Without revealing, well, anything else about the upcoming sequel to Return of the Jedi, director-to-be J.J. Abrams did inform the audience at the Produced By Conference that the newest installment to the Star Wars saga–again, none of that prequel nonsense–will begin shooting in 2014. Fresh off the successful Star Trek Into Darkness, it’s easy to see Abrams is eager to start filming his vision of the universe created by George Lucas.
During his speaking engagement, Abrams said, “I think that the thing is so big and so massive to so many people that the key to moving forward is honoring but not revering what went before.” That, however, was about all the he was willing to say about Episode VII. It should be noted that Abrams will be the fourth director who is allowed to play in Lucas’ universe. Aside from Empire Strikes Back and the aforementioned Return, the other five installments were directed, for better or worse, by Lucas himself. Furthermore, this will be the first Star Wars movie that does not have a Lucas-penned story driving the action. While he did retain some level of input when he sold the franchise to Disney, the newest Star Wars movie is being written by Michael Arndt, who is known for his Toy Story 3, Brave, and Little Miss Sunshine (among others) writing/screenplay fame.
The next episode will be shot in London, which, according to Abrams, was decided before he was brought on to direct. For those of you looking for clues concerning the direction the new Star Wars will be going in, they are still incredible sparse and composed primarily of rumors. So far, there have been no official casting announcements, regardless of what members of the original cast says.