With Disney and Lucasfilm choosing to remain tight-lipped about their plans for Star Wars: Episode VII at the D23 Expo, it seems the internet has taken upon itself to kick-start some Star Wars news this past week. Things got underway on Monday with a report claiming that Ian McDiarmid would be back as Emperor Palpatine in the J.J. Abrams-directed sequel, so naturally it was only a matter of time before rumour-specialists Latino Review “confirmed” the speculation and threw in a little extra, suggesting that the new movie would reveal that Palpatine also had a secret apprentice at the time of his death in Return of the Jedi (which kind of makes you wonder why he spent the second half of the movie trying to convert Luke to the Dark Side).
Well, if news of a possible returning cast member wasn’t enough for one week, Latino Review is now claiming another “exclusive”, stating that Ewan McGregor is also set to reprise the role of Obi Wan Kenobi (or rather Obi Wan Kenobi’s Force Ghost), as well as being keen on headlining his own solo movie centred around the venerable Jedi Knight. The only evidence to support this is some comments from McGregor during an interview with Digital Spy where he said he’d be happy to return “if they need me”, and considering their hasn’t been a single casting announcement yet (including the earlier scoop about Harrison Ford, which pretty much everyone was expecting from the moment Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher revealed they’d been approached), it seems a bit of a stretch to imagine that McGregor is already locked down to return. But if Latino Review is to be believed casting is already well underway anyway, with their previous reports suggesting that Leonardo DiCaprio has passed on a role and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron have all been in talks. Of course all these reports remain unconfirmed, or in the case of Gosling, flat out denied.
If you want to read more on Ewan McGregor’s alleged return for Episode VII I’d suggest heading over to Collider for their take on the story. And expect plenty more “exclusive reports” of this ilk over the coming weeks and months (Anthony Daniels to return as C3PO; Billy Dee to return as Lando; the film to begin with an opening crawl); with two years to go until the film’s release, the rumour mill is just getting started…
Originally published August 17, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
