Star Wars Episode IX begins filming August 1 and the official site revealed new cast members, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, and Kerri Russell, as well as confirming the return of Billy Dee Williams, Mark Hamill, and Kelly Marie Tran, while Carrie Fisher will still play Leia through unused footage shot for The Force Awakens! Head below for some thoughts on the new cast and the news about Leia’s role.
The returning cast mentioned in the press release includes: Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux aka Hugs), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose), Joonas Suotamo (Chewie), and Billie Lourd (Lt. Connix). This also includes Mark Hamill (Force Ghost Luke), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), and Billy Dee Williams (as freaking smooth smuggler Lando Calrissian!).
The first of the new cast is Naomi Ackie, an up and coming actress whose biggest role was the 2016 film Lady Macbeth. I hate to jump straight to this idea, as it was something regrettably done to John Boyega upon his casting, but Naomi Ackie certainly would be the perfect age to play Lando Calrissian’s daughter, especially considering Lando himself will be in this movie. I only bring it up, because my hope is for one of the original trilogy stars to a) have a child (as it seems so far Luke didn’t have one) b) have a child who didn’t fall to the dark side. That being said, it’s more than likely she’s a new character and it will be just as fantastic if she is, but either way there’s another woman, and woman of color at that, who has been added to the cast and that’s an excellent trend to continue.
Another new cast member is Richard E. Grant, who has been acting for quite some time, most recently in the excellent Logan, Hugh Jackman’s swan-song to playing Wolverine, as well as some episodes of Game of Thrones. I expect he’ll play a villain, because he’s certainly fit that bill before and this franchise sure likes its old, white males to play the bad guys. If true, I’d like it if it’s some bad guy who sides with General Hux in some type of revolt against their new Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren. Or, like all the clickbait articles thought with the next new actress for Ep. IX, maybe Grant is Rey’s father! (Not)
Kerri Russell, rumored to be joining the film in early July, has officially sealed the deal today! When the press release initially went live on the official site, her name wasn’t included, but once her deal was finalized, it has since been updated. And no, she is not Rey’s mom. Can’t wait to find out what role she plays instead!
The big news, beyond confirming all the rumors about Billy Dee’s return as Lando, is that Carrie Fisher will be able to complete Leia’s cinematic journey through unused footage shot for The Force Awakens! As much as I know having this opinion might rankle a few of you, I was always interested in a possible recast of Leia only because I hoped her story in the sequel trilogy would get a proper ending instead of being written out/finished in a novel. I’m extremely happy Lucasfilm, with the blessing of her daughter Billie Lourd (the single most important factor in all this), managed to make this work so Carrie could continue the role, though I’m very surprised they had such footage to make this work. In the end, I’m just happy they told us now, not making us wait until the film came out next year, to wonder what would become of Leia’s presence in the final sequel trilogy film.
Here are a few other things, since I haven’t been covering all the rumors and various smaller updates:
- Victoria Mahoney joined Ep. IX as second-unit director, the first African-American woman to do so. This is basically a co-director role, as laid out in this article/interview with one of Hollywood’s most prolific second-unit directors, John Mahaffie. She recently tweeted a picture of a camera-less phone, hinting it was being used by cast and crew for IX, but the tweet has since been deleted.
- Back in April at AwesomeCon, John Boyega revealed Finn, and Daisy Ridley’s Rey, would be back together for Ep. IX. Their friendship and interplay was one of my favorite things about TFA and I sorely missed it in The Last Jedi, though Finn and Rose made for a lot of fun too.
- The final arc of the Poe Dameron comic series is the first material to edge past the events of The Last Jedi. While it probably won’t hide any hints at Ep. IX in its final issues, it’s well worth a read regardless.
- UPDATE 8/1/18: The first day of filming has finished and J.J. Abrams tweeted a photo from the set teasing Chewie, Finn, and potentially Rey or Poe in the cockpit of the Falcon.
Episode IX, co-written by Director J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio, is set to launch in December 2019. It was originally scheduled for May of that year, but it was pushed back after J.J. Abrams was brought on board to direct after Lucasfilm “parted ways” with Colin Trevorrow, something most fans, including myself, were happy to see. John Williams will return to score what is being billed as, “…final installment of the Skywalker saga.”
We’ll have more as it’s revealed, though don’t expect too much until April 2019’s Star Wars Celebration in Chicago.
SEE ALSO:
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