construction set in London.
Image: Lucasfilm
