For months, casting rumors for the upcoming "Star Wars Episode 7" have circulated. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher have been very vocal about their desire to return to the franchise, but Harrison Ford has been quiet about his involvement in the franchise. Until now.
While in Chicago, the actor was asked by a local reporter about his involvement in the upcoming film. "I think it's almost true. I think... I'm looking forward to it. It's not in the bag yet, but I think it's happening," Ford replied.
His involvement had been rumored months ago by Latino Review reporter El Mayimbe; he made the announcement during an appearance on Fox News Latino. After El Mayimbe's announcement, series creator George Lucas confirmed their involvement during an interview with Bloomberg's business week.
"We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison -- or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, 'Look, this is what's going on," Lucas said. "Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them. I won't say whether the negotiations were successful or not."
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Episodes IV through VI, also made remarks about his involvement in the project.
"They're talking to us," Hamill said during an interview. "George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we'd be interested. He did say that if we didn't want to do it, they wouldn't cast another actor in our parts - they would write us out. ... I can tell you right away that we haven't signed any contracts. We're in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed -- on their end, not mine. They're more busy than I am."
"Star Wars Episode 7" will come out in 2015 and will be directed by J.J. Abrams.