After month of anticipation, the cast list of Stars Wars VII has finally been announced.
The cast list is a mixture of familiar faces, like Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher and a newbie that got everyone asking “who?”.
The surprise cast member is 22-year-old British actor John Boyega, best known for the 2011 film Attack the Block, about a teenage gang defending their neighbourhood from aliens.
Boyega was born in Peckham, London, to Nigerian parents. He caught the acting bug early and made a compelling appearance as a leopard in a primary school play when he was five.
He was cast in the film version of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s book Half of a Yellow Sun.
John is rumoured to have bagged a ‘main role’ in Star Wars VII, and is thought to have beaten off competition from the likes of Breaking Bad’s Jesse Plemons and Downton Abbey’s Ed Speleers.
He’ll be the first black lead in the series, if you don’t count James Earl Jones who voiced Darth Vader.
