Latest press release from Disney gives first hint at timeline for ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’

There’s been little known about the plot of the latest installment of the Star Wars films series since a new trilogy was announced.

Well, as of today we still don’t know much, but we at least know the timing of the film. On a post on StarWars.com announcing that the production will start in May, Disney and Lucasfilm have also revealed that Star Wars: Episode VII will take place 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and that it will “star a trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces.” That sure seems to confirm the widely accepted knowledge that Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill will be reprising their roles, but that the main action of the story will feature a new trio (thought to be two “good guys” and one “bad guy” – with Adam Driver (Girls) in talks to take on that evil role).

So yeah, it’s not a lot of information, but it’s still good to get the confirmation.

It still remains to be seen if J.J. Abrams can capture the magic of the original series, or if this will just be another cash cow with little substance as the prequels were. Only time will tell, but it’s hard to have much hope when Disney are vowing to release a Star Wars related film every year starting in 2015. They may own Marvel (who have been so successful creating a universe with a diverse set of characters that allow for several films to be released a year without overkill), but they don’t seem to be learning any more from them than Sony (who own Spider-Man and will be giving us a Spider-Man themed film every year for the foreseeable future), Fox (ditto Sony, only this time with X-Men or Fantastic Four), or Warner Bros. (who are making such a mess of the DC characters it makes one happy to be a Marvel fan) are.

Star Wars: Episode VII is due for release on December 18, 2015.