Last March, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated, "There will be some very familiar faces along with a trio of new young leads [in the upcoming 'Star Wars: Episode VII']."
That first familiar face has apparently been confirmed. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Peter Mayhew will be back as Chewbacca in the seventh installment of the franchise.
This essentially confirms the involvement Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford in the upcoming film. While there has been no official confirmation of their involvement, rumors have swirled about the three being involved in the film for the last year since the film was officially announced. Fisher has been the most vocal of the trio regarding her involvement in the film while Ford has resisted making any comments on the subject.
We know the film will be set 30 years after "Return of the Jedi," but the exact story of the "Episode VII" has yet to be released. There will be three new characters added to the franchise that are expected to take over the series moving forward. Recent reports have indicated that "Episode VII" will be a final hoorah for the main trio from "Episodes IV" through "VI"; they will essentially pass the torch to the younger generation in this film.
This setup actually fits well with the first two trilogies of the franchise. While Luke Skywalker was the hero in "Episode IV," he was in the shadow of Obi-wan Kenobi and the two droids C3PO and R2D2 for most of the movie. Eventually, Obi-wan was killed off by Darth Vader and it was up to him to take control of his destiny.
"Episode I" was a bit sloppier in its setup, but the main character of that film was Qui-Gon Jinn. He found Anakin and trained Obi-wan before getting killed off in the climactic showdown. His departure from the franchise placed the responsibility of Anakin's development in Obi-wan's hands and the relationship between the two would take center stage in the final two films of that trilogy.
Will director J.J. Abrams take a similar approach in this series? While it might seem like overkill to get rid of the three major characters in the upcoming film, it is highly likely that at least one of them will meet his/her demise at some point in the film. An obvious choice would be Luke as he is the presumed leader of the Jedi order, and like Obi-wan and Qui-gon before him, his death would give another Jedi the opportunity to take over the leadership of the Jedi Order.
Of course, Han Solo might be an even more obvious choice. Ford has not shown much enthusiasm for making a return (unlike Fisher and Hamill) and it might be an easy way to set him free from the series for good. Franchise creator George Lucas reportedly wanted to kill of Han in the "Episode VI" but ultimately rejected the notion; Ford was apparently in favor of that choice and he might still want to be killed off in this installment.
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