Last Saturday at the Produced By conference, J. J Abrams finally spoke about his intentions with his upcoming works on the new Star Wars. Abrams intends on moving to the U.K this year to begin working on Episode VII to work on the film that is slated to air in early 2014.
“It is so massive and so important to people,” Abrams said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I think the key to moving forward on something like this is honoring but not revering what came before.” He also oxymoronically spoke about his lack of response to questioning about the film stating, “’No comment,’ replied Abrams with a smile on his face to a question from [filmmaker-moderator Reginald] Hudlin if the new Star Wars movies would be based partially on the dozens of novels that have come out over the years bridging various unexplored aspects of the films’ characters.”
There have been many rumors saying that the film will follow the lives of the offspring of Luke Skywalker as well as Han and Leah’s children. These are based on a book franchise that tied up a lot of loose ends, although it wasn’t clear if that meant Expanded Universe creations such as Ben Skywalker, Jacen Solo, Jaina Solo and Anakin Solo or brand new characters made just for the movies. There is a lot of speculation and worry about this film. Fans are up in arms that there is involvement with Disney and that Lucas has sold the rights. This being said, I feel as though Abrams recent work has lived up to par with franchises that have an epic following. Having recently seen Star Trek: Into Darkness, I can say that there was an immense amount of homage portrayed to previous films with a great twist that left fans happy with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. The particular scene take from Wrath of Khan in which Spock was “killed” by radiation poisoning was featured in the new film with a twist that was tastefully done. With this kind of ingenuity and proper respect for the previous franchise, I feel that Abrams definitely understands what went on prior to his overtaking and wants to expand with a bowed head for the previous. For any with doubt, please take a look at Abrams last ten years and tell me that you think anyone else would be better suited for this niche who would not completely leave the ideas of the past to the side. I’ll wait for your answers while we wait for this film.