First, let us start off all discussion of Star Wars: Episode VII with a prayer to the space opera gods that this movie will be good, or at the very least better than Attack of the Clones. Have you had your moment of silence? Burned your lightsaber-shaped incense? Good. We’re ready to talk Star Wars.
A Disney casting sheet has surfaced for lead roles in an unidentified project, which both Bleeding Cool and the BBC are confidently reporting as belonging to Star Wars. The sheet calls for a young man and woman, code-named Thomas and Rachel. Here are the descriptions for the two characters:
“Rachel: quite young when she lost her parents. With no other family, she was forced to make her way in a tough, dangerous town. Now 17 she has become street smart and strong. She is able to take care of herself using humor and guts to get by. Always a survivor, never a victim, she remains hopeful that she can move away from this harsh existence to a better life. She is always thinking of what she can do to move ahead.
Thomas: has grown up without a father’s influence. Without the model of being a man, he doesn’t have the strongest sense of himself. Despite this he smart, capable and shows courage when it is needed. He can appreciate the absurdities in life and understands you can’t take life too seriously.”
Lucasfilm has refused to comment on whether or not the call is for Star Wars characters, so we can’t be 100% sure that this casting sheet isn’t for a totally different project. However, if everybody’s speculation is correct, and these characters are the Star Wars leads, then it means that the main characters in the new film might not be related to the leads in the original franchise. Most fans have assumed up to this point that the movie would just keep following the Skywalker and Solo families, but that might not be the case. These kids seem to be blank slates.
Of course, there could be other explanations for the fact that these characters are orphans, including another separated-at-birth storyline or a third, even more hush-hush young lead who is a Skywalker. It’s all still very uncertain. Still, it’s very interesting that they are doing open calls for such major characters. It’s possible that two young unknowns could become overnight Star Wars stars.
On the release date front, we reported earlier this week that the Star Wars team wanted the film pushed back with 2016, but were meeting resistance from the powers that be over at Disney. Yesterday, a Dutch Disney executive tweeted:
#StarWars,Saw today some awsome [sic] first features/plans of new StarWars 7 movie coming end 2015. #Disney studio role out.
Jedi News immediately picked it up as evidence that the film was definitely being released in 2015, albeit later in the year than was originally planned. The exec later backtracked, saying there “might be some changes” with the release date, and now the tweets seem to have been deleted. Hmm…
Who are these characters? Who will play them? When is the darn movie even coming out? Stay tuned, and may the force be with you.
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