Source: StarWars.com | Posted By: Dan Geer
All good things come to those who wait…
After months and months of speculation and endless casting rumors, we now finally have an official casting announcement for director J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII. Of course, it comes as no surprise that the original cast is returning (especially after having been spotted in London recently where Episode VII will begin filming). But this announcement also contains a list of other names added to the cast – some of which would be considered “unknowns,” meaning they’re not incredibly famous actors (not uncommon for a Star Wars film), and others that are definitely more well-known, and quite a surprise to say the least! Hit the jump for the official press release!
Via 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.
Besides the original cast, we do not yet have confirmation of which characters the lesser-known actors will be playing. We only know at this point that a younger cast is set to play lead roles in the film, much like Harrision Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher did in the first three original Star Wars films.
The most surprising names on the list have to be that of Max von Sydow (The Seventh Seal, Minority Report) and Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes). Again, no confirmation on which characters these two will be playing, but if I were to take a guess, Sydow will play a villain, and Andy Serkis will once again do what he does best and create an amazing character through motion capture performance, much like he did with Gollum in Rings (although, Serkis has also appeared in the flesh in film as well and does a fabulous job, so who really knows for sure?).
What an amazing day for Star Wars fans, to finally have official confirmation that Hamill, Fisher, Ford, Mayhew, Daniels, and Baker will all be returning once again to the Saga, and that we have an exciting new cast of actors overall to help bring this film to life (with more on the way, allegedly). December 2015 cannot arrive soon enough!
