"Star Wars" fans flocked to this year's D23 Expo with hopes that they would learn some new information about the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII." Fans speculated that Disney would finally announce which actors will be returning to a galaxy far, far away.
Instead fans booed the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Alan Horn, for revealing absolutely nothing about the upcoming film to be directed by J.J. Abrams. Horn did speak fondly about his first experience with "Star Wars," according to Moviefone.
"I remember being blown away by the film in 1977," Horn said. "After watching it I was driving home and a policeman pulled me over. He said, 'Why are you going 80-miles-per-hour down Wilshire Boulevard?' And I said, 'I have to get to lightspeed.'"
While there were hints about some upcoming "Star Wars" based theme park rides, which we reported on last week, no concrete details were given. In the end, "Star Wars" fans who attended the D23 Expo left empty-handed.
Scott Mendelson of Forbes wrote that it might be a good thing that nothing was revealed about the new movie. So much information gets leaked about movies before the release date of movies these days that it might be nice to actually be a little bit surprised when heading to the theaters, if that's what Disney is intending.
"Here's hoping that this weekend's wall of silence was not a momentary fluke or a symptom of development hell, but rather a conscientious decision to hold back any real details for as long as possible," Mendelson wrote.
The one bit of casting news that has been released through unofficial channels is that it looks like Ian McDiarmid is set to return as Emperor Palpatine. The fan site Jedi News says that they have heard form a source that McDiarmid will be returning.
"The specifics of the role are unclear, but it seems likely that McDiarmid will be returning to his signature role of Palpatine," Jedi News wrote. "Whether as the original or a clone of, we are yet to discern."
The last time we saw Emperor Palpatine Darth Vader was throwing him down a seemingly endless abyss on the Death Star. Even if he survived the fall the Death Star only survived about 10 more minutes. That didn't seem like the kind of incident one would just walk away from, Sith lord or not.
