Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac will once again return to out of space (sans the Flash Gordon boots) in the most anticipated J.J. Abrams legendary sci-fi franchise reboot since 2009.
StarWars.com announced this morning the full main cast for the forthcoming, as of yet untitled, Episode VII, the first in a planned trilogy of sequels to the beloved original trilogy. After months of speculation, we now know which of the main cast of the original trilogy will be returning to the series, most important of these being the non speaking and unrecognizable roles of Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew, who play R2-D2 and Chewbacca respectively.
The surprises lie within the new cast, which upgrades quite a few cult supporting actors to A-List status, just as The Phantom Menace brought Natalie Portman and Ewen McGregor to an audience far, far larger than Trainspotting and Leon ever could. As mentioned above, Inside Llewyn Davis co-stars Oscar Isaacs and Adam Driver will reunite, while British actors John Boyega (of Attack of the Block fame) and Domhnall Gleeson (famous for Harry Potter and Anna Karenina but really famous for being Brendan Gleeson’s son) will also join. The wild-card amongst these youngsters (as being younger than Harrison Ford is the new definition of youngster) is virtual unknown Daisy Ridley, whose lack of recognition has led to a spew of hilariously content-free articles like this one.
Although possibly the biggest surprise was the casting of Ingmar Bergman favorite Max Von Sydow and a presumably CGI cloaked Andy Serkis. These two are the only new cast members to not come with a “next generation” vibe and their roles could literally be anything and, in Serkis’ case, literally everything. However, seeing as how all of the old Star Wars villains were blown up I’m putting my money on Max Von Sydow as the new Sith lord because he’s Max Von Sydow.
“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,” said J.J. Abrams in the kind of vague and obvious statement that sheds no new light on this bizarrely under-promoted film.
Meanwhile shooting is set to begin in May for a December 2015 release and with “Star Wars Day” set for May the 4th it is expected that actual information about the film may start to come out soon.