Adam Driver

Fed up of Star Wars Episode VII casting rumours? Then have we got some good news for you! It has been revealed this evening that Girls star Adam Driver is nearing a deal to play the lead villain in the J.J. Abrams helmed sequel. This makes the actor the first actual addition to the cast (not including R2-D2 of course), and also makes it clear now that he won’t be playing Nightwing in Zack Snyder’s Batman Vs. Superman.

According to Variety, Driver’s villain will be in “the same vein” as Darth Vader, but there are no actual details on exactly who he will be playing. A Sith seems likely, although actors like Michael Fassbender and Hugo Weaving were also recently rumoured to be in the running to take on the role of an Imperial Commander.

While there had been concerns over whether Driver would be able to fit a demanding project like Star Wars Episode VII into his busy schedule – mostly because of his commitment to HBO’s Girls – those problems have now been resolved and he is said to be extremely close to officially signing up to the movie.

Despite previously being named as one of those in the running, it’s only over the past few weeks that Disney and LucasFilm zeroed in on Driver as their favourite for the lead villain. With filming set to begin in London this April, J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars Episode VII is set to be released on December 18th, 2015.

UPDATE

A few minutes ago Girls guru Lena Dunham tweeted this:

Which, of course, isn’t confirmation from JJ Abrams as he stands on a mini landspeeder stationed in Disneyland’s Main Street but if nothing else it just shows what a nice person Lena Dunham is.