Lawrence Kasdan Talks ‘Star Wars: Episode 8,’ Learn Which ‘Force Awakens’ Character Will Return

Several days ago it was revealed that at least one character from The Force Awakens will return for Star Wars: Episode 8, which is being written and directed by Rian Johnson — though that’s pretty much all we know about the sequel since The Force Awakens hasn’t even hit theaters yet. According to franchise screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, we should expect something very different from Episode 8, while another major player has been confirmed to return.

First, the non-spoilery stuff: In an interview with the LA Times, Kasdan spoke a bit about the expectations for The Force Awakens as well as what we can expect for the future of Star Wars. Kasdan obviously couldn’t offer specifics, but he did have a few interesting things to say about the new trilogy as well as the young Han Solo movie, which will be the final script he writes for the franchise:

These movies will all be so different. ["Episode VIII" director] Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he’s going to make some weird thing. If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in “Star Wars.” You couldn’t have three more different people than J.J., Rian and ["Episode IX" director] Colin [Trevorrow]. Those movies will have the “Star Wars” saga as their basis, but everything else will be different. Then Phil Lord and Chris Miller are going to make the Han Solo film and I can’t guess what that will be like — and I’m writing it!

“Some weird thing” sounds pretty awesome, to be honest. Johnson is the filmmaker behind Brick and Looper, so you know he’s definitely not going to deliver a paint-by-numbers blockbuster.

And now let’s move onto what might be perceived as spoiler territory:

Last week we learned that Andy Serkis’ shadowy villain Supreme Leader Snoke will play a big, important role in the new Star Wars trilogy, but he won’t be the only bad guy returning. In the LA Times’ feature honoring the women of the franchise, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had something interesting to say about Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma:

Kennedy has big plans for Phasma and confirmed that the captain will carry on into the next movie. “She’s an important character, a baddie in the best sense of the word.”

We assume we’ll also see new heroes Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) carry over to Episode 8 and Episode 9, though so far the only actors who have been somewhat confirmed to return are Serkis and Christie.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18.

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