The New Hope of Star Wars
 Disney/Lucasfilm released a picture today to go along with their official casting announcement for Star Wars Episode VII, as yet untitled.
In the photograph, allegedly of the first read-through of the script, director J.J. Abrams holds court with some familiar faces (and a droid) along with the new castmembers. With all these announcements, however, are no character names nor even a clue as to what will be the central conflict of this film, set thirty years after Return of the Jedi.
We did already know that Adam Driver had been cast, and it's still safe to say he's playing a villain. Returning from the previous trilogy: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker. Again, nothing surprising, but it's a relief to finally have photographic confirmation. Many have noted, though, that Billy Dee Williams is not in this photo or in the announcement, which is a bit of a disappointment.
This doesn't mean Lando Calrissian couldn't have a cameo, and to be fair, the plot expectations are that Star Wars movies focus on the Skywalker family. Of course, we're also assuming that means Han Solo and Leia Skywalker did get married after all, though proof of that has been eliminated with the Expanded Universe.
 In addition to Driver, the new principal actors are John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow. Boyega has been rumored for some time, and completely deserves the stardom this is going to bring. Check out his turn in Attack the Block.
Of course Isaac and Serkis are fairly well known, with the big question being will Serkis actually be a human or some creature created through motion capture?
Probably the biggest question mark is Ridley, an actor closest to what Abrams and Disney had previously said they wanted to do -- find unknowns. She has a few television and film credits, but really along the lines of what the original big three had before Star Wars launched them into fame.
The choice of Von Sydow sounds fun, because it would have been both too obvious and too unlikely that either Sir Ian McKellen or Sir Patrick Stewart would have come onboard. We have so few of these grand operatic older actors left. Time to develop some new ones!
With all this casting excitement, criticism has already come that Ridley and Fisher seem to be the only lead female roles -- and so, in the last few hours, The Hollywood Reporter claims that an inside source says they're not done. There's still one major female role to be cast, and it's "...a mixed-race in her twenties."
That's good to hear, but it also brings up the question: why make this huge casting announcement, release a photo of the supposed table read, get criticism, and then say you have one major role to cast?
Star Wars Episode VII has begun filming and is still aiming at a release date of December 18, 2015. However, Disney has hinted that after this one, they will look to restore the traditional late May release pattern.
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