MarketSaw (who actually broke the news that Lucasfilm had plans for the new Star Wars trilogy in the first place) are reporting on some casting updates for the J.J. Abrams directed flick, as well as providing some possible plot information. According to them not only are Ford, Hamill and Fisher locked in, but Billy Dee Williams (Lando), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and Warwick Davies (Wicket) too. As for the new faces, they reckon that long rumored cast addition Benedict Cumberbatch is in, and so is Gary Oldman - who recently confirmed that he'd had some "conversations", but never really indicated if he would take them up on the offer or not. Here's the most interesting part:
"I believe Cumberbatch and Oldman were pursued for the same role. I don't know how that will work out with the script changes, but I'm told they are both involved."
So they were initially both being looked at for the same role, but are now both on board in different ones? It'll be very interesting to see how (and if) all of this shakes out. Also regarding Ford, MarketSaw reckon two more Indiana Jones features are "in the negotiation stages as per Ford's contract clause on Star Wars, which is the primary reason he didn't 'publicly' or 'privately' commit." The site also claim to have some plot details from the early version of the script, which may be retained in some form for the final movie.
"Ultimately it's about twins, and which will take a path towards darkness and which will follow in their father's footsteps, or at least that is what it used to be, that may come later as I think changes are being undertaken to bring the original cast into the forefront of the story leading to ramifications that lead up to the next generation of Skywalkers."
Thoughts? More at the link below.