Star Wars 7 cast at table read/Starwars.com

Straight from the Star Wars website; an amazing shot of what looks like a table read of a script and an official announcement on the cast. The photo shows Abrams and Harrison Ford conversing at center top, on the bottom left, Mark Hamill leaning forward talking with someone who looks like Anthony Daniels (C3PO), and seated next to Andy Serkis of LOTR/ Planet of the Apes fame. At the right top is Carrie Fisher chatting with one of the young cast members and to the far right, Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) scanning the script/treatment. One surprise is the casting of Max von Sydow. We’re wondering how Ming The Merciless fits in… Click the photo for a bigger look.

This announcement is truly all you’ll hear about in the next month or so;

The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

Director J.J. Abrams says, “We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

For us, one of the most important parts of this announcement is that Kasdan and Abrams are working on the script together and that John Williams will return to compose the new music.