The official release:
They also included a fancy photo of the cast and crew sitting around talking about stuff (see top).The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.
Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.
Director J.J. Abrams says, "We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud."
Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.
Driver and Boyega are certainly interesting, and had been long discussed as participants in the film. Daisy Ridley is a pretty big unknown, likely the female protagonist and perhaps the central focus of the narrative. I think I'd heard Von Sydow mentioned at some point, and he joins the likes of Christopher Lee, Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing in bringing a level gravitas to the proceedings.
I'm most interested in the inclusion of Serkis - unsure yet of course whether he'll be a mo-cap creature, playing himself, or a combination of both as he did in King Kong.
During a press call for Inside Llewyn Davis I had joked with Oscar Isaac about doing Star Wars, and it's nice to see him included as well. Domhnall Gleeson is known to some as Bill Weasley from the Potter films, but he was pretty terrific in the recent film Frank, so I look forward to seeing what he brings to this saga.
And while it may at this point be anti-climactic, all signs that pointed to the big three returning, along with the droids and the Wookie, proved to be accurate. Nice to see Kenny Baker getting credit, even if his clearly robotic device is there plunked into a shipping crate in the back corner.
Still time for big news - who knows, maybe in a few days we can expect to hear the official title? Just remember, May 4th may be a time to celebrate, but us Orthodox still recognize May 25th as the true day to remember the first time Tantive IV made its way overhead as it was chased by Darth in his ISD.