Why Do Fans Want to See the Original Cast in the New Star Wars?

“Lenoard Nimoy was in his late 1970s”Awesome. 

I don’t think Disney had much control over Avengers. At the time they purchased Marvel the Avengers and all Marvel Studio movies preceeding were in a contracted collaboration with Paramount. Look for Disney’s influence in all future Marvel movies.

We want to see the core cast return, because that’s what’s supposed to happen in the storyline that George created back in the days of the original trilogy. It’s the real continuation of Star Wars, and then Luke is supposed to hand down the sword to the next new hope in the next trilogy – 10-12.

If they just start making up new shit for the sake of making money, it’s no longer star wars. the original creative impetus behind the whole project and the storyline george wrote and has carried in his head for 40 years, nurtured and altered, edited, re-written, etc. is what needs to be done… once that story is completed, they have to stop the series in my opinion, as anything beyond that will just be a corporation looking to profit from something they now own – there won’t be a creative impetus anymore, there won’t be any creative drive, an emotional desire to finish the story, that george is carrying around… 

I’m trying to make sense of your second paragraph and still not sure what you are saying. Are you saying that the actors would or would not be interested in appearing? You say that they should not be interested because it would be a step back to the mainstream, but that’s a good reason to WANT to appear. And then your comments on Ford confuse the whole thing. I still don’t get that second paragraph.

Nonetheless, i would suspect that Mark Hamill, at least, might be interested in appearing and would have the potential to have a logical and important role. After all, he would have been the Yoda-like teacher of whatever Jedis follow. He should be there.

It’s so easy to ditch on older actors, just like old people in general. Regardless of where their careers went (or didn’t go) post ROTJ, Mark Hamill is Luke, just as Carrie is Leia & Harrison is Solo. Don’t put them down just because they have aged! It wouldn’t be nice to talk about yourself in 20-30-40 years time would it ?
My point is simple and I’ll use my fave rock band as an example. KISS to me are Paul, Gene, Ace & Peter however some new guys are now trying to be Ace & Peter. The characters are synonymous with the people that gave them their energy & personalities in the first place. NO recast for me, it’s either keep them in the story & bring back the BIG 3, or don’t have them in the story at all (& maybe use references to what happened to them)

While I don’t want to see 70-something year-old Ford and 60-something Fisher and Hamill center stage, what Star Trek DID show is that we not only don’t mind seeing an older character in the film played by the original actor, but that we can be excited that he has an important role in the film.  I think giving the original trilogy actors the Leonard Nimoy level of presence in the new films feels about right.

The two things I don’t get are people wanting the original cast to the be the stars of the new films, for many of the reasons mentioned in the article.  They are old.  No one under the age of fifty would be interested in watching the Star Wars version of “RED”.  We want heroes that can run and jump and do exciting, action-y things, without having to resort to digital head replacement technology. 

The other thing I don’t get is the desire to reboot the series.  That ain’t gonna happen and would be a stupid idea.  Star Wars doesn’t need rebooting.  We don’t need to see the Death Star blown up again with a cast made up of Disney Channel graduates.  Continuation is just fine, so long as it’s a brand new story where the new characters can truly be the stars of the films.  The books and comics have shown that you CAN tell stories in the Star Wars universe that don’t involve characters named Skywalker or Solo.

And it definitely doesn’t need a reboot along the lines of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek.  No need to just recast it and continue the stories of the younger characters.

Star Wars books and comics (some of them, anyway) have proven that there are limitless numbers and types of stories that can be told in this universe.  The universe itself should be the main character.  I don’t want any adaptations of the comics or books, no matter how much I revere the Timothy Zahn books.  I want new stories where I don’t know the ending before I walk into the theater.  (now, as a Star Wars fan, I know that’s going to be impossible anyway, because I’ll know every detail of the new film long before the film comes out, but that’s beside the point).  
While I don’t want adaptations of Expanded Universe stories, I DO hope they leave much of that info in there and use them as background for the new series.  People are worried that new fans will be too confused if there are any references to things that weren’t in the movies, but I counter that by pointing out how many tidbits of info were dropped in the first film that weren’t explained for years or decades.  ”I fought beside your father in the Clone Wars.” We didn’t need to know all the details of the Clone Wars to enjoy Star Wars, just like we won’t need to know the details of “He’s never been the same since the Yuzhuun Vong War” to understand the intent behind a line like that.  It’s only a bonus in this era that there IS a source where we can read about it, unlike the Clone Wars back in 1977.  One throwaway line like that in the new movies will make the entire New Jedi Order series of books must-reads (and more importantly to Disney, must-BUYS). 

Okay, I’ve said enough.

No, they really won’t be. Sorry. 

Nah, he’ll look fine for the film. 

Who are we kidding? The original cast will return. The Star Wars money machine is an investment, and having them in the film is good for the numbers. All we ask is for a “stellar” script!

If the original cast are used id prefer it being briefly via holocron that establishes some sort of link to the previous 6 films whilst leaving the whole thing open to reinvention. 

 And that reason is he’s been too busy doings loads and loads of voice work, most famously the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and several other series.

Ford looks like he could barely walk in Indy 4. (Tho he might have just been sore from being raped by Spielberg & Lucas.) Hamill is wildly out of shape and looks even older than Ford. Fisher could win a Rosie O’Donnell lookalike contest. If she lost a little weight first.

Unless their characters are supposed to be closer to 100 years old during the new trilogy, there’s no way they could ever do an action movie like this. 

Graeme stop writing and just do what it is you’re good at. Sucking dicks that is..

IF they were to go to the legacy era… that would be cool.

But from a marketing standpoint– it would tick people off.

it wouldnt make sense to call it episode 7 if it did not be a direct continuation of the skywalker clan… you need the core cast for episode 7…. not 8 or 9 though.

obviously it will star the children ( or grand children)  but you CANT do anything set more than 30 yrs……  not if its EPISODE 7….

You CAN do an OLD republic or LEGACY movie though… however that would be a spinoff ( like Wolverine Origins was to Xmen)

I think they HAVE to have the next one with as many of the original cast as possible. We need the prequels so thoroughly scoured from our brain that only the images of the cast we liked, aged or no, can do that. 

THAT’S how much we were scarred by that last trilogy.

It almost seems  the worst pictures of these actors were selected for this article. Anyway, to me the prequels were missing the ‘magic’ and harmony these characters/actors brought to the original trilogy. With access to the best physical trainers and cooks that money can buy, I have no doubt that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher can get in great shape for these movies and start to resemble the characters they once played, if an in older way. I’m not really interested in these movies without them. And I believe if you have a talented screenwriter and director, they can make this work.

Why would fans want fondly remembered familiar faces reprising their fan-favorite roles in sequels that apparently demand the characters’ return? Why, indeed. Let’s just get Hayden Christensen reprising the role of Anakin Skywalker’s ghost and get rid of everyone else.

Remember, when they take pictures of actors outside the makeup studio, it’s never going to be the same as it would if they had makeup and costuming and good lighting, etc.  There’s no reason these characters can’t return to Star Wars and be in the roles of elders.  Give them important parts but start the new characters off with a chance to have the baton/torch passed to them.  Look at Sir Alec Guiness as Obi Wan and imagine Luke in that kind of role and you are there.

fair enough.

Two words: Tron Legacy. Just create slightly younger, more screen-accurate CG versions of Luke, Han, and Leia and have the actual actors voice-over – a la Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy. Disney obviously has the tech in-house now. No brainer.I think they made Clu look so seamless in TL that they could definitely do it again, and better, to pull off the connection between EPVI and EPVII – regardless of how many years have past between the movies.

I’m a huge star wars fan, I never gave up on it even after episode 1 but I loathe the idea of bringing back the original cast.

As long as it is written well, anything can work.