Abrams was tapped to direct “Star Wars: Episode VII” back in January; Kasdan, of course, has a long history with Lucasfilm, as a screenwriter on “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi.”
“I am very excited about the story we have in place and thrilled to have Larry and J.J. working on the script,” Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement posted on StarWars.com. “There are very few people who fundamentally understand the way a ‘Star Wars’ story works like Larry, and it is nothing short of incredible to have him even more deeply involved in its return to the big screen. J.J. of course is an incredible storyteller in his own right. Michael Arndt has done a terrific job bringing us to this point and we have an amazing filmmaking and design team in place already prepping for production.”
Arndt (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Toy Story 3″) had been announced as the original screenwriter for “Episode VII” last November, shortly after word surfaced that he had written a lengthy treatment for a trilogy of new “Star Wars” films.
In addition to the three new episodes that begin with “Episode VII,” Disney, which acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion last year, has plans to explore the galaxy far, far away with two standalone “Star Wars” movies, penned by Kasdan and prolific writer/producer Simon Kinberg (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “X-Men: The Last Stand” “X-Men: Days of Future Past”).
“I think what worked so well in all of the ‘Star Wars’ movies is the characters,” Kinberg said in an interview with Hero Complex. “I think the reason that they’re different than other science fiction or other genre movies is because George [Lucas] created a universe of people that you wanted to go back and see over and over again, and that’s why it’s spanned and spawned so many different mediums, so many different generations, every different language.”
Shooting on “Episode VII” is scheduled to begin in the spring at Pinewood Studios, with the movie set for a 2015 release.
Abrams and Bryan Burk are producing, with Tommy Harper and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers.
John Williams is returning to the “Star Wars” universe to write the score.
