Well, the new cast for JJ Abrams’ Star Wars VII has been released, and there’s no Lupita Nyong’o OR Benedict Cumberbatch. Sad face. To be fair, there were reports weeks ago that Lupita wasn’t on any shortlists, and Benedict has said that he’s not doing it in several interviews too. So, who is involved? It’s a weird mix, actually.
First off, the three principles are coming back: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill. Hamill is already in London, about to begin filming I think. Carrie and Harrison are also popping up around London in some Twitter sightings. As for the new cast members, it’s a hodge-podge: Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, John Boyega (a British actor), Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson (!!), Max Von Sydow and Daisy Ridley (who I’ve never heard of).
I see that many people are excited about Oscar Isaac, because even if this film is super-crappy, we’ll still have something pretty to look at. Which is true. Oscar Isaac is beautiful. Adam Driver has been heavily rumored to be the new villain, which makes perfect sense to me. I imagine he’ll be some kind of Darth. Darth Driver. You know who really excites me though? Domhnall Gleeson. Suddenly, that kid is EVERYWHERE. He’s only 31 years old, he’s second generation (his father is Brendan Gleeson), he’s doing dramas, romantic comedies, bizarre art films and now sci-fi fantasy franchises. He’s the next big thing. Do you think he plays Han Solo’s son? That would fit. Oh, and we’ll be seeing more of him later this year when he does the rounds to promote his supporting part in Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. YAY.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I have to say that I had my reservations about this new movie (still do) but with the casting I’m at least willing to give it a shot, whereas before there would be no way I’d see this movie. Damn you Lucas for setting me up then screwing me over so many times!!
I’m excited, like really excited. Glad that Cumberbatch isn’t in it…too recognizable and too many fan girls lol. I’ve revisited the prequels and I think they’re quite underrated. Sure, they’re dissapointing and sometimes laughable, but I’m still entertained, still love the SW universe, and I thought it was cool as s–t when I was 12
So did I. Before we realized how collectible everything in the SW was, we used to play with all the toys, he had everything. And when we got bored with the toys we’d alternate role playing between SW and Voltron. Those were fun times.
Lucas lost his original vision, the only reason I am considering this at all is JJ Abrams.
They better not messing up with my Han Solo like they did to the last Indiana Jones!!
Rhea: I like to think that ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-F***ed’ was just a horrible nightmare that did not actually happen in real life.
We were having the same horrible nightmare, then. 😉
Hee! You and everyone else! I pretended it never happened either.
I agree!!! love ford
I’m willing to bet Han Solo is dead by the end of the first movie. Bank on it.
God, I hate the whole idea of this project.
No, I heard Disney wouldn’t have it.
I grew up with the original Star Wars, but after the triology of prequels I have my doubts, I do like Oscar Isaac and will keep my fingers crossed for a great movie.
Oho, I do like looking at the lovely Oscar. He looks like the lovechild of Mark Ruffalo and Orlando B. As for this project- a big meh.
All white men-sounds about right (for Abrahms).
what about that young black English guy? he is 22 y/o from Attack the Block
Ok, my bad. Mostly, then. I’m still not sure I’d call this diverse.
I get your point but yes – John Boyega? not white.
exactly but he is the ONLY ONE I think. Good for him but… I think I might pass I think I am beyond it unless my son wants to go.
John boyega is black and he is the lead.
John Boyega was mentioned first in the casting announcement so it is likely that he is the lead. Nobody knows for certain but there was rumors before this announcement he he was going to be the lead. And Oscar Isaac from Guatemala. So I think the diversity is fine. There just should be more women.
I was kind of shocked at the lack of ethnic diversity from a JJ film. I would love to see South Asians or East Asians as well as more blacks cast as leads in this film. They brought back everyone except Billy D. W. (a.k.a. Lando). So disappointed.
I agree – the domination by white guys is beyond annoying. Few minorities and only one woman? I love JJ Abrams but this is beyond annoying.
Oscar Issac Hernandez is Latino
Guatemalan born to Guatemalan mom and Cuban dad. He grew up here in Miami.
PS and I love him!
Where did those Lupita rumors even originate? Oh, well. It’s still an interesting mix of a cast. I’m looking forward to it.
I’m still hoping lupita will be announced later…
I don’t think she will be 🙁
I have many feelings about Star Wars VII however none of them are good.
lol. me too.
the way i feel about harrison ford’s earring.
I wasn’t expecting much, but I’m very happy for both Andy Serkis and Domhnall Gleeson being in the cast, it gives me some hope!
I’ve loved Gleeson ever since Harry Potter. He’s been great in everything I’ve seen him in. Plus, he’s really really cute. I’m quite happy about this.
Funny how he’s ONLY 31, yet Lupita is ALREADY 31.
He was so lovely in About Time.
And you’re spot on about the age of actors vs. actresses.
What is Lupita doing? I think she’s being offered a lot of scripts. Is she waiting for a huge role or someting?
I have big reservations regarding J.J. Abrams. Mostly because of how much i disliked Star Trek: Into Darkness. However, i’ll be definitely watching Ep. VII when it comes out because it’s Star Wars and i’ve seen all of them and actively bashed some of them (and will want to know what to bash in case if this one is horrible lol)
isn’t there a trilogy planned? if so i’m not ruling out cumby and lupita still being involved in the future. maybe they are waiting to see how this one turns out, which is the smart move. i don’t have high hopes for it.
Good point – yes, I thought these were the next three in the series. It’s quite possible other actors could pop up in the movie to establish characters for the next film, but they aren’t announcing it because they don’t want to spoil it.
I’m cautiously optimistic about these, but I never watched 1, 2, or 3, so the series is still pristine in my eyes!
Oscar Isaac <3
Oscar Isaac, yes. He should have been the jump photo.
Right there with you guys.
Yup. He’s delish.
I am SUCH a fan of this guy.
@ kaiser John boyega ” a British actor” is the young lead in this movie. Dominic just has a small part. boyega is a really good actor mostly known for attack of the block but has done various theatrical work, including at the national theatre.My bet is he is gonna be big he’s got quite a few good projects coming up.He is talented and good looking reminds me a little bit of a young Denzil Washington.
The amazingly talented Adam driver ( no really, he acts rings around the rest of the girls cast) is the villain,also has a great future Imo. He is weirdly sexy, and just a really good actor. I like the casting in this movie including Oscar Isaac, unlike George Lucas prequels they have gone for solid actors.
Whoa, hold up there. You think this is a more “solid” cast than Liam Neeson, Ewan McGreggor, and Samuel L Jackson? Let’s not rewrite history. The prequels also had a solid cast…and were utter crap. How these sequels are getting anything but cautious optimism is a mystery to me.
As you can see from my examples I am talking about the cast as whole especially the younger ones. The younger actors in this are solid actors.
Ewan McGreggor was 28. Cautious optimism folks, after three crap movies we look like fools not being a bit guarded.
I have been really impressed with boyega and drivers work.. Isaac is solid too in several movies, haven’t seen him in the Cohen bro movie but heard he was stellar. I am gonna be excited you can take care of the cautious bit 😉
I will be seeing this movie no matter what or who they cast in it. My husband is a HUGE Star Wars geek, so the casting doesn’t matter to him. But we talked last night about the only person who got a huge career out of Star Wars was Harrison Ford but you could also argue that Indiana Jones is what convinced Hollywood he could be a big star. With the prequals, Ewan (who was great as young Obi-Wan), Samuel L Jackson and Natalie Portman already had a wide variety of work behind them and I think their careers would have continued in the same direction with or without the prequals. Hayden Christensen sure didn’t benefit from it. Now with this cast, I think even if Oscar Issac doesn’t jump to A++ list after this, he’s still going to get and take on a wide variety of interesting projects. So will Adam Driver (even if I hate his character on Girls so much that I have a hard time watching him in anything). Domhall Gleeson will probably become more of a household name and the true test of what Star Wars will do for a career will really been seen for Daisy Ridley and John Boyenga.
I think besides the original cast (Hamill and Fisher may not have had an A list movie career post Star Wars but he’s done a ton of voice work and she’s done writing and one woman shows), I am most excited for Andy Serkis. I’d like to see him play a person this time around and not a CGI character (he does a terrific job with that). Time will tell what this movie does for the careers of some of this cast.
Oh and I read on Hollywood Reporter, there are more parts to be announced. At least, one more major female role.
yeah, Lupita could still be announced.
God have you seen the state of Hamill and Fisher lately? Are they playing sand people?
I was hoping someone would bring this up…it’s unfair and unfortunate, but most men get a pass in Hollywood for looking haggard, however, Carrie Fisher….um, I’m just wondering how this is going to work. Bring the hate.
Hamill doesn’t get a pass for me how bad he currently looks. At least Harrison Ford has kept himself tidy.
Okay Wizz you cracked me up. Harrison Ford kept himself tidy! LOL.
I thought Mark Hamill had a car accident or some kind of vehicle accident
and it damaged it face.
Sry… *damaged his face.*
I always seem to need to correct my writing…lolz.
Anyhoo….i thought i read he had one side of his face disfigured and had to have plastic surgery.
In Episode V, Luke was attacked and suffered facial injuries to explain Hamill’s damage from the accident.
Hamill was in an accident and had to have plastic surgery years ago…he hadn’t looked great in years. People age and get bigger, get over it.
@ crank….most men seem to age well hence Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, etc…
Just commenting on Mark Hamill and why he looks a little rough.
Nothing to get over, just an observation.
True Story and probably unpopular opinion: Just watched these long drawn out never ending ass movies two weeks ago at the behest of my boyfriend ….. Um when I could keep myself from being bored and nodding off I kept think “This!?, This crap is what ya’ll been Jizzing and Fangirling about?!!” Christ on a Cracker, My bff wanted to act like my being a foreigner and a girl precludes me from “understanding The movies” i understood they were cheesy and bad Tho!
P.S: Why was Episode 1 a thing?
P.P.S: Princess Leia was a Face of Butter
me too.
to possibly explain the original’s popularity, there just wasn’t anything else back then. jaws, grease, rocky, saturday night fever, logan’s run, disney stuff, freaky friday etc. there hadn’t really been a “serious” movie appropriate for young people until then.
they hadn’t figured out the toy/marketing connection until then or taken it seriously. and now, because of it, it will never die. NEVER
I hate them. I hate them ALL. Originals, new ones. The only one I actually enjoyed was watching little baby Anakin just because he was a good kid actor.
I don’t like space though, so there’s that.
I’m not going to defend them, but I will say, if you were a kid in this country in 1977, Star Wars probably had a big impact on you and your imagination. It was a phenomenon as well as a movie franchise and it was very popular.
I have never seen these movies either (to the utter shock of most people I meet) and I’m quite sure I won’t get their appeal now. I think you have to be a certain age/at a certain point in your life/in the time the hype was big for certain things. I also watched Dirty Dancing at age 19 and that was way to late. I would probably have loved it when I was 12/13 but at 19 I just found it unbearably cheesy and a bit stupid. And Dirty Dancing is probably as much of a cult movie as all the Star Wars films.
Boyega!!! I loved Attack the Block and was waiting to see who would notice how talented this guy truly was. Such a great screen presence.
I also like Oscar Isaac. I’m so in.
i hope it won’t be a Lens Flare Fest like STiD
Only one female lead?
Thanks for being the first one to say that. I was thinking it too.
And no Lupita.
John Boyega John Boyega JOHN BOYEGA! *runs off to watch “Attack the Block” again* Cautiously optimistic. Solid cast and out of the ‘newbies’, there isn’t anyone distractingly well known (more “oh it’s that guy!!”). I just want Andy Serkis to actually be himself for once, not some mo-cap uncanny valley demon character (which he does do well, admittedly…)
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS on Oscar Isaac!!!
I’m so happy for him. I don’t want him only doing small/indie films, I want him to be known (by a bigger audience) and make money.
Honestly it just makes me nervous. Oscar is awesome, but I was all about Ewan McGreggor back when he was cast. Star Wars did nothing for him. Well, hopefully the money was good at least.
The thing about Isaac is that even if Star Wars underperforms or ends up not being that important for his career, he can always go back to his indie films. My point: he can act, he’ll still have part of his career left. This isn’t a Taylor Kistch/John Carter kind of situation, know what I mean?
I’m surprisingly optimistic about this casting news. Things may change, of course, once I’ve seen what direction J.J. Abrahams is taking.
I think you could fairly compare Oscar Issac’s career at this point to what Ewan McGregor’s career was at the point the prequals started. Ewan was very good as young Obi-Wan ( I thought) and while SW did not propel him to A++ list afterwards, Ewan continued to take on high profile and lower profile interesting projects (for the most part). I see Issac becoming more of a household name but probably following the same vein as McGregor afterwards. He’s really got nothing to lose here. I have not seen Oscar Issac in action, but I’ve only read good things about him, he will be fine no matter how these movies turn out.
I think that’s a good way to look at it @Eve. Unfortunately if history is any indication the media will not be kind. Why haven’t they capitalized on their Star Wars role?! Why can’t they open a movie?! Blah blah blah. There are already references to the cast of ‘arguably Hollywood’s biggest franchise!’ Umm, no, not arguably…it’s not Hollywood’s biggest franchise. It probably won’t even be Hollywood’s biggest movie of the year (hello Avengers 2). The media is going to be brutal on this brunch.
No I think Domhnall Gleeson will be Luke’s son.
The newcomer girl will be Han and Leia’s daughter.
John Boyega some Jedi stud or charming rogue.
Oscar I: Older Jedi mentor or possibly Leia/Han’s older son.
Driver: DarthDriver
OSCAR ISAAC
And who cares about anyone else.
Loving the Andy Serkis. Very underrated. Kudos to him!
I’m thrilled to see Mark Hamill. Some may say he hasn’t aged very well but lets face it–he’s the main man. There is no other Luke Skywalker.
Whoo-hoo! 11 men and 1 1/2 women! No wonder there was so much fighting between the Rebel Alliance and the Federation; there aren’t enough women to go around!
/snark
Seriously, if the female character is another princess then this will be the ultimate pander to the female audience. It’s already bad enough that the two main female characters from the entire series were both “Princesses/Queens”, as if no woman could be special as anything but.
Yeah it’s pretty awful. They’re now backtracking saying there are more roles to come! But what about that announcement doesn’t say here’s our main cast? When Phantom Menace was cast I can remember a big fuss being made over two actresses cast as pilots….they had a combined 4 lines and 30 seconds of screen time. Publicists will always overhype franchise roles. This is the main cast. Same old same old.
Good point. Honestly, in the Star Wars universe there’s PLENTY of space and action for a couple of great female characters. While i understand why in the original trilogy Leia was what she was, second trilogy already made a mistake when it didn’t produce any lead female chars. I’ll be seriously disappointed if the third trilogy takes the same route.
Yeah, I’ve reached the point in my life where if a filmmaker is not interested in me, then I’m not interested in them.
I’m just sick and tired of having to identify with a male lead if I want to enjoy an action movie, and 40 years after the start of the women’s movement why does a huge mainstream movie franchise that pretends to appeal to general audiences have six new roles for men and just one for a woman? Why am I supposed to watch this, and why am I supposed to care.
Even Joss Whedon has been off-kilter lately, and he used to dependably write strong action roles for women.
Whatever happened to Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
Seriously, I’m not offended about the luck of female roles. Not every movie should be a paragon to the equal rights fight. Same goes for same-sex couples and african-american leading roles. Make your own movie and have all that you can think of in it! I somehow think there will be at least one person who will find something missing in it!
For a series that lends itself to strong, warrior-type roles for women, it’s pretty disappointing the lack of lead female characters.
Contrary to most, i am hopeful about this movie. JJ made really good Star Trek movies IMO. He knows how to work a sci-fi movie. Prequals were bad because atmosphere was much different than original SW movies.
And Oscar Isaac!!! I LOVE HIM. I will be watching the movie even if it gets sh-t reviews.
We can be in the minority together. I really liked JJ’s Star Trek movies. While I do think there are issues with the prequil trilogy–like the complicated plot of Ep. 1 that had no point–I think people freaked out about the prequils mainly because they had put the original trilogy on such a pedestal that no matter what Lucas did, the fanboys and girls would have complained. I’m worried for JJ and Ep 7 for this reason, that no matter what, people will complain about it because it’s not the original.
MAX freaking VON SYDOW! That is all, everyone else is just fades in the background.
Still, I’m very excited for this new movie and hopefully they make more justice to the first movies than those horrid prequels tha Lucas made.
So HAPPY Oscar Isaac is getting in on a major mainstream franchise! One of the best actors of his generation. So happy that so many people here know about him and love him.
I love STAR WARS originals, but really no 7???
I’m fatigued by the endless STAR WARS.
Me too!
I love the original Star Wars…first three movies were the best.