MOVIES: Star Wars - Episode VII - Latest Plot and Casting News - best f y

More details have been released about the highly anticipated new Star Wars movie which is due for release in December 2015.

-The as-yet unnamed Episode VII will be set 30 years after 1983's Return Of The Jedi and will see the return of the robot character R2-D2.

- Directed by JJ Abrams, filming will begin at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire this May and will feature a "trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces", according to the official website.

- This has led to speculation that the stars of the original trilogy - Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) - will appear in Episode VII.

- There have also been reports that rising stars including Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o, who starred in 12 Years A Slave, and Girls actor Adam Driver were being considered for roles.

- Last month, Girls creator and actress Lena Dunham appeared to have let the cat out of the bag by revealing her co-star Driver was to play a villain in the new Star Wars film.

- In January, Fisher told a US magazine that she would be reprising her role as Princess Leia, but this has not been confirmed.

- And late last year, hundreds of hopefuls queued up to audition in the UK for two leading roles in the movie.

- The Walt Disney casting call said it was looking for people to play a girl called Rachel and a boy called Thomas.

- News of R2-D2's inclusion and when the new movie will be set were revealed by Walt Disney's chief executive officer Bob Iger.