Peter Mayhew has appeared as Chewbacca in four of the six Star Wars movies, and he will add at least one more to his filmography.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Peter Mayhew is set to return to reprise his role as Chewbacca in Star Wars: Episode VII. This is not an official report from Disney, but it should be believed.
This should come as no surprise, as Chewbacca is one of the characters central to the Star Wars episodic storyline. Mayhew appeared in all of the films except for Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
A few weeks ago, Mayhew had to drop out of his scheduled appearance at Comicpalooza do to filming, the convention tweeted (thanks, SlashFilm). It was expected that the film he had to leave for was Star Wars: Episode VII and this seemingly confirms it.
After the announcement of Star Wars: Episode VII back in 2012, Mayhew was vocal about wanting to return.
Wookiees, and particularly Chewbacca, are base characters when telling the story of Star Wars. It’s important that Chewie remains a part of the story. Everybody loves Chewbacca. I’m sure of it.
There had been some concern that Mayhew would not be able to return because of health issues, but thankfully that didn’t turn out to be the case. It is true that because of the look of Wookiees, Chewbacca could somewhat easily have been recast, but it really would not be the same without him.
With filming already having begun, casting announcements should be imminent. Chewbacca will join R2-D2 as the only characters good as confirmed, but more should be on the way. Perhaps Anthony Daniels as C-3PO will be next.