How to Best Utilize the Original Cast in the Upcoming Star Wars film

Some interesting news coming from the Star Wars production team over the weekend.  According to Borys Kit's recent update from The Hollywood Reporter, the script for the upcoming Star Wars film is going through rewrites to tighten the stories focus on a few familiar characters.

What follows is an excerpt from the report which, obviously, you should take with a grain of salt:

According to multiple insiders, the reason for the parting of ways was not due to a timeframe issue, as has been reported, but rather due to a difference of opinion of which characters to emphasize.
Arndt is said to have focused on the offspring of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), with the original trilogy's heroes taking on supporting roles. Abrams, however, wanted Episode VII to focus on the classic trio of characters, so audiences could have one more chance to enjoy them before a fitting send-off. The new characters, the offspring, will now be in supporting roles, according to these sources, and take center stage in Episode VIII and IX. Some characters have disappeared from the Arndt script and new ones are being added.

In my opinion, not only does it make good sense to focus this film on the original trio but it's good business. The upcoming Star Wars film is going to be one of the biggest blockbusters in sci-fi film history. Moreover, it's being directed by J.J Abrhams (one of my all-time favorite directors) who already has proven he can breathe new life into classic stories with his Star Trek series. Now he faces an even greater challenge...unparalleled possibilities and unbelievably-high expectations from the worlds most ardent troupe of groupies.



After almost forty years, the storyline of the original trilogy will be continued and the characters of those films are going to return. Fans will finally find out what the future holds for what occurred a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Of course, it may or may not be entirely foreign material, but this side-note gets a little convoluted for my mainstream agenda so if you care to know what the Story Group is up here's a link to a recent article.  Personally, I believe some stories are better left untold.

When you consider how much money the prequels made, despite being constricted to the finite chain of events necessary in order to set-up the original trilogy, it is only logical to assume that these films have the potential - nay, the responsibility - be superior by merit of their dramatic possibilities alone.  

Well, what better way to ensure success than by starting this new era off with a film that focuses heavily on the main characters of the original trilogy? They already are so popular with fans that it's totally conceivable that movie-goers would eat up a scene consisting of Han and Leia having space coffee and joking their way through five minutes of small-talk sprinkled with exterior dialouge. Sure would be a convenient way to introduce a certain son or daughter destined for great adventure. You can almost say it writes itself...and, in a way, it has been being written in the imagination of fans for generations. Even fictional characters have gotten into this sort of thing.


On that note, this thought occurred to me last night. In the original Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobis' death served as a catalyst for Luke's growth throughout the trilogy. In the same vein, one or all of these characters getting the axe - after an appropriate amount of screen time - could really get movie-goers invested in the new storyline. Last night just before sleep, well, could say it wrote itself: Han Solo is the ideal character to sacrifice himself in order to save the lives of the new characters. Moreover, I think it would be pretty cool dramatically if it's in a manner that is eerily similar to the carbonite scene with him standing heroically accepting his fate.

His final words to Leia: "I love you," to which she replies: "I know," then one final classic scoundrel's grin before he takes final heroic bow to audiences everywhere. His daughter or son watch as Luke saw Obi-Wan perish...setting up preconceptions for their role in the series while creating bloodlust for the head of the new baddie who takes him out. It is a well-known fact that Harrison Ford pushed for the characters demise to George Lucas...perhaps he will finally get his wish. Art imitates life, after all.

Back to the point - really, isn't this obvious? I mean, why wouldn't they have a large portion of this film devoted to these classic characters? There is more scrutiny and attention being paid to this film before it even goes into production than most films get after decades of analysis. It even makes the upcoming Superman-Batman film seem like just another Superman. While you can argue its playing with fire to kill them use these characters to forward the plot I believe that, so long as it's done with artistic integrity and respect, there is no finer way to re-open the doors of the Star Wars universe than with one more wild ride with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo.

Thoughts?