5. Episode VIII Will Now Focus More On The Force Awakens Characters
Aside from the actor talk, the other crucial bit of news from Jeff Sneider is that of rewrites for Episode VIII. While there is a tendency for people to lose their sh*t when rewrites are mentioned, and an assumption it means something is wrong, it's generally fairly commonplace. However, it's significant in this case, because Sneider says that it'll put more focus onto the new characters we met in The Force Awakens: Rey, Finn, and Poe.
"I said before there were two young female roles, now I actually heard that the rewrite will make these roles smaller. They want to get to know better the characters they already have. So the new rewrite is shrinking the new roles in order to spend more time with Rey, Poe and so on."
Rating: 8/10 As mentioned, rewrites are nothing new or necessarily major, so that's not exactly hard to believe. Especially when it's a film as big as Episode VIII, you want to get it right. What's interesting is the idea that it'll reduce the roles of two new characters before they've actually even been introduced or cast. However, the reception to the new heroes was almost universal acclaim, and there's still a lot more to know about them and their relationships are in a place where they can really develop, so it would make sense. The place where this falls down is if the rumour of a female Sith is also true. If that's the case, then that'd surely have to be a fairly important role, and would mean it couldn't be made too much smaller (depending on how advanced she is, anyway). I also wonder just what the script was like initially, if it's putting more focus on the characters who are already the established heroes. You'd have thought they were pretty important and central anyway. Still, if it means more of Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron, then I'm all for it.