Roundup: How Abu Dhabi nabbed Episode VII and more

ep7-imax→ Abu Dhabi nabbed Star Wars from Jordan at the very last minute, according to a new article in The Hollywood Reporter.

→ Harrison Ford is flying around England, while John Boyega and Lupita Nyong’o are either hanging out with his likeness or they both have the same one. Mystery!

→ And finally, in the possible spoiler department, Making Star Wars describes a ship that is either very Falcon-like or an alternate Falcon model. Jason has also seen two more alphabet fighters and X-wing concepts. And then he heard from someone who witnessed some filming at Pinewood.

Rumors: Episode VII villain report continues to have legs

SEQUEL TRILOGY RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.Latino Review doubles down on Making Star Wars’ villainy rumor from the other day… They have a quibbles with the terminology, but they’re heard similar things about the meat of the report, including the stuff regarding Adam Driver and Lupita Nyong’o.

FYI, if you haven’t been keeping up with the original post, Eric at TFN says the whole original report is untrue, but it seems that Latino Review aren’t the only ones who’ve heard bits of this independently… Ahh, rumorville.

Rumor: Are these the baddies in Episode VII?

STAR WARS RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.Today we have a rumor that Sith Inquisitors, or “Jedi Hunters,” will figure into Episode VII as villains. The folks at Making Star Wars claim to have heard this from sources at Pinewood.

The characters are not full Sith, but they “worship the Sith and want to resurrect them” and “their mandate was to protect the Sith at all costs and insure their survival.” Supposedly they’ve been hunting Luke since the Emperor’s death – and that’s one reason why we’re not going to see anything like the New Republic in the film.

It’s said that both Adam Driver and Lupita Nyong’o will be among this group. (As well as David Oyelowo, who was rumored to be involved in both Episode VII and Rebels, but has never been confirmed in any way.) Driver’s character has connections to the Big 3 and turned… No, I still don’t think he’s a Skywalker/Solo himself, but it’s not too big a stretch to consider that he’s perhaps a former student of Luke’s. (Shades of many Expanded Universe characters there, though I doubt he’s going to end up being “Kyp Durron” or anything so obvious as that.)

UPDATE: Eric at TFN has doubts about Oyelowo – he think he’s voicing a different Rebels character. UPDATE #2 (6/17:) And now he’s saying it’s all wrong. Shrug.

Still, we do know from Rebels that the ‘Inquisitors’ are indeed making the jump to canon. I’m not going to jump right on board this, but it’s certainly possible. After all, weren’t we just talking at JadeCon about the Sith’s apparent lack of a contingency plan?

Welcome to the madhouse: Dispatches from the Episode VII cast

The latest cast members make their debut (to us, anyway.)

Below the cut, John Boyega is no doubt happy to have two less secrets to keep, someone is now verified, and Bad Robot goes to the Eye. (Oh, and don’t forget J.J. Abrams’ master trolling.)

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Two new ladies: Lupita Nyong’o and Gwendoline Christie join the cast of Episode VII

Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie

Lucasfilm has announced not one, but two new women are joining the cast of Episode VII: Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie!

“I could not be more excited about Lupita and Gwendoline joining the cast of Episode VII,” says Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in a statement. “It’s thrilling to see this extraordinarily talented ensemble taking shape.”

Nyong’o has been rumored for a while now, but Christie is a complete surprise… And yes, this is a welcome announcement for those of us who were hoping to see more diversity in the cast!

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