Due out next year, “Star Wars: Episode VII” has already started filming in London — but the production is so shrouded in secrecy that trying to glean what’s going to be in the movie is like trying to find a flat place to land on Dagobah. Here’s what we think we know so far:
Luke, Han and Leia will probably be back. Mark Hamill, 62, Harrison Ford, 71, and Carrie Fisher, 57, may well reprise their roles in a story set 30 years after “Return of the Jedi.” “I’d like to wear my old hairstyle again — but with white hair,” Fisher told the UK’s Press Association. “I think that would be funny.”
Michael Arndt (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Toy Story 3”) wrote the original script about a new generation, including Han and Leia’s children, but it was reportedly rewritten by director J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan (“The Empire Strikes Back”).
Hot young actors are likely to join them. In talks about appearing in the new film are Adam Driver (“Girls”), who’s rumored to be playing a Darth Vader-style villain; Lupita Nyong’o and Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”), Michael B. Jordan (“Fruitvale Station”), omnipresent “Star Trek Into Darkness” star Benedict Cumberbatch, David Oyelowo (“The Butler”), Alex Pettyfer (“Magic Mike”), Saoirse Ronan (“Atonement”) and Sullivan Stapleton (“300: Rise of an Empire”).
Jesse Plemons (“Breaking Bad”) has also been mentioned, but may be shooting a movie about Whitey Bulger, so he’s probably out. Gary Oldman has also been approached, though he told Sky News nothing has been set yet: “I mean, ‘Planet of the Apes,’ ‘ Harry Potter,’ ‘Batman’ and ‘Star Wars’ — bloody hell!’ ”
A prime role might go to an unknown. Reportedly in talks for the lead role of a Jedi apprentice are Ed Speleers (“Downton Abbey”), John Boyega (“Attack the Block”), Matthew James Thomas (Broadway’s “Pippin”) and Ray Fisher, who played Muhammad Ali in an off-Broadway play last fall. Disney, which is making the new films, has yet to confirm any casting. “So far, the official cast member that we’ve confirmed, the only one, is R2-D2. Played by R2-D2,” Disney boss Bob Iger said in March.
Next year will be a very “Star Wars” Christmas. The new film is slated to hit theaters on Dec. 18, 2015. The plan is to release another “Star Wars”-related film every year after that, though it’s hard to see how Disney is going to pull that off. Even the breakneck production schedule on the “Harry Potter” films didn’t yield a new release every year.
George Lucas is a consultant on the new films.
This is good news. It means that his dumb ideas will largely be ignored.
John Williams is scoring it.
Of course.
Expect more Chewbacca. Peter Mayhew, the man in the monkey suit, unexpectedly canceled a May appearance at Comicpalooza “due to filming.” Since Mayhew doesn’t have a lot on his plate, we can only assume he’s playing Chewbacca again, a scenario an industry source confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter. Because if it were somebody else inside the costume, it just wouldn’t feel right. Mayhew, who’s 7-foot-3, had double knee-replacement surgery, but sound-effects editors will be on hand to digitally erase the creaking noises.