By: Dominic Jones
Devin Faraci over at BadAss Digest is back with more potential details about Episode VII, this time regarding the role Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie will play. Keep in mind that these are just rumors and could very well turn out to be false, but if you don't want to risk knowing anything about the movie this is your official SPOILER ALERT! If you are trying to remain spoiler free, stop reading now.
First off, Faraci reports that Gwendoline Christie is playing an imperial officer and Boyega is playing a stormtrooper who has deserted the empire. Apparently, Christie was Boyega's commanding officer and is after him for deserting. He also reports that the sand planet in Episode VII is not Tatooine (sorry, but I don't buy that part for a second).
What's also interesting is that, Faraci reports, that Christie's role was originally to be played by a man in the draft of the film written by Michael Arndt, but was gender swapped was Lawrence Kasdan and JJ Abrams took over script writing duties. This also happened late in the game, because Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness, #CumberWatch) was in talks to play this part before the decision was made to make the role a female.
While I'm sad that Cumberbatch (a favourite of ours here at The SWU) won't be in the film, I do think it was a very cool and progressive move by Abrams and co. to gender swap the role. Between Daisey Ridley, Gwendoline Christie, Lupita Nyong'o, Crystal Clarke, and Carrie Fisher, Episode VII already has more significant female roles than any prior Star Wars film. I feel this is a great thing, as it is more reflective of Star Wars fandom. Besides, between Episodes VIII and IX as well as all the spin off films, Cumberbatch has many more chances to be in a Star Wars film in the coming decades. #Cumberwatch lives on! (If you don't know what #Cumberwatch is, you need to start listening to the SWU Podcast!)
As for Boyega playing a deserter stromtrooper and Christie playing an officer, I think that's a cool concept for a sub plot. It creates a lot of potential for drama between heroes over whether or not to trust this guy. Plus it gives him a very interesting back story that could be explored in other media....
As always, this is just a rumor until confirmed or denied by Lucasfilm or Disney.
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