Move over Michael Arndt (‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire‘, ‘Oblivion‘), this is not the movie you are writing for. At least, not anymore. J.J. Abrams (‘Super 8‘, ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’) and Lawrence Kasdan (‘Empire Strikes Back’) have force choked their way into completing the current script.

As Kasdan was involved with the writing on the original trilogy,  I have no real issues with the script being handed over to him. In fact, Kathleen Kennedy who runs LucasFilm says:

“I am very excited about the story we have in place and thrilled to have Larry and J.J. working on the script. 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.”

While it’s absolutely not unheard of for scripts to go through a few hands during development, you can’t help but wonder what caused the needed changes to Arndt’s work. Kasdan was already working for LucasFilm as a consultant for the film, so he knew where the script was already when asked to take over. Most likely they just wanted the remainder to be guided by those who would be bringing Abram’s vision to light at this point.

My only hope is that they weren’t brought in so that Abrams couldn’t have the ability to add more lens flares to the film.

It’ll be interesting to see how much tribute to the original series they give. It would appear that C3PO is making a comeback with early conversations with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford all sounding like they’ll be back as well. While I don’t think they’ll be the lead characters anymore, it’ll be good to see them back on screen.

‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ is set to begin filming in UK’s Pinewood Studios in the Spring of 2014, continuing on the story that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

What are your thoughts on Abrams and Kasdan taking over? Are you glad that one of the writers of the original trilogy is helping polish the script before completion? Let us know your thoughts below!

Source: Deadline