Dominic Monaghan, one of the cast members on Abrams' TV show 'Lost', explains the director's decision to avoid casting big names for the main characters.
- April 1, 2014
AceShowbiz -
There have been countless casting rumors regarding "Star Wars Episode 7", and some of them involve some pretty big names in Hollywood. While there is no official word from both J.J. Abrams and Disney, a statement from "Lost" star Dominic Monaghan might help clear things up.
"We talked about it a few times. Once I knew that he was doing 'Star Wars' I sent him a little congratulatory message and stuff," he told DweebCast. "We've talked a few times about it and he said 'We're putting together a cast of essentially unknowns. We want to follow the '77 'New Hope' cast'."
He added, "Because obviously Harrison Ford wasn't well known at that point, Mark Hamill wasn't and Carrie Fisher wasn't either. What he said was, 'We don't want to fall into that mistake of people going 'Oh it's that guy from that thing!' and then you're completely out of the 'Star Wars' universe.' "
The new "Star Wars" is due on December 18, 2015, and will begin filming in May in London. The original trio is expected to reprise their roles, with new faces added to the ensemble. Lupita Nyong'o is hotly tipped to play a major role and Adam Driver is rumored to play the main baddie.
The rumored candidates for the new male lead, meanwhile, are Ed Speleers ("Downton Abbey"), John Boyega ("Attack the Block"), Jesse Plemons ("Breaking Bad"), and two theater actors Matthew James Thomas as well as Ray Fisher.
