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The cast of Star Wars: Episode VII will include the principal actors from the original Star Wars trilogy, according to an announcement today on the official Star Wars website.
Actors set to return to the galaxy far, far away include Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Kenny Baker (R2-D2). New actors joining the franchise in undisclosed roles include John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis (who played Gollum in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, as well as Monkey in developer Ninja Theory's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West), Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow. You can see the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII in the image above.
The movie is slated to open December 18, 2015.
"We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII," director J.J. Abrams said. "It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud."
We've reached out to Disney and Electronic Arts for comment on how this will affect upcoming games and their voice acting, and we will update this article with more information as we have it.
Lucasfilm, which was acquired by Disney in 2012, announced last week that it was rebranding Star Wars' Expanded Universe as "Legends," in a move that will make the universe "unified like never before." Star Wars Legends properties include a myriad of comics, novels, video games and more that took place in George Lucas' science fiction universe.
The news comes days before "Star Wars Day," the annual May 4 celebration named because the date bears a resemblance to the phrase, "May the Force be with you." To celebrate, BioWare's massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic will give players a droid pet and double XP.
