Kathleen Kennedy Talks Star Wars: Episode VIII Casting [SPOILERS]

Guys, there are spoilers incoming. Major spoilers. If you haven’t seen The Force Awakens yet, get the heck out of here.

We all good here now? Yes? Okay.

Reportedly, during the European premiere of The Force Awakens, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy said that the entire cast of the original trilogy will be appearing in Episode VIII:

There will be a handful of new cast members in Episode VIII but also all the cast members you see here tonight will be in it as well.

We’re excited to get back together. We start shooting Episode VIII in January, we’ve been prepping the movie for the last year and (writer-and-director) Rian Johnson has been doing an amazing job.

First off, I’m so glad Episode VIII is shooting as soon as January, because I cannot wait very long to see my new space buddies again. Secondly, although Kennedy’s comments might have been a gracious attempt to not spoil the movie for people unaware of Han’s fate, I imagine they’ll also spark a lot of debate about just how dead Solo really is. As much as it breaks my heart, I’m convinced that Han, as we know him, is gone forever, but I know not everyone agrees with me. Good scoundrels die hard.

In other Force Awakens news, J.J. Abrams talked to Entertainment Weekly about mysteries from the movie that will be addressed in Episodes VIII and IX:

Everyone who has seen these movies thinks about ‘I am your father …’ and ‘There is another …’ But neither of those things were in [1977’s original] Star Wars. Star Wars didn’t say Luke was the son of Vader. Star Wars didn’t say Leia was the sister of Luke. You didn’t understand what these references were: the Empire, dark times, Clone Wars. There were these things that were discussed that don’t get explained. George [Lucas] dropped you into a story and respected you to infer everything necessary to understand what you need to know… Can this movie actually also hold, ‘And Rey is this … And Finn is that … And this is where Poe is from …’ This is the first of a series. There is a story to be told. And it will be.

Now the hardest part: waiting.

(via io9 and Collider)

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