Excited does not even begin to describe the way I feel about the upcoming Star Wars trilogy. Too long have I waited for something decent to happen to this movie franchise, but I wonder if it will be a success like the original trilogy or another gigantic flop like the prequels. Although that’s not really fair is it, I mean while the storyline was full of flaws and the script writing was dismal the actual movies themselves were very beautiful. I really enjoyed them from an artistic standpoint. Then again the same thing can be said about Avatar, and for anyone out there that actually listened to our “Pat’s Avatar Rant” podcast episode know exactly how we feel about that movie. But I grew up with Star Wars, from religiously watching the movies on a weekly basis to reading most of the non-canon fiction that was written in the Star Wars Universe. I live and breath Star Wars and regularly win at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit whenever I can find a poor sap that is willing to play against me.
There is one unfortunate problem with the Star Wars franchise as a whole, there is just so much material out there that is considered non-canon (that everyone wish was canon) that making the masses happy is next to impossible. Characters that I gave grown up to love and who seem to resurface through out most of the post Star Wars movies, sadly, will never make it to the big screen. I can understand how difficult it is going to be for writers that are working on this new project, to determine what is canon, what should be canon and what simply isn’t canon. I ask people who may be confused as to what I mean by Canon and Non-Canon to check out the following website. 
(Small picture to the right) They do pretty good job describing what I mean.
Thirty years. That is when these movies are supposed to take place after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. That’s a long time for things to happen in an unstable universe, where the Emperor has been defeated and the fate of the Empire is in flux. But it gives the writers a chance to touch back with existing characters and introduce new ones. My only concern is that the movie will spend a good portion of itself explaining what happened in the previous thirty years. I for one will not be content to a fifteen minute expiation of what happened. I was given three incredible movies depicting the struggles of the Rebel Alliance against the Empire and just because they kill the Emperor suddenly everything falls into place as they swoop in and there is this massive change throughout the galaxy. Are you kidding me? If anything there should be three movies covering those thirty years of struggling with the remains of the empire. You can not honestly tell me that there aren’t other people high up in the hierarchy of the Empire that could just step in and keep it together. Take the Thrawn series of books written by Timothy Zahn. Now that was a well developed character, and set of events that would more realistically depict what would happen after the death of the Emperor. The Empire is made up of who knows how many planets and peoples, yes there is slavery and general unrest, but they have the largest army in the galaxy. Somewhere, someone is going to take command and things are going to continue as they always have.
Sadly I am getting off topic and almost starting an unwanted rant. My main focus was to talk about rumors concerning the new movies and the actors that may or may not have parts in them. From what I can determine during my research is just about anyone famous out there has been approached at one point or another about a possible role in the next few movies. However, whether or not any of these people have actual roles is somewhat in question. The original scripts call for characters that no longer exist. Once J.J. Abrams was brought into the fold it was said that the current script was junked for a new one and characters that were offered to certain actors have been changed or removed. However, this has little effect on rumors floating around Hollywood.
Some people who haven’t been approached,
are campaigning for roles, such as Katee Sackhoff. Sackhoff voiced a Mandalorian warrior in the fourth and fifth Seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, and would be perfect in a bounty hunter role in the new movies. It’s true Star Wars need more female characters in strong roles.
Other rumors claim that one of my favorite actors, Benedict Cumberbatch, has been approached for perhaps a villain role in the new trilogy. While many people did not thing he was very good as Khan in the latest installment of the Star Trek franchise, I felt he pulled off a villain wonderfully. Then again I maybe biased because I like just about anything he has ever done. While Cumberbatch’s people have denied his involvement, Benedict himself hasn’t given a clear “Yes” or “No” when asked about it.
The rumors could go on for ages, and there is just so much that I could add that would make this article drag on and on. I will spare you that and end it here.