‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ adds Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern

Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran have joined the cast of ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’, which started filming Monday in London.
 Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis are all returning for the follow-up to ‘The Force Awakens’.
 Rian Johnson wrote and will direct the film, which continues from the events of ‘Force Awakens’. ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski.
 Disney and Lucasfilm also released a first teaser for the film (watch below). ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ is slated for release on December 15, 2017.
 ‘Force Awakens’, which was released into theaters in December, has earned $2.02 billion worldwide to date.
 Del Toro was most recently seen in Sicario, Inherent Vice and Guardians of the Galaxy. He is repped by CAA, LBI Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson.
 Dern’s credits include 99 Homes and Wild, and she recently worked on Sundance film ‘Certain Women and The Founder’ with Michael Keaton. Dern is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Gang, Tyre.
 Tran is a relative newcomer (as was Ridley when she was first hired to star in the franchise). Her credits include the Netflix indie ‘XOXO’ with Sarah Hyland and the ‘College Humor’ series, and she has recurring credits on such TV shows as NBC’s ‘About a Boy’, Amazon’s ‘Gortimer Gibbon’s Life’ on Normal Street and TruTV’s ‘Adam Ruins Everything’. Tran is repped by Talent House LA and Arc Artist Management.
Source: thr.com