'Star Wars' Cast News: Producers Confirm That There Will Be No Jar Jar Binks In 'The Force Awakens'
It's official: the seventh "Star Wars" episode won't be featuring the bumbling amphibious character known as Jar Jar Binks, who was voted the most annoying movie character of all time in a 2006 poll. It won't have the furry Ewoks either.
At a "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" press conference on Sunday, where director J.J. Abrams, producer Kathleen Kennedy, and the film's cast held a panel discussion with hundreds of members of the media, Abrams asked fans who will be seeing the movie at its release to keep from revealing the plot to those who have not seen it. "I ask all of you, when you do see the movie, that we maintain some level of surprise," he said.
But there was one element of the film that he did not hesitate to spoil: "There are not Ewoks in this film," Abrams said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
THR also writes that later in the event, "The Force Awakens" co-producer and Lucasfilm president Kennedy told panel discussion moderator Mindy Kaling, "Jar Jar is definitely not in the movie."
This bit of news has delighted some of the "Star Wars" fans, who are relieved to find out that they will neither have to deal with the squealing voice of the sometimes exasperating Jar Jar Binks, the most hated character in the entire series, nor have to lay their eyes on the Ewoks, the teddy bearish inhabitants of the forest moon of Endor from 1983's "Return of the Jedi."
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will bring together some of the most cherished characters from the first six films, including Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), with a bunch of fresh faces: Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), and Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong'o).
"The Force Awakens" is slated for release in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on Dec. 18.