Jedi News’ Jedi Master SQL has emerged yet again for a lengthy Q&A about Episode VII. There’s a fair amount of speculation on his part, but here are the bullet points:
- Lucasfilm is sitting on “a stack of news that could be released at any moment that they please.”
- On returning actors, he’s “only seen evidence for one of [the Big 3] having signed,” and it “would not surprise me if they did not all come back for Episode VII but maybe came back at varying points in the new trilogy.” Last time we heard from him he said Harrison Ford’s deal was nearly in place.
- He says “the Expanded Universe won’t be disappearing anytime soon,” Dark Horse is likely to keep the comic license and “you can expect to see their logo on a lot of very different Star Wars products than just comics.”
- He hints “The Old Republic has added a planet that has long been mentioned but never seen on film,” and that has something to do with Episode VII. (UPDATE: Lightsaber Rattling thinks this may be Corellia, which will be familiar to EU fans but has never been seen on screen.)
- As for new actors, he says an “exceptional level of work going into finding the right cast for the new films.” Names he’s recently heard attached to roles are Emmanuelle Chriqui, Alexis Dziena, and American Horror Story’s Taissa Farmiga.
He also chatted about the next Celebration, saying that it may be the launchpad for the real Episode VII blitz.
So that’s a few things to chew on… but as always, just rumors!
To be honest, I think that particular source has pretty much discredited itself. The guy said for months on end that the release date would be 11/11/15. He was also the source for the whole “casting news will come on October 23rd” buzz.
I mean, I still like that there are rumors, but this particular source has failed a couple of times too often.
That’s very fair comment Aaron, and while SQL missed the date by 5 weeks or so he wasn’t a million miles away, although a couple of other sites did correctly state December as the release date, and hats off to them.
As for the October 23rd date SQL was one of a few that latched on to that date, which came and passed with no breaking news.
Worth remembering though that we’re currently in a VERY fluid environment regarding dates for anything. Ep7 has just moved back a number of months, much like the 2009 Star Trek which shifted (for very different reasons) from its December 25, 2008 release date to May 8, 2009. Any Trek sites commenting on that film prior to the date change would have been thrown out too.
And as we, Dunc, Eric at TF.N and everyone else ALWAYS says these are purely rumours, based on information we hear. Nothing is fact or truth until LFL say so.
Someone should score the insiders. Seriously. Figure out their percentages and hold ’em accountable. That’d be a fun read.
Might make for a more interesting video :-p
When you have a rumour monger you hold them accountable to their results as Pablo says. You judge them on their hits. With SQL he / she / they go very specific rather than vague. It makes them either a clearly great source or makes them stand out as wrong. If you are in the game to deceive you don’t last long when you are specific. SQLs record is pretty good and he tends to be very specific.
Correct they said casting news on 23rd, we did not get casting news but did get the story that Ardnt was out. Did they know a big story was brewing, but called the source of story wrong? Possibly.
In the same month whilst every site and source ran news on a teaser trailer running on the ‘anniversary’ of the purchase by Disney, SQL was the only one that said no. Sometimes rumour killing, proves your viability as a source as much as rumour providing.
In terms of 11/11/15 – SQL was wrong, no argument there. But recall he said that date in the early summer when everyone else still said May 2015 at that point. He was first to state holiday season. We don’t know if that was a planned date at one point. If you buy into the rumours of turmoil, a lot happened that summer that could have changed plans that effected the date.
In terms of scoring. I’m a geek so score some sources. SQL scorecard currently sits at:
67% correct
9% wrong
24% to be determined
Not a bad record…
Some of SQLs hits have been calling JJ as Director 2 days before anyone else, when everyone was running JJs denial quotes. The Clone Wars would end with 8-10 ep specials, a week before the announcement. Very specific, very correct. There is also what i consider a major potential spoiler of the digital library of Star Wars content, that SQL has reported on a number of occasions – time will tell on that one. Look out for a piece soon on JediNews where we Qing SQL on the ethics of rumours – interesting read…
But as Mark points out. Nothing is fact until the official site reports it. We have to take ALL rumours regardless of source with a BIG pinch of salt. It’s fun to speculate and discuss and digest – but thats all, a bit of fun. Dunc here always has that perfect attitude to how he reports on the rumours, and we could all do well to take a leaf out of that book!
She. ;)
Sorry, i can’t believe i did that!!!
I started by referring to SQL as he / she / they then thought damn it that takes to long to type i will just go with he throughout – took that one step too far Lol!
Point stands though, you have the perfect attitude to rumours!
Well, we hand out obligatory bags of salt with every Rumour post :-p It’s how we grit the roads here in the UK!
They salt the roads where you live?
Must be a posh bit of England.
We just slide to work in the Highlands of Scotland.
apparently the roads in the UK are flavorless and need salt.