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The Force Is With Them: Star Wars Episode VII Cast Revealed

J.J Abrams (top center right) at the cast read-through of <em>Star Wars: Episode VII</em> on Tuesday with Harrison Ford (clockwise from right), Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm President and Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan.
David James
J.J Abrams (top center right) at the cast read-through of Star Wars: Episode VII on Tuesday with Harrison Ford (clockwise from right), Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm President and Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan.

Announced, the cast is: The Star Wars franchise has announced the cast for the upcoming Episode VII movie.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow will join the cast of the new movie. The three stars of the original films — Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill — will reprise their roles as Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, respectively. Also back are Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Kenny Baker as R2-D2 and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca.

"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," director J.J. Abrams said in Tuesday's statement from Disney and Lucasfilms.

Variety notes that Girls' star Driver will likely play the villain. Here's more from Variety:

"While descriptions of characters were left out of the release, sources tell Variety Driver will play the main villain who is meant to have a Darth Vader look to him, Isaac's character will have a Han Solo look to him and Boyega would be a Jedi.

"It's unclear who Ridley ... will play, but sources have always said the children of Solo and Princess Leia would play a part in the film. Ridley could possibly play their daughter."

The movie, set to be released Dec. 18, 2015, is set 30 years after 1983's Return of the Jedi.

No word on who's playing Jar Jar Binks.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.