When "Star Wars 8" started its production in February 2016, it was announced that Benicio del Toro (Oscar winner), Laura Dern (Academy Award nominee), and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran were joining the cast in hidden roles.
While there is no substantial information about their characters, here are few fan sources that give details of their new roles:
Benicio del Toro's role will be a "man in black" (not to be confused with The Man in Black from Westworld show) and is considered a "bad guy." When del Toro became involved in the whole Star Wars: Episode VIII project, he made a few comments that he was playing a villain and then denied that he ever said that.
Later, in an interview, he said: "I don't know if he's a villain. People are saying that, but it's like they read a different script than I read."
It's possible that Benicio isn't totally lying. The new report suggested that "man in black" may not be a clear-cut villain. According to the same reports, the movie's heroes don't see del Toro's character as a "dangerous," and that leaves a place for the suggestion that he may have a role more similar to Lando Calrissian from Empire Strikes Back in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Some rumors also said that Benicio's character might be connected to an intergalactic casino which will be featured in the film. This is just one fish in the sea of speculations about Benicio del Toro's role in Star Wars: Episode.
When talking about Laura Dern, her character is described as "aristocratic and fancy" in a way people have never seen it in the Star Wars franchise so far. It sounds a bit strange, unbelievable and makes people wonder how a character like that could possibly fit into this story.
Maybe now, when the galactic senate has been destroyed, this "fancy" lady will be a piece of the new political puzzle and will be the antithesis for Carrie Fisher's resistance leader Leia Organa.
When Kelly Marie Tran was first cast, there were speculations that she might be playing a love interest for Finn. Later, a report confirmed that her character is very much involved in Finn's storyline.
There are not much information about her, other than she looks opposite of Dern's character since she is just normal looking.
As fans of Star Wars already know, Rogue One is only a month away from launching, and the promotion for Episode 8 will surely begin to get the roller coaster built up momentum after the release of the first Star Wars standalone film.
It's for Disney to hold back with info about Episode VIII and not to distract its current film.
Star Wars Episode 8 is now in post-production and will be released on December 15, 2017.
