When Disney announced in 2012 that they would be acquiring Lucasfilm, they made the monumental announcement that a new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy would be heading to theaters in the very near future. In November 2013, pre-production began with J.J. Abrams at the helm. Now, the studio has announced that the production phase is officially set to begin in May.

StarWars.com announced today that principal photography on ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ will commence in May 2014 at Pinewood Studios in London. This marks the first time that any adventure in a galaxy far, far away started shooting during the month of May. The original trilogy kicked off in March (with the exception of ‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi’, which shot in January 1982) and the prequel trilogy marked the occasion in June of 1997, 2000, and 2003.

And speaking of ‘Return of the Jedi’, the first plot details for the new film have been unveiled and we now know when ‘Episode VII’ will be set. The announcement also included some hints at the protagonists that we’ll be seeing in the first installment of the new franchise from the House of Mouse:

“It has also been confirmed that ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ is set about 30 years after the events of ‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi’, and will star a trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces. No further details on casting or plot are available at this time.”

The bit about the familiar faces should come as no surprise to anyone since we’ve learned that Carrie Fisher is meant to shoot for six month in the UK. However, as for who will play this trio of young leads, there have been a ton of rumors flying around speculating about who could land those roles. Though there are many possibilities on our heroes, recently ‘Girls’ and ‘Inside Llewn Davis’ star Adam Driver was pegged as the main antagonist. With the production date now set, all those rumors should be laid to rest very shortly.

What do you think about the latest details about ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’? Who do you think this new trio of young leads will be? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below.