There wasn’t a ton of Star Wars news out of the Disney earnings call today, but Bob Iger did confirm that not only they start filming in May, but that Episode VII will start about 30 years after Return of the Jedi. It will feature “a trio of new leads” and “several familiar faces.” For now, R2-D2 remains the only confirmed cast member.
And here it is from StarWars.com.
I’m happy with this news. Joss all the stuff that really wasn’t that good and (possibly, hopefully) keep the rest. Or, you know, just Mara Jade. ;)
Sounds like the rest will be coming soon…ish?
I thought they might do something like that since they were bringing the OT cast members back. I still am not sure how much of the EU story they’re going to nerf, but I’m hopeful!
Thirty years was the minimum… And this tells us nothing about the EU, despite the internet’s speculation. I still think most of it is getting Jossed, though.
Jossing most and cherrypicking a little makes the most sense in my opinion. And of course 30 was the minimum! Do these people really think there’s a de-aging machine out there somewhere to perform miracles?
I don’t know WHAT people are thinking. There has been a lot of boneheaded speculation out there from Day 1, and today is no exception.
It’s really nice to have the news, but it’s what folks have been assuming for so long that it doesn’t even feel like news. Still, I’ll take it.
Drips and drabs, or nothing at all? ::shrug::
30 years after ROTJ, check.
New lead characters, check.
Anything from the EU? Please no! It was all a Force dream that Luke had.
34 ABY. Interesting spot. Right before the Dark Nest Trilogy. Anything could happen there. I wonder if the new group won’t be the children of Leia & Han or Mara & Luke. Good time period to break off with some from the Jedi Academy and Korriban.
I’ve been seeing a lot of speculation like this today, revolving around the book timeline, but the chances of them just taking a 30-year chunk of the EU and starting there? Slim. Very slim.
Bit and pieces, maybe. Certain characters? Maybe. A Vong or a Chiss showing up in the background? Sure, why not. Expecting everything that happens from Truce at Bakura to The Unifying Force to survive? Don’t count on it.
Picture the production discussions centring on when to set the new trilogy; deciding on approx. 30 years ABoE for Episode 7 *suggests* a number of things.
First, they wanted the possibility for established characters from the OT to be shifted to a similar extent PT characters were by the gap between the PT and OT. (For example, that shift saw Vader’s redemption…).
Second, the 30-ish year gap allows for them to go back and fill in the missing events later – perhaps with spinoff movie(s) or a TV series (live-action or animated). Especially possible if the EU timeline we know does not survive intact as Dunc suggests.
Third, the casting call mentioned an orphan young woman and a no-paternal-influence young man. With this and the ’30 years later’ in mind, it allows them to carry the film in the way Leia, Han & Luke did in the OT, but for ‘the big 3’ characters to lend support/guidance to them a la Ben Kenobi (as well as familiarity for the audience).
I also agree that EU characters in the background are likely. Star Wars background characters are part of the fun! Think Cantina or Coruscant.
PS Dunc – it’s ‘dribs and drabs’. ;-)
I’m just happy to see them finally saying something official about production; even if it really isn’t much in the way of news.
Now. Let’s get to announcing that cast! We have to obessively watch everyone’s previous work over and over so we can make snap judgements about them, too. :)