Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) has now become the latest in a fast growing list of actors rumored for a role in the still unwritten Star Wars: Episode VII. Ejiofor was recently seen at J.J. Abram’s office at Bad Robot, which naturally has some people hopeful that this means the current Best Actor front runner will soon be cast (including myself).
Considering Ejiofor is hardly the first actor to be rumored for Episode VII, for the time being I’m choosing to take this rumor with a grain a salt. I have to say though, of all the casting rumors I’ve heard so far for this movie, the Chiwetel Ejiofor Star Wars rumor is, by far, the one I most want to be true. Even before he was getting all this Oscar buzz, I believed him to be a talented, incredibly underrated actor and whatever role he would allegedly get I have no doubt he would knock it out of the park.
This wouldn’t exactly be his first time doing science fiction either. He gave a solid performance in the mediocre 2012 and played one of my all-time favorite villains as The Operative in Serenity (which showed me just how awesome he was in first place).
I imagine though that even if there a mutual interest between Ejiofor and Abrams, it will be probably be at least a few months before we hear anything concrete. Abrams still has to fine tune the Episode VII script and Ejiofor will likely be busy with his Oscar campaign in the coming months. I imagine he would also want to mull over other offers he will likely get due to his soon to be new-found notoriety as an Oscar nominee (and possibly winner).
Would Ejiofor be a good fit for the franchise? Do you think he will win the Oscar this year? Let us know in the comment section below.
Source: Collider
