Star Wars Episode VII Rumors

[OklahomaTourist]

A couple of rumors and speculations I've seen flying around today regarding Episode VII. Carrie Fischer "confirms" she will be in Episode VII. J.J. Abrams hopes John Williams will score Episode VII. Disney has been super quiet on anything Star Wars so I will take all of this with a grain of salt until there is an official announcement. I'm still torn on using the Big 3 and pushing Episode VII back 40 years after ROTJ and the last set of novels or using new actors closer to the end of ROTJ. I do like the idea of using John Williams to score the next trilogy and I think he has expressed interest in doing them too.

http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2013/04/jj-abrams-thinks-john-williams-will.html

As a Star Trek fan that's been following the JJ Abrams franchise reboot very closely over the last five years or so, let me offer that Abrams wraps everything he possibly can in an astonishing cloak of secrecy. Amazingly successful in this age of Internet instant news and rumordom, but precious little about the Trek stories was known before Abrams/Bad Robot wanted it known, so be very careful as you start lurking/hearing rumors and stories emerging over the next several months. Take EVERYTHING heard with great skepticism.

 

[Twin Dad]

As a Star Trek fan that's been following the JJ Abrams franchise reboot very closely over the last five years or so, let me offer that Abrams wraps everything he possibly can in an astonishing cloak of secrecy. Amazingly successful in this age of Internet instant news and rumordom, but precious little about the Trek stories was known before Abrams/Bad Robot wanted it known, so be very careful as you start lurking/hearing rumors and stories emerging over the next several months. Take EVERYTHING heard with great skepticism.

We are learning that. Thanks for the heads up. I actually prefer the secrecy then little bits and pieces being released.

Today Dave Filoni hinted at a new Star Wars Animated series. Looks post-Empire.

http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2013/05/dave-filoni-hinting-at-new-star-wars.html

 

[doconeill]

We are learning that. Thanks for the heads up. I actually prefer the secrecy then little bits and pieces being released.

Today Dave Filoni hinted at a new Star Wars Animated series. Looks post-Empire.

http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2013/05/dave-filoni-hinting-at-new-star-wars.html

I saw it when he tweeted...I'm not sure what the drawing was for exactly, but it's odd...it looks like he might have been sketching one of the model motion rigs they used to film the fight sequences originally, with the whole armature. I can't think of why else he'd draw bit.

I also don't know if it's just the roughness, but the ship looks almost prototype-ish. That would seem to put it between trilogies.

 

[mvk]

Not a rumor, just a question I want to throw out there...

Are you expecting the sequels to fit into the expanded universe? And if not, will you be disappointed?

I'm not too familiar with the expanded universe, but it seems like fan fiction to me, so if they went another way and what they write/film doesn't "fit in", it wouldn't bother me any. But I do know a ton of people take the expanded universe seriously, and the character shootoff movies especially are going to impact it.

 

[pork]

The expanded universe is amazing. I can only hope Jason solo remains intact.

 

[doconeill]

I consider fanfic to generally be unauthorized, but tolerated to a certain degree in some cases, but completely non-canon regardless of how good it might be.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe is different. It is completely authorized, and completely canon - at least until George said otherwise (i.e. it conflicted with his own canon). Now with Disney in charge, there isn't that one person in charge, but Lucasfilm actually has a guy who maintains a database ("The Holocron") of everything in the Star Wars universe, and what is canon.

So it seems to still be a case of everything in the Expanded Universe is canon - until it is not.

 

[Twin Dad]

Not a rumor, just a question I want to throw out there...

Are you expecting the sequels to fit into the expanded universe? And if not, will you be disappointed?

I'm not too familiar with the expanded universe, but it seems like fan fiction to me, so if they went another way and what they write/film doesn't "fit in", it wouldn't bother me any. But I do know a ton of people take the expanded universe seriously, and the character shootoff movies especially are going to impact it.

A lot of the die hard fans would be up in arms if the EU was ignored out right. There are holes in the time line a new trilogy can fit into

The expanded universe is amazing. I can only hope Jason solo remains intact.

I think Jacen is done as a main character. Perhaps he can be reclaimed if we learn in later novels how his actions prevented the dark man from gaining the Throne of Power.

I consider fanfic to generally be unauthorized, but tolerated to a certain degree in some cases, but completely non-canon regardless of how good it might be.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe is different. It is completely authorized, and completely canon - at least until George said otherwise (i.e. it conflicted with his own canon). Now with Disney in charge, there isn't that one person in charge, but Lucasfilm actually has a guy who maintains a database ("The Holocron") of everything in the Star Wars universe, and what is canon.

So it seems to still be a case of everything in the Expanded Universe is canon - until it is not.

The Expanded Universe is mainly canon. A few things in the books do not jive with the movies but overall there is a cohesion. When the books started Lucas had specific rules in place like no major character dying. The one main character who was offed was done so with George's approval. Also, EU characters have been offed at George's orders. George has also been very strict on where writers are allowed to play. Before the prequels, most everything pre Episode IV was off limits. Even now we still have gaps in the history. For instance, we do not know anything definitive about how Han and Chewbacca met.

I honestly don't know which way Disney is headed with the new trilogy. Bringing in Hamill, Fischer, and Ford kind of narrows their options due to the age of the actors. They can place the trilogy between two existing series or they can pick up at the end of the Fate of the Jedi Series. The later might be the road they are taking if you read between the lines. The age of the Big 3 actors almost perfectly matches the ages of their characters. Now that Fate of the Jedi is done Del Ray should have announced the next series. They haven't. There's two reasons why they might be in a holding pattern. Disney wants to bring the books in house and is holding off on a big new series. Another option is this is where Episode VII comes in, about 40 years after ROTJ to pass the torch to Jaina and Alana Solo and Ben Skywalker. This seems plausible with the reports that the Big 3 are going to be in the movie. Also, we have not heard from Peter Mayhew yet which hints that the movie will be set after The New Jedi Order books. (That could change after Celebration II in Europe.) The problem with that big of a gap is there is A LOT of content that casual fans have missed and will have to be caught up on.

We won't know more than idle speculation until shooting starts. Even then I don't expect much until trailers start hitting theaters in late 2014.

 

[mvk]

A couple quotes I found on Wookieepedia, regarding the films and EU. Keep in mind there were 5 years ago...

During ShoWest 2008, Lucas gave an interview where he mentioned the difference between "his world", "the licensing world" and the "fans' world":

Interviewer: "Do you think you'd have other people continue the Star Wars saga past Episode VI or turn some of the other material into films?"

Lucas: "But there's no story past Episode VI, there's just no story. It's a certain story about Anakin Skywalker and once Anakin Skywalker dies, that's kind of the end of the story. There is no story about Luke Skywalker, I mean apart from the books. But there's three worlds: There's my world that I made up, there's the licensing world that's the books, the comics, all that kind of stuff, the games, which is their world, and then there's the fans' world, which is also very rich in imagination, but they don't always mesh. All I'm in charge of is my world. I can't be in charge of those other people's world, because I can't keep up with it."


Another noteworthy exchange between Lucas and an interviewer appeared in the May 2008 edition of Total Film magazine:

TOTAL FILM: "The Star Wars universe has expanded far beyond the movies. How much leeway do the game makers and novel writers have?"
LUCAS: "They have their own kind of world. There's three pillars of Star Wars. I'll probably get in trouble for this but it's OK! There's three pillars: the father, the son and the holy ghost. I'm the father, Howard Roffman [president of Lucas Licensing] is the son and the holy ghost is the fans, this kind of ethereal world of people coming up with all kinds of different ideas and histories. Now these three different pillars don't always match, but the movies and TV shows are all under my control and they are consistent within themselves. Howard tries to be consistent but sometimes he goes off on tangents and it's hard to hold him back. He once said to me that there are two Star Trek universes: there's the TV show and then there's all the spin-offs. He said that these were completely different and didn't have anything to do with each other. So I said, "OK, go ahead." In the early days I told them that they couldn't do anything about how Darth Vader was born, for obvious reasons, but otherwise I pretty much let them do whatever they wanted. They created this whole amazing universe that goes on for millions of years!"
TOTAL FILM: "Are you happy for new Star Wars tales to be told after you're gone?"
LUCAS: "I've left pretty explicit instructions for there not to be any more features. There will definitely be no Episodes VII-IX. That's because there isn't any story. I mean, I never thought of anything. And now there have been novels about the events after Episode VI, which isn't at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned and Luke doesn't get married..."


If this holds true 5 years later, I would expect a clean slate and whatever the scriptwriters come up with won't necessarily have to mesh with the EU.

 

[mvk]

And in 2006, the guy who maintained the Holocron stated -

"Anything not in the current version of the films is irrelevant to Film only continuity."

 

[doconeill]

Sometimes you have to take what Lucas says with a grain of salt.

He was quoted, after the first movie was a success and was re-released with the "Episode IV" added, saying that there were 9 film ideas he had...the first was called "Episode IV" because it was the fourth one, but the one he elected to start with (for various reasons - character development, etc. plus he had no idea if there would be another).

Later on, he said he had no plans for anything beyond the first six, and adamantly kept to that...until this past year, where suddenly Disney's in, and he's given over some outlines.

Remember, this is the same man that disavows the existence of the Star Wars Holiday Special and wanted all copies destroyed Now, if you ever want something "official" that's really way down on the canon list...pull that up off the internets...

 

[TheDisDork]

I thought you guys knew-- they've already leaked part of the plot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BBhNkywMJY

 

[Twin Dad]

Sometimes you have to take what Lucas says with a grain of salt.

He was quoted, after the first movie was a success and was re-released with the "Episode IV" added, saying that there were 9 film ideas he had...the first was called "Episode IV" because it was the fourth one, but the one he elected to start with (for various reasons - character development, etc. plus he had no idea if there would be another).

Later on, he said he had no plans for anything beyond the first six, and adamantly kept to that...until this past year, where suddenly Disney's in, and he's given over some outlines.

Remember, this is the same man that disavows the existence of the Star Wars Holiday Special and wanted all copies destroyed Now, if you ever want something "official" that's really way down on the canon list...pull that up off the internets...

Lucas's tune has changed many times over how many movies there are supposed to be. I have heard 6, 9, and 12. The number that keeps popping up the most is 9. I believe Mark Hamill said something at the ROTJ release in 83 about how he couldn't wait to get started on Episode VII. His comments about being done after six films didn't come out until AFTER Episode III and the overwhelmingly negative fan reaction to the second trilogy.

 

[Soarin4Disney]

Not a rumor, just a question I want to throw out there...

Are you expecting the sequels to fit into the expanded universe? And if not, will you be disappointed?
I'm not too familiar with the expanded universe, but it seems like fan fiction to me, so if they went another way and what they write/film doesn't "fit in", it wouldn't bother me any. But I do know a ton of people take the expanded universe seriously, and the character shootoff movies especially are going to impact it.

My hope is that they would fit into the expanded universe and not conflict with what is out there already. If it were upto me, I would love to see Episodes 7 thru 9 touch on the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. That was a great storyline.

 

[Brocktoon]

Don't know if it's been discussed, but it looks like Brad Bird was offered Ep VII, and turned it down to stick with 'Tomorrowland'. I still hold out some hope that Bird may get a future Star Wars installment. It also make me wonder who else turned down VII before it landed with JJ ...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...equel-i-523427

Bird: I’ve known Kathy [Kennedy] for a while and I know George. And they did come to me. But the problem was, the schedule they had in mind made it impossible to do…unless I dropped Tomorrowland. And I was just really deeply into this film at that point. It’s easy to say, “Just put it on hold.” But you’re moving now; you don’t know if you’re going to be able to move later. Maybe it’s true of filmmakers like Cameron or Spielberg, but I have to act on momentum. We had reached a critical mass where it would’ve thrown the furniture around from the train stopping. I really want to see this movie. I love the Star Wars films, and I can’t wait to see what J.J. does, but it meant I’d have to shut down one dream to participate in another. I feel like [with Tomorrowland] we’re making something that’s really special and unique.

 

[Twin Dad]

Star Wars Rebels is set to take place between Episodes III and IV. It will be released fall of 2014.

http://starwars.com/news/new-animated-series-star-wars-rebels-coming-fall-2014.html

 

[doconeill]

Star Wars Rebels is set to take place between Episodes III and IV. It will be released fall of 2014.

http://starwars.com/news/new-animated-series-star-wars-rebels-coming-fall-2014.html

I was in the process of writing up an article from the press release when something blew up at work

Simon Kinberg is developing it with Dave Filoni and will write the premiere script. According to Iger Kinberg was working on one of the standalone movies, so I don't know if this is in addition to it (and might be related), or Iger misspoke, or they changed direction.

 

[Twin Dad]

I caught that too. It could be misdirection, a collaberation, or a change of plans. I did like that the creator of Gargoyles is also involved. I thought that series was very underrated.

 

[Twin Dad]

John Williams expects to be back for Episode VII.
http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2013/05/john-williams-expects-to-return-for.html?spref=fb

 

[Twin Dad]

Very interesting book coming out about how the prequel trilogy was originally envisioned in the 80s. There's a sneak peak.

http://www.mindofthegeek.com/2013/05/24/breaking-down-the-star-wars-1981-prequel-outline/

 

[Echo7Solo]

I caught that too. It could be misdirection, a collaberation, or a change of plans. I did like that the creator of Gargoyles is also involved. I thought that series was very underrated.

Greg Wiseman is great. This has me the most excited of all the news. I think I'd rather have him working on the live action to be honest.

The last thing he worked on was Young Justice and that was a very good series. Too bad it didn't last