Feel the Force Friday: Episode VII Casting News, “A New Dawn” Released, Rodarte’s Star Wars Fashion and MORE!!!

Good morning, Dork Siders! Welcome to Friday. You’ve made it. Because you’ve all been such nice boys and girls, we’re bringing you all of the week’s biggest Star Wars news, all wrapped up in one giant post! It’s our weekly feature, Feel the Force Friday!

Let’s begin, shall we?

This past Monday, Lizo Mzimba of BBC News reported that Games of Thrones actor Miltos Yerolemou had been cast in Star Wars: Episode VII. Though yet to be confirmed by Lucasfilm, it’s a good bet this will turn out to be more than just a rumor.

From the BBC News report:

"Actor Miltos Yerolemou, best known for his role in the first series of fantasy drama Game of Thrones, has joined the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. He played expert and athletic swordsman Syrio Forel in Thrones and has taken on several other parts which involve sword fighting during his career. His extensive experience will inevitably lead to speculation that he may use a lightsaber in the film. However, his character in Star Wars is not thought to be a major one. Lucasfilm declined to comment on Yerolemou’s casting."

For more on Yerolemou and what his casting might mean for Episode VII, DSOTF Staff Writer Kyle Warnke has more. You can read all about it in his post, here.

This week brought the release of John Jackson Miller‘s A New Dawn, the first Star Wars fiction to fit into the Lucasfilm Story Group‘s new canonical timeline.

What does that mean, exactly? In short, all of existing fiction, including novels, comic books, RPG’s and video games are no longer to be considered official Star Wars canon. The Expanded Universe has been rebranded as Star Wars Legends, and will continue to live on in reprinted material.

Star Wars: A New Dawn is an excellent read and the perfect book to launch this new direction in SW storytelling. The book is available for purchase right now! You can find A New Dawn at your local book retailer, or at Amazon.Com. You can also download the book digitally from iTunes or enjoy the audiobook version, which can be found here.

To hear an exciting audio excerpt from A New Dawn, featuring the voice talents of Vanessa Marshall, check out the clip below:

Lucasfilm has recently featured a fantastic piece contributed by A New Dawn author John Jackson Miller.

From the official Star Wars site:

"“A New Dawn is the first story written in consultation with the Lucasfilm Story Group. The group has representatives who are in the loop on the new sequel movies as well as the upcoming Rebels TV series; their involvement means that events in new tie-in works from A New Dawn forward will be considered as having happened in a Star Wars movie or TV show.A New Dawn has the important task of revealing how some of the central stars of a new Lucasfilm Animation television series came to meet. It wasn’t a tie-in story removed to a safe distance to avoid stepping on what was happening in the TV show, only name-dropping safe connections here and there. It had to tell the history that these characters carry in their minds as they grow and evolve on the TV show.This required an unprecedented collaboration between the publishing and film and TV production teams at Lucasfilm, And that connection was made possible with the newly formed Lucasfilm Story Group that, among other things, is tasked with ensuring the universe now expands to a cohesive, grand design.”"

For more from John Jackson Miller, you should read his excellent post, here.

For a great review of A New Dawn, check out Tracy Gardner‘s video over at Force Cult.

The most recent issue of PAPER Magazine featured the latest collection from the Rodarte fashion designing company. The collection includes some stunning dresses emblazoned with images from the Star Wars films.

DSOTF Staff Writer Sarah Woloski made her debut this week with a post covering the incredible world of Star Wars fashion. You can read all about it, here.

The fourth and final Rebels “short” from Lucasfilm Animation and Disney XD aired this past Monday. The latest clip, titled Not What You Think, features the character of Ezra Bridger.

DSOTF took an in depth look at the clip, with our latest installment of Rebels Impressions.

Not What You Think features the vocal talents of actors Taylor Gray and Greg Ellis. You can read a bit more about Ellis‘ character at the Rebels Report official site.

Check out this exclusive look at the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels, in the clip below:

More NEWS from the Dork Side:

The hard working team over at MakingStarWars.Net have reported some details on the first two episodes of Star Wars Rebels. The new animated series is set to begin it’s regularly scheduled run on Monday, October 13th. You can find out more by checking out the post, here.

Steve Sansweet and his incredible crew at Rancho Obi-Wan will  be hosting their 2nd annual fundraising gala on Saturday, September 20th. The event will include a live auction of some rare Star Wars collectibles. Lisa Dullard of Coffee With Kenobi has more, here.

The Tampa Bay Rays held their annual Star Wars night last week. TheForce.Net has a great photo gallery covering the event, here.

Full of Sith‘s Bryan Young sat down with A New Dawn author John Jackson Miller for a great interview, this week. You can check out the podcast episode, here.

As always, you should check out the weekly Star Wars news report from our good friend Johnamarie Macias at The Wookiee Gunner.

Here’s wishing you all a relaxing weekend, Dork Siders! Don’t forget to tune into this week’s episode of Podcast 66, which is posted here on the site every Friday night.

Keep your internet browsers parked right here at Dork Side of the Force for all of the latest Star Wars news, rumors and more!