Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (J.J. Abrams, 2019)

[Big Ben]

An absolutely safe choice and one I'm glad they made. I just can't imagine them trying to make it anymore difficult for themselves.

[mfunk9786]

Looking forward to the studio firing Abrams and replacing him with Morten Tyldum

[bearcuborg]

Obviously this isn't the last trilogy, but given what little I know about JJ, hopefully this leaves room for an open ending-Jedi always felt rushed.

[Brian C]

Looking forward to the studio firing Abrams and replacing him with Morten Tyldum

If that doesn't work out, Oscar-nominated prestige director Scott Hicks is probably available!

[domino harvey]

Keri Russell has joined Episode IX

[DarkImbecile]

Another woman?! If she’s not in a slave costume and/or related to one of the central characters from Episode IV, my childhood will be ruined.

[Mr Sausage]

Keri Russell has joined Episode IX

I guess this’ll be the most excited Andre Jurieu’s ever been for a Star Wars movie.

[domino harvey]

Billy Dee Williams will also return for Episode IX

[MoonlitKnight]

Billy Dee Williams will also return for Episode IX

Probably the least surprising casting news in a while.

[domino harvey]

Great contribution, I was worried you might have something positive to say for a change

[McCrutchy]

To be honest, I was shocked Billy Dee Williams wasn't lined up to reprise the role in some way for Solo, but this news fits the formula of what the Disney/Lucasfilm team have been trying to do with all of these films. Williams as Lando is virtually the last vestige of original trilogy nostalgia that they can wring out, and while I don't think they ever planned to go there, I suspect that Carrie Fisher's death, along with certain issues in The Last Jedi, forced them to turn to the character/actor.

Of course, Williams, seemingly in average health at 80-82 in 2018/19, is even older than the seemingly quite fit 71-73 that Harrison Ford was in 2014/15, so I can't imagine he'll have a very complex or action-oriented role. But I expect the main reason he's been cast in the film is simply so they can say he's in it, and use him in the trailers and promotional materials.

[MoonlitKnight]

Great contribution, I was worried you might have something positive to say for a change

The snark is strong in this one, as usual.

To be honest, I was shocked Billy Dee Williams wasn't lined up to reprise the role in some way for Solo, but this news fits the formula of what the Disney/Lucasfilm team have been trying to do with all of these films. Williams as Lando is virtually the last vestige of original trilogy nostalgia that they can wring out, and while I don't think they ever planned to go there, I suspect that Carrie Fisher's death, along with certain issues in The Last Jedi, forced them to turn to the character/actor.

Indeed, with the combination of Fisher's death (will they simply have Leia die off-screen, or will they recast her?), Hamill's passive-aggressiveness toward the direction the series is going, and how much TLJ alienated people on its own, they've undoubtedly been forced to play the one remaining ace up their sleeve. Just goes to show you should really have an actual plan for the overall narrative in place from day one - that EVERYONE agrees to follow - for a continuous, sprawling franchise like this one. Of course, they already initially had that with Lucas' actual VII-IX storyline (a faithful adaptation of which, I'm pretty sure, was all most fans wanted in the first place -- which is what makes this all so frustrating), but chose to throw most of it out and replace it with what felt more like glorified fan fictions from each subsequent director rather than trying to thematically fit in with Lucas' vision carried over from the first 6 installments.

[nitin]

Right, because from what we have heard about Lucas’ plans for VII-IX, everyone was clamouring for that.

Also there is zero chance of Leia’s role being recast. If that happened, the world would end/childhoods would be ruined well before the film even gets released.

[MoonlitKnight]

As with the prequels, the employ of a proper screenwriter and/or director would've almost certainly been able to make said ideas work. I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[JamesF]

Hamill's passive-aggressiveness toward the direction the series is going

This is demonstrably nonsense - Hamill has championed TLJ non-stop since its release and repeatedly disavowed his earlier ambivalence to Johnson's take on Luke. Plus there is absolutely no way he won't be back as a Force Ghost for likely a hefty chunk of the narrative.

Given Williams' present shape, Lando's role will likely be confined to showing up at Leia's funeral at the start of the film, sitting in the cockpit of the Falcon briefly and giving Rey and Finn a piece of the puzzle they need to kick the plot off. I certainly doubt they'd kill Lando off given the potential optics for a) killing off another beloved character, though I doubt that was the original intention with Leia and b) especially an elderly African-American.

[bearcuborg]

If you close your eyes, Joely Fisher sounds just like Carrie. I’m not sure what they could do with that-but it would be a hard sell to recast her part. Apart from Rian’s brilliant idea with Leia in space, he really didn’t do her character any favors in TLJ-but JJ & co hit TFA out of the park-so I have a lot of confidence in them to close out this trilogy.

[Big Ben]

, Hamill's passive-aggressiveness toward the direction the series is going,

Hamill regularly hangs out with Rian Johnson and there's photo evidence on Twitter. Not only this he's defended plot points, including the stuff like sucking on that monsters tit. He may not have liked where things went initially but he's more than embraced it online. Unless there's some secret I'm missing regularly defending and talking to people you supposedly dislike is not the way to do it. If anything Mark appears to be reveling in his place in the spotlight again all while championing the young women who have been harassed online for months.

[R0lf]

Obvs Leia should be recast with esteemed character actress Margo Martindale.

[tenia]

His claim about the milk alien wasn't really positive. He said he regretted his reaction to Han's death being cut this way :
"They had time to show me milk that big alien but to show any human emotion ? Nah, we don't have time for that. But again, not my call !"

[black&huge]

It looked like to me as Hamill's criticisms became more vocal at the time Disney told him to shut up so he changed gears instantly. Whatever was happening he just sounded like another whiny fanboy so props to Johnson for persuading him to do something different.

[Kirkinson]

I think Hamill just has a very sardonic and crotchety sense of humor and that has lead to a proliferation of (primarily) YouTubers spinning hours and hours of conspiratorial content out of hyper-literal interpretations of comments where he's clearly not being totally serious.

(That said, as much as I truly adore The Last Jedi, I kind of agree about screen time for milking vs. screen time for mourning Han!)

[All the Best People]

Rian Johnson did contemplate bringing back Lando for the character that eventually became the Benicio del Toro self-parody character, but decided he needed someone truly amoral to effectuate Finn's arc toward being committed to the cause.

[McCrutchy]

Filming will begin for Episode IX on Wednesday, with Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams and Mark Hamill all set to appear. Carrie Fisher will also appear using "previously unseen footage" filmed for The Force Awakens.

[Big Ben]

I was wondering how they were going to deal with Fisher's death and well, there it is. I imagine we'll have an angry mob raging about something regardless.

[bearcuborg]

Richard E Grant never disappoints, but I didn’t notice Andy Serkis in the list-so much for my idea that Snoke’s story was far from over.