The Cast and a Podcast

The Star Wars Episode 7 cast as announced by starwars.com on April 29

 It's been a quiet week in Star Wars world for me, after my appearance on Star Wars Bookworms to talk about the new cast and the fate of the Expanded Universe. About a week and a half after the announcement of the cast I'm still in "wait and see" mode; while I like that the cast is largely relative unknowns, I'll be more ready to engage with them when I find out the characters they'll be playing.

I also echoed Club Jade and Tosche Station in saying that the gender ratio of the cast is a bit disappointing.  For years, fans have been (successfully) pushing for female voices to be heard in fandom.

The backlash bloggers received on Twitter for voicing their disappointment was more troubling and shocking to me than the cast announcement itself. There is no reason for a movie to not be more diverse, especially in such a powerhouse franchise.

I am getting steadily more excited for the "Rebels" novel "A New Dawn," for which Del Rey posted an excerpt on their facebook page.