If you thought we’d be heading into the Thanksgiving holiday without one more Star Wars rumor for the road, you’d be wrong.  Michael Arndt was recently confirmed as the screenwriter for Star Wars: Episode VII, and while everyone is busy speculating over who will or won’t direct the next installment in the franchise, it appears that Disney already has its sights set on Episodes VIII and IX.  Word on the street is that the Mouse House is looking at Empire Strikes Back screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and X-Men: First Class scribe Simon Kinberg to possibly get to work on the next two installments in the new trilogy right away.  Hit the jump for more.

[Update: Kasdan and Kinberg's involvement has been confirmed along with the news that the two will also produce.  More after the jump.]

It seems the legions of Star Wars fans weren’t the only ones caught off guard by Disney’s recent purchase of Lucasfilms; even star Mark Hamill was surprised by the news.  However, Hamill did know of the plans for a new Star Wars sequel trilogy, since he had met with George Lucas over the summer to plan for the films.  We reported earlier today that the Luke Skywalker of Star Wars Episode VII is expected to be in his 30s or 40s; with Hamill currently at 61, what role could he possibly have in the next film?  Hit the jump to see what Hamill had to say about the impending additions to the Star Wars franchise.

A tiny bit of news broke this afternoon, as it was announced that Disney was acquiring George Lucas‘ LucasFilm and a new Star Wars film is being planned for release in 2015.  Naturally, the internet went a little nuts.  There was a bit of confusion surrounding the initial news nugget, but we learned a bit more as Disney and LucasFilm started revealing the details of the deal.  Star Wars: Episode 7 will kick off a new trilogy, with LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy overseeing the franchise as the executive producer while Lucas acts as a creative consultant.

In concert with the acquisition news, Lucas and Kennedy released a video online explaining why the decision was made to sell the company to Disney and what this means for Star Wars going forward.  Hit the jump to see what they had to say.