‘Someone Who Loves You’ by James Chance

Star Wars: Episode VII rumours are like crack for the SFF community. We know they’re no good for us, we know they’ll whisper lies and false promises in our ear, but, dammit, it’s just so hard to say no. This latest round of rumours, reported on by The Hollywood Reporter, is chockfull of casting news, including: Smaug, Sherlock and Kahn himself, Benedict Cumberbatch; Chiwetel Ejiofor of 12 Years a Slave fame; and Breaking Bad star Jesse Plemons.

More on those rumours:

Never has a project attracted so much ink about meetings, but such is the passionate interest in Star Wars. Last fall, every few weeks there was a breathless reveal of a meeting, with names such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael B. Jordan, Jack O’Connell, Alex Pettyfer, Saoirse Ronan and Sullivan Stapleton coming up. And those are only the names that leaked out.

With all the actors being tossed around — including a report this week that Breaking Bad’s Jesse Plemons was meeting with director J.J. Abrams about a role — Heat Vision thought it was time to check in on Star Wars in general.

Sources confirm Plemons is on the list to chat with Abrams for Episode VII (and possibly the entire trilogy), with a meeting set to take place this week. But he is only one of a long string of actors on Abrams’ meeting list.

Additionally, there is also a rumour that “Abrams and Lucasfilm are now searching for a 20-something female actress who is either of mixed race or black. The rumor is that Obi-Wan Kenobi had a daughter or granddaughter.”

Oscar-winning writer Michael Arndt left the project in the fall of 2013, and The Hollywood Reporter says, “According to multiple insiders, the reason for the parting of ways was not due to a timeframe issue, as has been reported, but rather due to a difference of opinion of which characters to emphasize.”

Reportedly, Arndt’s script involved the children of the Luke, Leia, and Han (whether these characters were based on the existing children from the EU was unclear). “Abrams, however, wanted Episode VII to focus on the classic trio of characters,” says Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter. “So audiences could have one more chance to enjoy them before a fitting send-off. The new characters, the offspring, will now be in supporting roles, according to these sources, and take center stage in Episode VIII and IX. Some characters have disappeared from the Arndt script and new ones are being added.”

Because, you know, it’s not like there’s precedent that each of the trilogies would feature a new generation of Skywalkers or anything…