'Star Wars 7' Will Be Set 30 Years After 'Return of the Jedi'

For better or for worse, Star Wars Episode 7 is coming. We know very little about the movie's actual plot, but now, for the first time, information is starting to trickle out.
It was announced that the new film will take place thirty years after Return of the Jedi, the last film in the original Star Wars trilogy, also known as Episode 6. The movie will also "star a trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces."

That last reference there is likely a nod towards a rumor that has been floating around for months: that the stars of the original series, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, could return to reprise their roles as Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker. Return of the Jedi was released in 1983, just over 30 years ago, so the actors would have ages just about perfectly.

As for the new leads, the rumors are more ambiguous there. One popular rumor says that Girls star Adam Driver could play the villain, and there was even a rumor that Benedict Cumberbatch could be he film's villain, though he later denied this.

A fan made poster for Star Wars 7. 

None of the casting information is official, however, so any number of things could change before the film is released on December 18, 2015.

Questions have arisen as to how the new film trilogy will fit into the Star Wars Expanded Universe Canon. The Expanded Universe is made up of over 90 novels and dozens upon dozens of comic books, and it chronicles events in the Star Wars universe from 37,000 years before the films, to just over 100 years after.

The period from 25 to 37 years after Return of the Jedi is known as the "The New Jedi Order" period, described as:

"With the Jedi Knights now over one hundred strong the New Republic has signed a peace treaty with the remains of the Empire. The galaxy is finally enjoying a peaceful respite from decades of war. It's in this era that a horrible alien menace invades the Republic from beyond known space. The Yuuzhan Vong lay waste to entire worlds in their scourge. The mysterious Killik encroach upon Chiss-controlled space, inciting a three-way war between the Chiss, the Killik Hive, and the Galactic Alliance, with Jedi falling in on all sides.

The "30 years" time period puts this movie in possible conflict with the "New Jedi Order" novel series, which includes 19 books and takes place 21-26 years after Jedi, and the Dark Nest novel trilogy, which takes place about 31-32 years after Jedi. 

It remains to be seen how Disney will handle the Expanded Universe canon, but it is worth noting that Lucasarts said that Episode 7 will be "an original story," so it's possible that the new trilogy will completely ignore Expansed Universe lore.

Episode 7 is set to begin shooting this May at Pinewood Studios in London. Like the previous six films, it will be shot on film, rather than digital, as is the industry norm these days. The film will be directed by JJ Abrams and written by JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan (who was also one of the writers for Episode 5). Composer John Williams, who scored Jaws, Indiana Jones, ET, and all previous Star Wars movies, will also be back to score Episode 7.