Just yesterday we heard that Jesse Plemons was in contention for a major role in Star Wars Episode VII. It's another day so there's another casting rumour, or two, or three!!!
The Hollywood Reporter has some new information regarding Episode VII. They say that JJ Abrams has already met with Michael Fassbender, Hugo Weaving and Adam Driver to discuss potential roles for them in the upcoming trilogy. No mention of which parts they will play except that Hugo Weaving is reportedly up for a role as an Imperial commander. I'm quite pleased so far with all the names mentioned, obviously time will tell which ones are true but with filming scheduled to start in April then we must be very close to some confirmations.
They are also reporting that a new casting call has been sent out, looking for a '20-something female actress who is either of mixed race or black'. If you excuse the pun, we always thought that Jedi were supposed to keep their lightsabers in their pants! But it's rumoured that this character will be Obi-Wan Kenobi's daughter or grandaughter (with 30 years between the films it has to be the latter, surely?).
The last big bit of news is some interesting behind the scenes information. It was always thought that Michael Arndt's original screenplay focused on Han, Leia and Luke's kids (I'm not saying they were in a three-way marriage there!), with the returning characters taking on supporting roles only. Well this may be why Arndt left the production recently as apparently JJ disagrees and wants to give us more Luke, Han and Leia. He plans to have the original characters front and centre for Star Wars Episode VII and give them a proper send off before we enter Episode VIII.
That sounds like a great idea to us, but we still feel a BIG death is coming in Episode VII. We will be there for the ride, and will bring you more Star Wars news as it hits.