Not too excited about the original cast returning. Not really interested in seeing an old grumpy Harrison Ford flying around in the Falcon... or an old Carrie Fisher doing... whatever it is they'll have her doing. I really hope they prove me wrong though. If they have minor roles and the film focuses on new characters than I'll be happy. I'll just have to wait and see.

As far as the latest interviews with Mrs Fisher I have seen lately indicate she's old and grumpy too, so she can fly casual together with Mr Ford.

She has a sense of humour though. She has been doing a one-woman stand-up show taking the mickey out of herself.

And to be fair, if the highlight of you career happened right at the very start of it, you'd be pretty grumpy about it...

Also, I am officially jealous of Sergovan's Darth Vader card. Dave Prowse was at a mini convention here a couple of years ago, I'll have to see if he will be there for this one. Edit: yes he is, so is Kenny Baker. W00T!

I'm a little concerned about the original cast returning. It could very well be a neat passing of the torch, though, so it will probably all work out.

But if Han's still wearing that goddamn vest forty years later, I'm gonna have words with someone...

I'd rather see Han wearing the vest 40 years later then see Leia wearing the steel bikini 40 years later.

Not too excited about the original cast returning. Not really interested in seeing an old grumpy Harrison Ford flying around in the Falcon... or an old Carrie Fisher doing... whatever it is they'll have her doing. I really hope they prove me wrong though. If they have minor roles and the film focuses on new characters than I'll be happy. I'll just have to wait and see.

As far as the latest interviews with Mrs Fisher I have seen lately indicate she's old and grumpy too, so she can fly casual together with Mr Ford.

She has a sense of humour though. She has been doing a one-woman stand-up show taking the mickey out of herself.

Mrs. Fisher's humor can be dry sometimes, but she is always gracious and fantastic around her fans. She's also been a big part of the Star Wars Celebrations. I'm thrilled she'll be returning to her roll and can't wait to see her on the big screen again.

Lets look at it this way guys. It's the first of a new trilogy.

You need the old characters to hand the reigns over especially if this is going to replace the Thrawn series of books.

Also, if this was another Abhrams reboot, there'd be hell to pay.

What can we establish from the casting?

1) Lando will not be the only black character in the galaxy.

2) There is a distinct lack of females again. Not even someone to play Mara Jade? Come on?

3) Chewie isn't dead (yet).

4) Serkis will be CGI'd.

Anything else is pure speculation.

So in that vein, Driver or Von Syndon as Thrawn? Discuss.

I just can't imagine why they would get the band back together except Lando. His is like when the recast Terrance Howard for Iron Man 2... Did somebody just not tell Billy D or did they choose not to go with him?

Not too excited about the original cast returning. Not really interested in seeing an old grumpy Harrison Ford flying around in the Falcon... or an old Carrie Fisher doing... whatever it is they'll have her doing. I really hope they prove me wrong though. If they have minor roles and the film focuses on new characters than I'll be happy. I'll just have to wait and see.

have faith - with cgi anything is possible today. look at what they did with jeff bridges in tron legacy - an that was like 3-4yrs ago.

Not too excited about the original cast returning. Not really interested in seeing an old grumpy Harrison Ford flying around in the Falcon... or an old Carrie Fisher doing... whatever it is they'll have her doing. I really hope they prove me wrong though. If they have minor roles and the film focuses on new characters than I'll be happy. I'll just have to wait and see.

have faith - with cgi anything is possible today. look at what they did with jeff bridges in tron legacy - an that was like 3-4yrs ago.

I've been Ninja'd

I'll just add: if they can make Gollum and King Kong convincing, they can certainly make the oldies look less...yikes!

Not too excited about the original cast returning. Not really interested in seeing an old grumpy Harrison Ford flying around in the Falcon... or an old Carrie Fisher doing... whatever it is they'll have her doing. I really hope they prove me wrong though. If they have minor roles and the film focuses on new characters than I'll be happy. I'll just have to wait and see.

have faith - with cgi anything is possible today. look at what they did with jeff bridges in tron legacy - an that was like 3-4yrs ago.

perhaps they assembled the cast just for their voices and it's an all animated film, the natural progression from the last.

and with andy serkis they have an old veteran of this...

What can we establish from the casting?

1) Lando will not be the only black character in the galaxy.

If the OT were the only sw movies ever I'd agree (although there was a black pilot who bit the dust in ROTJ). However there are several black characters in the prequels as well such as Mace Windu, Captain Panaka, and Captain Typo.

Lol - ironically named 'Captain Typo'. Pun intended? That would be an excellent SW username.

Oops, should be Captain Typho.

Captain Typo and his trusty sidekick Grammarboy .

I just can't imagine why they would get the band back together except Lando. His is like when the recast Terrance Howard for Iron Man 2... Did somebody just not tell Billy D or did they choose not to go with him?

There is the possibility that he will be in the film briefly for a cameo. They have only announced the "core cast". So there's still a chance he will be in it.

I just can't imagine why they would get the band back together except Lando. His is like when the recast Terrance Howard for Iron Man 2... Did somebody just not tell Billy D or did they choose not to go with him?

There is the possibility that he will be in the film briefly for a cameo. They have only announced the "core cast". So there's still a chance he will be in it.

Same goes for Jade. Mind you, I'm banking on ZERO EU book characters. The man that wrote ESB is a big part of this script. Something tells me he had other ideas long before any books about the post ROTJ era was explored by others.

I think Luke is going to be too old for a love interest. He will be like Obi-Wan and Yoda before him; forever a student of the force with no time for love. With that said, I'm also banking on Luke living through the movies.

Something tells me he had other ideas long before any books about the post ROTJ era was explored by others.

Well, I remember from way back when in the 80's that Lucas went on record that he wanted to make 9 movies in total, with each trilogy about 30 to 40 years apart. The combining factor would be the presence of the droids. The timeframe for the third trilogy was opened up to the EU only after Lucas decided he wouldn't make them (and subsequently claimed he'd never said anything about a third trilogy being planned, he's got a habit of wanting to change the past rivalling that of Stalin's photoshop department).

It's a trilogy. Lando could show up in Episode 8. Or after the credits in Episode 7 as a surprise.

The only thing I will say... ever hear of the U.N.? The crap in Ukraine and Syria is a perfect example how a group of individual countries are more than willing to bicker and grandstand while nothing gets done and people die. I would actually say the Republic is probably GL's version of the U.N.

Right, except I don't even need to look that far. My Congress demonstrates that kind of incompetence daily...but I don't want to be reminded of that in my space fantasy.

The EU stories followed the Thrawn template: Evil threat shows up. New Republic can't get their crap together, gets bailed out by a couple good citizens, barely eeks out a win, return to ineffective status quo. I started yearning for the good 'ol days, when the Empire got it done! They took threats seriously! They protected the citizens they weren't enslaving! They had vision!

Met him at last years comic con in Ottawa. Got an autographed Darth Vader card from it. Billy Dee was there too so I got the falcon signed as well.

That is awesome. Thanks for sharing. I'm jealous now.

Also, I am officially jealous of Sergovan's Darth Vader card. Dave Prowse was at a mini convention here a couple of years ago, I'll have to see if he will be there for this one. Edit: yes he is, so is Kenny Baker. W00T!

Hmmm. I'm a Vader fan; my brother is an R2 fan. If only I knew of someone who could get me autographs from the two guys behind the mask. Hmmm.

To be honest I saw Billy Dee in NCIS recently, and it may be a case he was asked but just was up to it. He's looking a lot older than the rest of the OT cast. Less scoundrel more grandad. Not that the two are mutually exclusive.

Also if you actually think about the series as the OT, Prequels and Sequels, there was only ever 1 main black character in each trilogy.

Mace Windu for the Prequels, Lando for the OT and whom ever John Boyega is playing.

In fact the same goes for females leads too. It is a noticable recurring theme for all the films.

At least with the prequels there was more background diversity. The OT was slightly limited by the fact that the baddies for the most all wore white armour and we rarely saw anyone other than the main cast.

There is already a sexism and racism in the Star Wars universe thread over on the Edge of the Empire forum! Strangely enough the topic was titled "Episode VII Cast"

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/105091-episode-vii-cast/

Well excuse me for discussing the casting on a casting thread.

I wasn't actively pointing out that the casting is racist or sexist, just that the casting has been similar for every trilogy.

I was wondering if that was on purpose or by accident.

If you analyse the Prequels and OT the cast line up is pretty much - 3 male leads, 1 female, 2 droids, 1 alien side kick, then the supporting cast of usually male characters including the main protaganists.

Racism and Star Wars tend to be an issue I would stay well away from. There are far too many things that fingers could be pointed at especialy in the Prequels; Jar Jar and the Trade Federation would be the two biggest ones.

P.S. For future information: No one likes being told to STOP!!!! on a forum where freedom of expresion is allowed. If you had just posted your second line informing that there was a similar thread on a forum I've never visited I probaly wouldn't even have bother with this reply, but you p'd me off with your self righteous attitude. Sorry.

P.S. For future information: No one likes being told to STOP!!!! on a forum where freedom of expresion is allowed. If you had just posted your second line informing that there was a similar thread on a forum I've never visited I probaly wouldn't even have bother with this reply, but you p'd me off with your self righteous attitude. Sorry.

Sorry, corrected that with an edit.

Hmm.....

Max Von Sydow?

I suspect, just possibly, that we have our villain. The man is, after all, Ming The Merciless.

Cool.

Sorry for being a bit of a tool about it, but things like that on a forum wind me up.

It's like people who use the words 'to' and 'there' for every use of the words.

So I'm thinking from that list, we have Oscar and Daisy as the Solo Twins, Jacen and Jaina; Domnall as Daisy's un-requited love Zekk and John Boyega as Jagged Fel.

That sets up the story lines for a love triangle, the possibility of 2 gooddies turning bad. 1 baddie turning good, and few more films after the sequels.

Adam Driver and Von Syndow.... see I can go either way on which of those two are the Thrawn.

Also, never mind the no Billy Deeissue, what about the no Dennis Lawson? We have no Wedge. How is that possible?

Cool.

Sorry for being a bit of a tool about it, but things like that on a forum wind me up.

It's like people who use the words 'to' and 'there' for every use of the words.

My bad

You were actually polite about it. It's easy enough typing the wrong thing, and it's always good for someone to quickly point it out before there's any severe backlash. I'm sure I saw a thread about words people keep using. Though it's words like "pro" and "newb", there should be a list of things not to say on the forum. Just in case.

Back on topic, I'm not sure how I feel about the cast list.

Excited and happy to hear that Star Wars Episode VII will begin filming, but wondering if the OT three can still be convincing older versions of themselves. But I also feel that it would be wrong not to have Mark, Carrie and Harrison in at least the opening scenes. Many have said it, and I agree, they should be the Obi-Wan and Yoda of the sequels. They're there, but they don't outshine the new young blood.