Star Wars Episode 7 Plot, Cast & Rumors: Should J.J. Abrams Fight Spoilers Or Is It Utterly Pointless?
J.J. Abrams is notorious for the secretive nature of his film shoots. He simply does not like rumors being spread about his films or any sort of spoilers leaking to the public.
Throughout "Star Trek Into Darkness," there was a lot of online speculation regarding what character Benedict Cumberbatch would be playing. Everyone's guess was that Khan would be making a return to the franchise, but time and again, Abrams and his crew would reject the rumor.
"I play John Harrison who's a terrorist and an extraordinary character in his own right," said Cumberbatch back in 2012 during an interview with Access Hollywood. "He's somebody who is not your two-dimensional cookie cutter villain. He's got an extraordinary purpose, and I hope that at one point or other in the film you might even sympathize with the reasons he's doing what he's doing -- not necessarily the means and the destruction he causes. But it was a great ride, not just because he's the bad guy and the antagonist but also because he has a purpose and it's hard not to see his point of view at certain points."
While he never outright claimed that he was not Khan, he refused to acknowledge it.
But in the end, it was revealed that everyone was right. His character was none other than Khan.
And now Abrams and company are battling a similar battle, but on a far larger scale.
"Star Wars: Episode 7" speculation seems unavoidable and, this past week, Abrams suffered a huge blow to his strategy of keeping everything quiet. Dozens of concept art pictures were leaked online divulging numerous details about the plot and other major character.
Abrams' response? To have some fun. He sent out a picture via Twitter with the following message, "I wish people would stop leaking photos from Episode VII. And Making ridiculous claims that the Millennium Falcon is in the movie."
Of course, the picture shows part of the Falcon, and Abrams himself has incessantly released videos and pictures of the iconic spaceship.
Which brings everyone to the most essential of points -- is Abrams playing an outdated game? Is it time to embrace the reality of the internet?
The internet is a massive information highway that includes all sorts of speculation. People are willing to post whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want. And no one can stop them. And there is a desire to be the first always. That leads to a lot of leaking of major stories. Because the internet does not hold everyone accountable, the risks of leaking spoilers are not as high.
And so Abrams winds up with what happened this past week when the pictures were leaked. The film's plot has also been a point of contention for a while, as well, with rumors spreading about Luke's turn to the dark side, as well as Daisy Ridley's Kira (is that really her character's actual name or has the internet world simply adopted it?) being the main character. But nothing is set in stone. At least not officially.
At this point in the game, fans who want spoilers are going to look for them no matter what. They will believe what they want and they will continue to talk about it. Those who, like Abrams, abhor spoilers will do their best to turn a blind eye.
Abrams will probably continue playing his game, as will the rest of the internet and "Star Wars" fans. It will be interesting to see if he will continue to embrace his powerlessness to keep everything secret, as he did with the recent tweet. He has yet to try and pull any red herrings on fans, so maybe this could be his next big move in this ongoing and interminable chess match.
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