Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I think J.J. and Kasdan will have both Ewan and Hayden appear as their respective Force ghosts, yeah. Anakin (either as his true self or as Darth Vader) has been in every film to date as has Obi-Wan, so I'd actually be a bit surprised if they didn't show up in Episode VII to mentor and give advice to Luke and establish more visual continuity across the entire Saga. After all, the Force ghost thing is a major achievement in the Star Wars universe since by the time of Jedi only Obi-Wan and Yoda had achieved the accomplishment of retaining their unique consciousness and personality after physical death, followed by Anakin after his redemption and fulfilling the Jedi prophecy of the Chosen One. Ewan's said he'd be more than happy to be in the new movies if the producers want him.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Eh. Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. But never discount anything in the Star Wars franchise.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I still like the idea of a young Obi Wan clone showing up.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Is anyone clamoring for the return of Hayden Christiansen though?
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Putting him in Jedi in place of Sebastian Shaw was a dumb move. He and McGregor had their day and aren't so iconic or crucial that we need to see them again. It would look too forced.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Much as I didn't like the prequels, McGregor was clearly such the high point of those movies that I think it might be cool to see him again. Unfortunately the OT characters were only ever familiar with the older Guiness Obi-Wan, so they probably wouldn't have as much of a connection with him. And it seems odd that he would just suddenly start appearing younger to them after all these years. I suppose we could always see him in a flashback or something, or in an old recording. But given that this is 30 years even further down the road than the OT, it's probably unlikely.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I'd rather they found a way to get Portman into the films. Just because.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I can get behind that. And if you believe what some say, I frequently do.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I disagree. Sebastian Shaw looked far, far too old to represent Anakin's Force Ghost after the prequels established that Anakin was actually quite a bit younger than people had originally believed. I do think they made a mistake in making Anakin look exactly like he did in ROTS (if I remember right, they just used stock footage of Christensen instead of filming him specifically for the Force Ghost scene). I think they should have aged Christensen up a bit, but I think replacing Shaw in that scene was the right move.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I wouldn't mind seeing Hayden Christenson or Ewan McGregor in VII. I know McGregor as Obi-Wan's Force Ghost, but I could see them finding a way to work a young looking Obi-Wan if they really wanted to. I'm really hoping we get at least one surprise cameo from somebody from the prequels or OT, like we did with Nimoy in STID.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII If they brought back McGregor as Obi-Wan's Force Ghost, I imagine they'd use makeup/CGI to age him up and make him look more like Alec Guinness.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII ^ Or use morphing to have an image of Alec Guinness turn into Ewan McGregor and vice versa.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I can accept that. My problem was seeing a young Anakin and it rankled me so much that I never stopped to think that Vader was 45 when he died while Sebastian Shaw was 76. I'm guessing that Lucas thought the same thing you did, which is why he made the change. And all this time I figured he was just neurotic and couldn't stop tampering with his work, trying to get everyting just right the way a lot of artists do.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I'd want to see the triumphant return of Ian McDiarmid. He was the best thing about the prequels.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I can't argue with that. Ian and Ewan were the two best and most consistently satisfying of all the actors in the entire Prequel Trilogy. As much as I like Natalie and Sam they just don't compare.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Palpatine is dead, it's bad enough that there's talk of the Sith returning I really don't think we need to see Palpatine return as well.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I don't seriously expect the Emperor to make a return. But I'd still pay money to see McDiarmid as Palpatine again.