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Now Lucas Confirms Hamill, Ford & Fisher Will Return to 'Star Wars'

by Ethan Anderton
March 7, 2013
Source: Bloomberg

Another day, and another news bit for Star Wars: Episode VII gets thrown around. Yesterday, most of us were "duped" again as the word from Carrie Fisher about returning as Princess Leia was yet another joke in response to a serious question. However, one man who we can trust a little bit more with knowledge of the progress on the start of the new Star Wars trilogy is George Lucas. Though he's not heavily involved, the creator of the Star Wars universe is still a consultant, mostly to provide insight to the deeper parts of the characters and worlds. Now an interview with Bloomberg Business Week has him confirming Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were essentially signed on to return before the announcement hit.

Here's what Lucas recently told Bloomberg Business Week (via The Playlist):

“We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison—or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, ‘Look, this is what’s going on.’ Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them. I won’t say whether the negotiations were successful or not."

Now while that seems like confirmation that the trio will return for Star Wars: Episode VII, it sounds like these negotiations happened before J.J. Abrams was brought on as a director. Of course, it pretty much seems to be a foregone conclusion now that Fisher, Ford and Hamill will return, especially with the latter also talking about the negotiations for the actors to return as Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. Plus, why would Lucasfilm want to make a "big whoop-de-do" announcement if those negotiations failed. It's probably time to tone down every single little confirmation and hint of Star Wars news.

As it stands, the most important thing right now is cracking the story, and that's likely what Abrams is doing with Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan with Kathleen Kennedy overseeing Lucasfilm's new empire. When Disney, Lucasfilm and Abrams decide it's time to announce casting with a simple logline, then we'll know, but until then, this project is under tight wraps with the same level of secrecy that films like Cloverfield, Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness have been given. And honestly, that's fine by me, because I'd rather be surprised than put every single detail under a microscope for two more years. What do you think?

Filed under Casting, Movie News, Star Wars

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