Casting may not be done yet and the script hasn’t been finalized but it sounds like shooting is already underway for the next chapter in the Star Wars saga. Disney Studios Chairman, Alan Horn, says that filming has begun on Star Wars: Episode VII.

Spoiler Warning: If you don’t want to know what’s being reported about Star Wars: Episode VII, give this post a skip.

In an interview last week, Horn told The Hollywood Reporter that filming had begun on Episode VII but there were still some issues getting the script and screenplay right and some roles had not been cast. Rumours suggest that director J.J. Abrams has interviewed half of Hollywood for roles in Episode VII. The script has undergone major changes since the first draft by Michael Arndt. Since then , Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan took over the script and have overhauled it to put the emphasis on Luke, Han and Leia.

Speaking of them, only Carrie Fisher seems to have confirmed any involvement in Episode VII but one would imagine that Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford aren’t too busy to return to the roles that made them rich and famous. Peter Mayhew is going to return as Chewbacca which is going to retcon some of the Expanded Universe despite George Lucas’s involvement in that. Kenny Baker will also be back as R2-D2.

As for the casting of new roles, everyone from Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons to … Zac Efron… has been interviewed for a role. J.J., you know that the Bieber/Gomez/Efron picture as young members of the original cast was only a joke and not something that you should take seriously, right?

Currently, shooting is scheduled to take place at Pinewood Studios in London. Another Hollywood Reporter report says that a Tattooine set is being recreated in a “Morocco-like environment.” I don’t know if that mean Morocco or near by but it’s definitely not in Tunisia, the original home of Tattooine.

After looking like it was going to be a movie about the future of the Star Wars universe, it’s looking more and more like Abrams wants Episode VI.5. There’s nothing wrong with that as a bridge but if he wants three movies of retreading old ground, people are going to get bored with that quickly. Something that feels vintage without being a retread might sound contradictory but Abrams has to do that to win everyone over.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, E!

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