As director J.J. Abrams gears up to start production on Star Wars: Episode VII early next year, the filmmaker has presumably begun thinking about casting for the highly anticipated sequel.  A rumored casting breakdown hit the web a week ago that claimed Han and Lei’s twin children would be the protagonists of the film, but given that it read like it was written by a 14-year-old fanboy and revealed way more than typical casting breakdowns normally do, we were dubious of its validity.  Now another casting breakdown has hit the web, and this one seems much more solid.

Apparently the Star Wars casting directors have sent out a brief breakdown of the film’s lead characters to agents in the US and UK, and the list reveals that the main cast involves two teenage girls, two young men in their 20s, two middle-aged men, and another older man around age 70.  Hit the jump to read the full breakdowns and let the guessing games begin.

With production on Star Wars: Episode VII expected to begin early next year, the rumor mill is churning faster.  Casting will probably begin this fall as pre-production gears up, and now notices might be leaking out.  A major rumor has arisen stating that the protagonists of the upcoming sequel will be Han and Leia’s twin children, Jaina and Jacen Solo.  Hit the jump for why this rumor might be true and why it might be false.

I think at this point we can clearly see the appeal of Jabba the Hutt decorating his home with Han Solo’s frozen carbonite body.  The sculpture has been turned into an iPhone case, an ice tray, a desk, and other assorted objects.  But now the memorable image has reached its pinnacle by being turned into a light switch plate.  “And where does the switch go?” you may ask.  Well, I’m happy to inform you that the switch is Han Solo’s penis.  Not graphically his penis, but unmistakably and intentionally a phallic way to operate your home lighting.

Sadly, someone has already bought this item from Etsy seller WickedStudio.  If the person who bought the dick-switch ever meets Harrison Ford, he or she will have a great conversation starter.  Hit the jump to check out images of the frozen carbonite Han Solo light switch featuring his clumsy blaster.

The comedy web series Star Wars: Course of the Force kicked off today with its first episode.  The show is running in anticipation of July’s Course of the Force, which is a lightsaber relay run for charity down the California coast.  In this first episode, we get appearances from Nerdist’s Chris Hardwick and R2-D2 himself as the web series will be providing a backstory for the circumstances surrounding the Course of the Force.  The relay race benefits the Make-A-Wish foundation and runs from July 9 – 16th, beginning at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and finishing up in San Diego, just in time for Comic-Con.

Hit the jump to watch the first episode of the six-part web series.  A new episode will be released online every Wednesday through July 2nd.

The guest of honor at this weekend’s MCM London Comic-Con was filmmaker Edgar Wright, in town to talk about his new film The World’s End. Closing off his unofficial ‘Blood and Ice Cream’ trilogy that began with Shaun of the Dead and continued with Hot Fuzz, The World’s End tells the story of a group of friends determined to recreate a failed pub crawl from their teenage years. Of course, there is more to the adventure than meets the eye, as the locals are just a little unfriendly, leading the heroes on a rather more dangerous quest than they expected.

With nothing new available, we were shown the trailer before Wright took to the stage to answer questions from the packed-out crowd at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre. There may not have been anything too illuminating to share, but the panel certainly set the scene for the film, released August 23rd.  Hit the jump for the highlights.

When it comes to Star Wars: Episode VII, even the tiniest nugget of new information is considered worthwhile.  In that spirit, we now have confirmation of who will be handling all the costume designs for director J.J. Abrams’ eagerly awaited sequel.  Michael Kaplan confirmed that he will be the costume designer on Star Wars: Episode VII, reuniting with Abrams after having worked together on Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness.  Kaplan’s impressive resume also includes the 1982 classic Blade Runner, Fight Club, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.  Hit the jump for more, including Kaplan’s statement on the matter.

Hey, remember when Patton Oswalt did a guest spot on NBC’s Parks and Recreation and did an eight-minute filibuster on his pitch for Star Wars: Episode VII?  Well, it took the internets about a month to do it, but that dream is now a reality.  Animated by Isaac Moores, the eight-minute video features your favorite Star Wars characters reimagined for a contemporary audience and quite a few crossovers from the Marvel realm (now that both are owned by Disney).  If you haven’t heard Oswalt’s original speech, I won’t ruin the surprises for you here.  Hit the jump to check the short out instead.

Now that Star Trek Into Darkness has finally been released in theaters, director J.J. Abrams is free to focus the majority of his time on that other beloved franchise that he’s reviving: Star Wars.  While plot details have been (and will be) kept under firm wraps for quite some time, we do know that Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) is hard at work on the screenplay, and he was even seen with Abrams in London at the Into Darkness premiere, so it’s clear that the two are knee-deep in development on Episode VII.

With production looking to get underway in London in early 2014, Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy are likely starting to think about casting.  A recent report has now surfaced that claims Abrams has already zeroed in on one actor for the film: Jonathan Rhys Meyers.  Hit the jump for more.

Soon after Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the axe was put to the popular animated TV series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  The show was nixed because it was created before the acquisition, and aired on Cartoon Network as opposed to Disney’s kids channel, Disney XD.  But we knew a replacement wouldn’t be far behind, and now the studio has announced that production is underway on the new animated series, Star Wars Rebels.  Simon Kinberg (who also working on a Star Wars spin-off/standalone film) will executive produce and write the screenplay for the one-hour series premiere.  Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Greg Weisman (Young Justice) will also executive produce (i.e. these two will probably be the showrunners).  The series will take place during the twenty years between Episode III and Episode IV, and shows “a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape.”  If Admiral Ackbar is not a main character, then this entire series is pointless.

The series will premiere in fall 2014 on the Disney Channel before moving to Disney XD.  Hit the jump for video of Pablo Hidalgo talking with Filoni about the series.  We’ve also included the press release.

Brad Bird is currently at work on Tomorrowland, but he recently discussed a road he could take one day and a road not taken.  For the former, Bird commented on the possibility of making a sequel to The Incredibles.  Briefly, Bird says he hasn’t forgotten about the characters and that world.  The issue is how to “get ‘em to click all together.”  Bird adds that he wants to keep creative control, but he also has other projects he’s trying to work on (among them could be the historical drama, 1906).  There’s also the issue of getting Pixar on board when that studio has its next four films lined-up, and while a possible sequel to one of their movies is in development, I doubt it’s Incredibles without Bird’s involvement.

Hit the jump for his full quote and what he had to say about passing on Star Wars: Episode VII.

With Star Trek Into Darkness opening soon around the world, our partners at Omelete recently sat down with director J.J. Abrams.  During the interview, they talked about what Star Trek mean to him, where he thinks Star Trek should go next and what he’s accomplished, and more.  In addition, with Abrams preparing to direct the next Star Wars movie, he talked about who shot first, his feelings on the Star Wars prequels, and what’s his favorite Star Wars movie.  Hit the jump to watch.

Star Trek Into Darkness  stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, and Alice Eve.  The film is now playing in IMAX 3D and in 2D and 3D on May 17th.

While everyone associates Bad Robot with J.J. Abrams, he actually has a producing partner that rarely does press and usually stays out of the limelight: Bryan Burk.  If you look over his IMDb profile, you’ll see he’s tremendously involved in all Bad Robot productions and was a key component in both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness.

With the movie getting ready to premiere around the world, I recently landed an exclusive interview with the busy producer.  During our wide-ranging interview, we talked about making the sequel, the editing process, the secrecy, the title, if we’ll get Star Trek 3 in less than four years, whether a new Star Trek TV show could happen in the near future, and more.  We also talked about other Bad Robot productions like Star Wars, Mission: Impossible 5, Infinitely Polar Bear,  Person of Interest, Revolution, Alfonso Cuaron‘s pilot Believe, Karl Urban‘s pilot Almost Human, and more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

J.J. Abrams was the guest on The Daily Show last night, and lest you think that host Jon Stewart is somehow not a nerd, the conversation between the two quickly delved into a Star Wars vs. Star Trek discussion that had Stewart lambasting Abrams for saying he wasn’t a fan of Trek growing up.  It’s a pretty great (and candid) conversation, and Abrams also talks a bit about how his approach to Star Wars differs to that of Star Trek.  Moreover, the two talk briefly about Stewart’s upcoming directorial debut, Rosewater, with Abrams revealing that he provided some input on Stewart’s script for the film, which is slated to shoot this summer.  Hit the jump to watch the full interview.

Star Wars: Episode VII will follow in the footsteps of its live-action predecessors which all went through production in United Kingdom studios.  A press release from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that the J.J. Abrams-directed sequel to the original Star Wars trilogy will indeed find its home in the U.K. once again.

Hit the jump to check out the full press release.

Last month, Disney shut down video game developer LucasArts.  It was part of Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, and the studio has now decided to place Star Wars games in the hands of Electronic Arts and subsidiary developers BioWare (Star Wars: The Old Republic), DICE (Battlefield 3), and Visceral (Dead Space).  While many fans bemoaned the loss of LucasArts due to the company’s proud legacy, their recent Star Wars games—The Force Unleashed and Star Wars Kinect—were less than impressive.  That being said, EA is the “Worst Company in the World” according to Consumerist voters, and while that’s obviously an exaggeration, the company has received a bevy of criticism for multiple issues.  The press release also notes that Disney “will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.”

I expect plenty of Star Wars video games start streaming through the pipeline, but I remain skeptical regarding their quality.  Hit the jump to check out the press release.