Home / Casting / BREAKING: J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII Announces Cast

BREAKING: J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII Announces Cast

By Jack Gattanella on Tue 29 Apr, 2014

star-wars-episode-vii-casting-announcement

After much speculation – and some confirmations (i.e. some of the original players, like Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher) – the full, official cast has been announced for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII.  The film still goes without a second title for the present, but Empire Online posted the Press Release.  This also comes on the heels of the first table reading today of the script in England.

The original stars, as well as fan favorite players Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker (when are they not Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 after all?) will be joined by John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow as new characters.  No announcements were made for who is playing who at this time.

andy-serkis

Andy Serkis

Previously Driver was confirmed for the film and Isaac was rumored. just this week.  Only Ridley comes as the only real unknown – she only has some scattered credits in television, and it’s hard to even find pictures of her online aside from IMDb - though this is in keeping with Abrams plan to follow in the original film’s footsteps as Hamill, Ford and Fisher were all relatively unknown in 1977.  It’s also unknown at this time whether Serkis, who for the most part in his career does motion capture performances, will act in CGI or in his own skin.

Abrams, who is directing and writing the screenplay with Lawrence Kasdan (the co-writer of Empire and Jedi), said in the statement: “‘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.”

Produced by new Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, and featuring John Williams returning for the seventh time on musical score, the new Star Wars will be released by Disney December 18th, 2015, worldwide.

Excited about these choices?  (I know I find it to be an awesome and interesting choice for von Sydow, who once played Ming the Merciless in the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, and to which Star Wars took huge inspiration from the 30’s Gordon series)  Let us know in the comments and on Twitter @.

Jack is a graduate of film studies from William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ, and is currently seeking his MFA in Screenwriting at the Academy of Art. He is a screen-writer, film critic, director, and editor, and has also done camera-work for web-series, doccumentaries and shorts. Currently Jack is seeking distribution for his feature film drama, “Green Eyes“, co-produced a sci-fi feature, Audrey Lorea‘s ‘Heaven is Now.‘, as well as a comedy pilot called ‘Losers’ which is being shopped around to networks. He is also a contributing writer for the sites FocusFilm.co.uk, Film Forward, and some of his other reviews can be found on his blogcinetarium.blogspot.com. Jack is a vociferous fan of films and will watch anything interesting, foreign and domestic. He survives by his wife, a political science professor, and currently resides in Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA.
Related Itemsadam driverAndy SerkisAnthony DanielsCarrie Fisherharrison fordj.j. abramsJohn WillianmsKathleen KennedyKenny Bakermark hamillMax von SydowOscar IsaacPeter MayhewR2-D2
  • Lorna Elliott

    Von Sydow MUST be the new Sith Lord, right? He has such presence. Also encouraging to see Isaac and Gleeson there, this has really been a couple of great years for both of them. I can finally get excited about this!

  • http://www.twitter.com/thomaspsimpson Tom Simpson

    Was this movie made specifically for me? The original trilogy cast with some of my favourite newcomers. So excited.