After months of rumors, director J.J. Abrams revealed his cast for “Star Wars: Episode VII” Tuesday – an interesting mix of old and new faces shown off in a photo from the film’s first table read posted on Starwars.com.
As expected, original “Star Wars” trilogy stars Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C3P0), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), and Kenny Baker (R2D2) are back.
Speculation had reached a fevered pitch over the past week when Ford, Hamill and Fisher were all spotted in London, where the film is set to start shooting next month in Pinewoods Studios .
Newcomers Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”), Adam Driver (“Girls”) , John Boyega (“Attack the Block”) , Daisy Ridley, (“Blue Season”) and Domhnall Gleeson (“About Time”) add an injection of new blood to the biggest film franchise in the galaxy.
Both Swedish thespian Max von Sydow and performance capture veteran Andy Serkis, best known for playing Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” movies are also onboard.
“We are so excited to finally share the cast of ‘Star Wars: Episode VII,’ Abrams said in a statement. ” It is both thrilling and surreal to watch thebrilliant 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.”
The “Star Trek” director and “Lost” co-creator co-wrote the “Episode VII” script with “Empire Strikes Back” scribe Lawrence Kasdan. He also tapped John Williams, who wrote the score for every previous “Star Wars” film, for the music. Now fans just have to wait until “Episode VII’s” Dec. 18, 2015 release to see the actual film.
