Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Threepio and the others will almost certainly be in the movie. As for the well-known characters outside the Troika, Chewie and the droids, who knows. I'd love to see Billy Dee return as an aging Lando and Denis Lawson reprise Wedge one more time, but I guess we won't know anything for certain for a little while longer. There were the rumors that Judi Dench would appear as an elderly Mon Mothma, but who knows if that had any validity or not. I hadn't heard anything else about Dench being involved in discussions with the producers. That would be a nice piece of casting, though, if they were able to secure her for the role of the Rebellion's matriarch.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I hear some people can even make good actors looks like utter amateurs. Even people like... say... Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson and Natalie Portman.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII While I'm sure they're throwing out the novel continuity.... this places the movie five years after the end of the Vong War and one year before the first book of the Dark Nest trilogy.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII ^They can just throw out the post-NJO stuff. But George Lucas isn't directing this movie.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I'm quite sure they'll ignore ALL the novels... I seriously doubt that the Vong War will be part of the new continuity as it's by the far the darkest bloodiest non-movie-est aspect of the novels.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Or they could just have Leia assume the "Chief of State" role as in the EU.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Is there still a Rebellion? Shouldn't there be a return to a democratic senate with the death of the Emperor? I don't know anything about the novels, but I guess that's something that isn't really touched on in ROTJ. What exactly happened to the Empire after Palpatine and Vader both kicked it?
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII As long as the Christmas special and Splinter of the Mind's Eye remain canon, the new movies will be fine.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Well, Mon Mothma or Leia wouldn't be the matriarch of an existing Rebel Alliance, but the living symbol representing that bygone era before the restoration of the Republic and all that the Rebels heroically achieved to restore freedom to the galaxy, in a similar fashion to how the Founding Fathers in America were revered in the decades after the Revolution. If there's still some formal organization referred to as the Rebel Alliance in this later timeframe I'd be surprised.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Shouldn't, THIRTY years after Return of the Jedi, be a re-established Republic? I wouldn't buy it if that wasn't the case. Sure, immediately after Palpatine's and Vader's death, there would be many bad guys that tried to fill the power vaccuum. But 30 years later, there should be quite some progress. The Rebellion was well organized. And it's not like our heroes simply sat back and did nothing.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII My guess would be the New Republic would have been in place for at least a generation by the time the new movie takes place, even if it's still going through growing pains as it settles in and even expands. As I said earlier, the idea that a formal Rebel Alliance would still exist 30 years after the defeat of the Emperor and Vader would seem pretty silly. That'd be similar to the Continental Army still existing and going by that same name three whole decades after Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Obviously the empire was replaced by several states. Now, 30 odd years later, internal strife in one of those states has resulted in a breakaway republic trying to split from it. The neighboring state is using this as an excuse to move in forces and hold elections to get the breakaway republic to "voluntarily" join it.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII So ... the (New) Republic against ... the Separatists?
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII If they put Fisher in a slave outfit again i'm leaving the cinema!! LOL
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII It just ocurred to me that Chewie would look really badass if they added a few grey streaks to his fur.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Absolutely. He was already 200 or thereabouts in the original film (Episode IV) and it would be a nice touch if they gave a 235-ish Chewie some grey and silver streaks in his fur to denote the passage of time. Might as well. Han's gonna be sporting some very serious grey no matter how much makeup they put on Harrison Ford.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII If they are going to already start filming in May, JJ must already have selected the principles for the film? I'm surprised that hard choices haven't leaked. Even with Trek we knew many of the main characters that close to production time.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII There were years of mopping-up actions...but not *30* years. Hell, in the EU after 30 years things had already been "fixed", broken again, fixed again...