Game of Thrones' Brienne of Tarth Joins Cast of Star Wars VII

[roseofbattle]

Game of Thrones' Brienne of Tarth Joins Cast of Star Wars VII

Joining Gwendoline Christie is Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o of 12 Years a Slave.

Two fantastic actresses were just officially added to the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII to make the cast slightly less heavy on male characters. Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie will play unnamed roles in the next Star Wars film, directed by J.J. Abrams.

Gwendoline Christie plays the honorable Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones. Christie will also be in next year's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 as Lyme.

Lupita Nyong'o earned her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 12 Years a Slave as Patsey, her breakout role, making her the first Kenyan to win an Oscar.

"I could not be more excited about Lupita and Gwendoline joining the cast of Star Wars Episode VII," Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said. "It's thrilling to see this extraordinarily talented ensemble taking shape."

Some of the primary criticism for Star Wars Episode VII came from the lack of women in the movie. With Nyong'o and Christie joining the cast, the total of women playing characters in the new Star Wars is four. That's still only four to the men's 11, but it's progress.

Other cast members include [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134104-Star-Wars-Episode-VII-Cast-Announced] John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker. Star Wars Episode VII opens Dec. 18, 2015.

Source: Star Wars [http://starwars.com/star-wars-episode-vii-adds-academy-award-winner-lupita-nyongo-and-game-of-thrones-gwendoline-christie.html]


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[Soviet Heavy]

Ten bucks says that Lupita Nyong'o is Lando Calrissian's daughter.

 

[Rag Doll]

Better late than never I guess. Let's see if they can find something for these female characters to do.

Ten bucks says that Lupita Nyong'o is Lando Calrissian's daughter.

That seems a little premature, don't you think? I mean the Star wars universe has plenty of black characters that survived, like....
ummm.... noooo... ...no, I mean... no, damn.... I thought....

..
.
.

yeah, probably Lando's daughter.

 

[Ldude893]

Brienne of Tarth in Star Wars VII?
I think my interest for this film just jumped a notch.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Ten bucks says that Lupita Nyong'o is Lando Calrissian's daughter.

That seems a little premature, don't you think? I mean the Star wars universe has plenty of black characters that survived, like....
ummm.... noooo... ...no, I mean... no, damn.... I thought....

..
.
.

yeah, probably Lando's daughter.

Well, there was that fighter pilot in Return of the Jedi.... who died. And that other pilot in The Phantom Menace, who lived! Panaka disappeared, and who knows what happened to Typho. So, three black characters who lived and they're all from the Prequels.

 

[Buizel91]

Whey! i knew they would get more actors, especially female ones ^^

At first the news of this film was worrying, but recently it seems the news i'm hearing is pretty good ^^

 

[Callate]

Better four well-written characters who actually have something to do than a dozen who are nothing but eye candy or cannon fodder.

Christie does a fantastic job as Brienne; I hope she gets the character she deserves.

 

[shadowmagus]

Let's take some great news and turn it into a gender thing.

God I hate you people sometimes.

 

[sXeth]

Two of those 11 male characters are also genderless robots. Just thought I'd point that out.

 

[RA92]

Let's take some great news and turn it into a gender thing.

God I hate you people sometimes.

... but there is a gender thing that's worthy of discussion, namely the lack of great roles for women in mainstream blockbusters. Not sure why there's any warrant for hatred...

 

[dragonswarrior]

Aw man this is the greatest news EVER!!! Hooray for more representation in my favorite genre!!

If the movie is as good as its cast is shaping up to be then we're gonna have the sci-fi equivalent of the LOTR movies. Here's hoping...

 

[Sniper Team 4]

[

Well, there was that fighter pilot in Return of the Jedi.... who died. And that other pilot in The Phantom Menace, who lived! Panaka disappeared, and who knows what happened to Typho. So, three black characters who lived and they're all from the Prequels.

You, sir, are my hero. You are literally the only other person I have ever crossed paths with who remembers the X-Wing Pilot. I salute you!

So, I guess this is good news in terms of adding women to the film, but I'm starting to get a little worried now. This list of stars is getting really long, and I fear that all these new characters are not going to get the attention they need in order to remain relevant and interesting to the Star Wars universe.

 

[WWmelb]

Better four well-written characters who actually have something to do than a dozen who are nothing but eye candy or cannon fodder.

Christie does a fantastic job as Brienne; I hope she gets the character she deserves.

She should have been offered the role of Wonder Woman in my mind. She would be perfect for it.

But yes, anything that she is working on my interest goes up a notch. Hopefully they can find a way to make her sing in the role. God can she sing...

 

[Erttheking]

Let's take some great news and turn it into a gender thing.

God I hate you people sometimes.

A gender thing? People saying "Yay, I'm happy there's more female characters in this movie" is making it a gender thing? There's no hostility in their comments, you brought that to the table, it's positive feedback, expressing approval at the choice made...can you please tell me what the problem is? Or are we just not allowed to bring gender up ever?

 

[Erttheking]

She should have been offered the role of Wonder Woman in my mind. She would be perfect for it.

But yes, anything that she is working on my interest goes up a notch. Hopefully they can find a way to make her sing in the role. God can she sing...

I'm actually glad she isn't being cast as Wonder Woman in the upcoming Justice League movie, mainly because I've got the nagging feeling it's going to be shit. Now if someone was to make a Wonder Woman role that wasn't half assed, I'd gladly watch her in it.

 

[jaibryan]

Let's take some great news and turn it into a gender thing.

God I hate you people sometimes.

... but there is a gender thing that's worthy of discussion, namely the lack of great roles for women in mainstream blockbusters. Not sure why there's any warrant for hatred...

A gender thing? People saying "Yay, I'm happy there's more female characters in this movie" is making it a gender thing? There's no hostility in their comments, you brought that to the table, it's positive feedback, expressing approval at the choice made...can you please tell me what the problem is? Or are we just not allowed to bring gender up ever?

there is warranted hatred because this movie was slammed and called horrible because of the lack of females, not the story, character or plot. but now since there are more females, the movie will be great. no one every brings up the fact that there were only 2 actors of color announced and how we need to be more inclusive. so according to the general population, diversity only matters when it comes to gender, not race. and just so we're clear, i'm a black man and i could care less about the number of minorities in the movie. would it be nice to see more people of color in scifi/fantasy movies and tv shows? yes it would, but at the end of the day all i care about is if the movie is good. if the movie is good, i wouldn't care if the entire cast were asian mtf's.

 

[RA92]

Let's take some great news and turn it into a gender thing.

God I hate you people sometimes.

... but there is a gender thing that's worthy of discussion, namely the lack of great roles for women in mainstream blockbusters. Not sure why there's any warrant for hatred...

there is warranted hatred because this movie was slammed and called horrible because of the lack of females, not the story, character or plot. but now since there are more females, the movie will be great. no one every brings up the fact that there were only 2 actors of color announced and how we need to be more inclusive. so according to the general population, diversity only matters when it comes to gender, not race. and just so we're clear, i'm a black man and i could care less about the number of minorities in the movie. would it be nice to see more people of color in scifi/fantasy movies and tv shows? yes it would, but at the end of the day all i care about is if the movie is good. if the movie is good, i wouldn't care if the entire cast were asian mtf's.

John Boyega was one of the first actors to be cast, and has been heavily rumored to be the lead, so it's fairly progressive in regards to race. Nobody's criticizing the movie's story, character or plot because... we haven't seen the movie yet? What we have seen is the way Star Wars portray women - to be cast as girlfriends. And then there's J J Abrams, whose last movie had Uhara reduced to an unprofessional bickering love interest in the middle of a crisis and Carol Marcus being cast only for that one underwear shot. So having more actresses hinting at more diverse roles is welcome.

When people complain about a lack of diversity in terms of race or gender, they're arguing against homogenization. A study of toxic masculinity such as in True Detective actually requires male leads; a space opera set in a fictitious universe doesn't.

 

[elvor0]

And then there's J J Abrams, whose last movie had Uhara reduced to an unprofessional bickering love interest in the middle of a crisis and Carol Marcus being cast only for that one underwear shot. So having more actresses hinting at more diverse roles is welcome.

That was heartbreaking and I wouldn't even consider myself a Trekkie. Especially, I suspect for black audiences and actors whom the original Uhura is still important to, regardless of if you like Star Trek. "Highly diverse, progressive show, Uhura being a milestone in female and black representation? Nah fuck it, she can be panty shots and a whiny female."

I haven't seen Into Darkness yet, because like a lot of people, I figured out "the twist!" from the fucking trailer and the first one was naff, but I believe you when you say Marcus was in it just for that shot.

Abrams doesn't have a great track record for females, I hope Nyong'o doesn't get reduced to a bit part, I haven't seen 12 years a slave either, but considering she's the first Kenyan to win an academy award, I'm sure she's got some chops. Christie on the other hand, I can see being treated a bit better, due to GoT, she'll be wasted if she isn't played a fleshed out character. Even if it is just Brienne of Tarth as a Jedi.

 

[jaibryan]

Let's take some great news and turn it into a gender thing.

God I hate you people sometimes.

... but there is a gender thing that's worthy of discussion, namely the lack of great roles for women in mainstream blockbusters. Not sure why there's any warrant for hatred...

there is warranted hatred because this movie was slammed and called horrible because of the lack of females, not the story, character or plot. but now since there are more females, the movie will be great. no one every brings up the fact that there were only 2 actors of color announced and how we need to be more inclusive. so according to the general population, diversity only matters when it comes to gender, not race. and just so we're clear, i'm a black man and i could care less about the number of minorities in the movie. would it be nice to see more people of color in scifi/fantasy movies and tv shows? yes it would, but at the end of the day all i care about is if the movie is good. if the movie is good, i wouldn't care if the entire cast were asian mtf's.

John Boyega was one of the first actors to be cast, and has been heavily rumored to be the lead, so it's fairly progressive in regards to race. Nobody's criticizing the movie's story, character or plot because... we haven't seen the movie yet? What we have seen is the way Star Wars portray women - to be cast as girlfriends. And then there's J J Abrams, whose last movie had Uhara reduced to an unprofessional bickering love interest in the middle of a crisis and Carol Marcus being cast only for that one underwear shot. So having more actresses hinting at more diverse roles is welcome.

When people complain about a lack of diversity in terms of race or gender, they're arguing against homogenization. A study of toxic masculinity such as in True Detective actually requires male leads; a space opera set in a fictitious universe doesn't.

daisy ridley was named right after john boyega and is heavily rumored to be the co lead, so it's fairly progressive in regards to gender to right? i mean one lead role is all a group needs right? you have a legit complaint when it comes to jj and his use of women but i rather enjoyed the new trek movies and both female characters. where you loose me is how star wars treats women. the treated them like that for all 6 six movies, why expect something different now? thats like expecting subway all of the sodden to start serving burgers. that being said, there is nothing wrong with wanting more women in scifi/fantasy lead roles. my problem is with this bs outrage where everyone and their boyfriend points out the 2 to 8 ratio of women to men but didn't even blink at the 1 to 9 ratio of blacks to whites. now those ratios are 4 to 8 and 2 to 10. and once again all i want is a good movie, which should be what we all want but if you're going to get all outraged over a lack of diversity, make sure you stand up for all groups being shorted.

 

[RA92]

daisy ridley was named right after john boyega and is heavily rumored to be the co lead, so it's fairly progressive in regards to gender to right? i mean one lead role is all a group needs right? you have a legit complaint when it comes to jj and his use of women but i rather enjoyed the new trek movies and both female characters. where you loose me is how star wars treats women. the treated them like that for all 6 six movies, why expect something different now? thats like expecting subway all of the sodden to start serving burgers. that being said, there is nothing wrong with wanting more women in scifi/fantasy lead roles. my problem is with this bs outrage where everyone and their boyfriend points out the 2 to 8 ratio of women to men but didn't even blink at the 1 to 9 ratio of blacks to whites. now those ratios are 4 to 8 and 2 to 10. and once again all i want is a good movie, which should be what we all want but if you're going to get all outraged over a lack of diversity, make sure you stand up for all groups being shorted.

Co-lead a.k.a. probably the Love Interest. Haven't seen that before! And I'm not sure whether you are being sincere about your outrage. There's this weird trend where whenever someone tries to talk of any kind of representation (be it race or gender), there are these weird sniping commenters who bring in other under-represented sects, implying inclusion of one means the exclusion of the rest of them. When people are asking for more diverse roles for women, how do you know that don't include black women? Why should they be mutually exclusive? If you are telling someone you find an old movie refreshing because the black character isn't a stereotypically cussing comedy sidekicks, how would like someone to shit on your argument because the movie doesn't also represent Chinese-Americans?

the treated them like that for all 6 six movies, why expect something different now?

I dunno, because times change and so do expectations? Could you imagine a black lead in a major film like Star Wars back in the 80s? Because some people would like a to see the only important female character in a trilogy not die of a fucking 'broken heart' because of another man while giving birth?