Star Wars: Episode VII To Feature Woodland Battle With Thousands Of Extras

After a brief shoot on location in the Forest of Dean, ‘Star Wars VII’ is set to feature a huge woodland battle scene complete with thousands of extras.

It’s something we’ve come to expect of ‘Star Wars’ – those huge, epic battle scenes that really bowl you over. And while there were plenty of those in the original trilogy (including tonnes of iconic Stormtroopers) the prequels tended to veer towards CGI trickery to bulk out those Clone Trooper ranks.

Thankfully, ‘Star Wars VII’ is said to be returning to the old ways… and with a woodland battle scene filmed in the Forest of Dean, it looks as though J.J. Abrams used of thousands of extras to get a more authentic look.

And I have some rather interesting details about this pretty epic shoot.

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After meeting with ‘Star Wars VII’ director J.J. Abrams, I spilled the beans in an article for Total Geeks and while he didn’t say much about the ‘Star Wars’ sequel, he really didn’t have to.

“Actors Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Pip Andersen and Adam Driver were all at the hotel, ready for the shoot,” I explained. And after witnessing each of them arrive back from the set, it wasn’t long before I was able to piece together an idea of what had been going on.

“It looks as though ‘Star Wars VII’ will feature a huge battle scene with thousands of extras,” I revealed. “I have it on good authority that the Puzzlewood shoot involved a full-scale battle which surrounded a pivotal fight scene with some of our main characters.”

And who was involved in that fight scene? None other than John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Pip Andersen. “I also had word that Adam Driver was on the scene (and spotted him skulking around the hotel) but I was unable to establish his exact role in those scenes. But judging from the state of Ridley and Boyega’s stunt doubles, they were in for quite a workout.”

Of course, I can’t help thinking that this adds weight to the theory that Pip Andersen was cast in ‘Star Wars VII’ due to his extensive parkour skills and while we’re still unsure whether his character is good or evil, I get the feeling that Abrams might just have cherry-picked the best element of the prequel trilogy – a Darth Maul-style villain.

“One thing I heard while sitting with some crew members was the sheer quantity of extras involved,” I explained. “We’re talking thousands of extra hands on set… [and] it seems that they were filming a rather large-scale battle sequence out in the woods.”

Obviously, this has a rather huge hint towards the events of ‘Return of the Jedi’ and I can’t help thinking of the battle of Endor. But while numerous locations have been suggested from the galaxy far, far away I’m just not 100% sure where this woodland battle takes place.

We’ve seen Abu Dhabi step in for Tatooine and a location in Iceland supposedly takes us back to Hoth. But has the Forest of Dean appeared as Endor? And does this mean the return of the Ewoks?

For now, we’ll have to wait and see… but I get the feeling that the closest we’ll get to any cute, furry creatures is Peter Mayhew’s Chewbacca. Just don’t tell him I said that.

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Picture Credit: Lucasfilm