Somewhere out there in the universe, a force is growing under a veil of secrecy and shadow - and not just any force, but THE force. We're now two years away from the 2015 release of J.J. Abrams' Star Wars Episode VII and we still know little-to-nothing solid about what Disney has planned for its big re-launch of Star Wars - other than the fact that some familiar faces will be returning to the franchise.

Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are all locked in as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia Solo, respectively - but recent rumors have suggested that other characters from the franchise's past could be coming back as well. But the question remains: is revisiting the past a welcome bit of nostalgia, or is it the same kind of misstep that the prequel films made?

In recent days, Latino-Review has been dropping some big rumors about Episode VII; first came word that Emperor Palpatine will be returning - if only as the Sith equivalent of a "force ghost" - and now the website claims to have knowledge that Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi could also be coming back as a ghostly guide.

Though Obi-Wan's ghost already played a role in the original trilogy (embodied by the late, great Sir Alec Guinness), as L-R correctly points out, Hayden Christensen was CGI-surgically implemented into George Lucas' redux of Return of the Jedi in replacement of original Human-Vader actor, Sebastian Shaw. In that sense, McGregor's slot in franchise is pretty secure, should the filmmakers choose to go in that direction. After all, for a younger generation of fans, McGregor IS Obi-Wan.

The more important question is: Should Obi-Wan return?

Jedi Ghosts in Star Wars

Look, in my own opinion, I've never been a big fan of prequels/sequels that go out of their way to shoehorn every single familiar or fan-favorite character into the new narrative. Prequel appearances by characters like C-3PO and R2D2 (oh-so-conveniently present in the saga of Anakin Skywalker as they were in the saga of Luke Skywalker) still irks me almost as much as Jar-Jar Binks. On the other hand: an appearance by Ghost Palpatine is intriguing, since we've never seen Sith ghosts onscreen before -  and if we're going that route, an appearance by trust-old Obi-Wan's spirit doesn't seem like all that bad of a cameo to me.

As a footnote to their report, L-R added that McGregor is apparently pushing for his own standalone film (Disney has since announced its intent to produce standalone Star Wars movies in between "episodes"). Not only do we think that would be a project with potential - we've already pitched a pretty good story idea for an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie. So, needless to say, we're not opposed to that happening, either.

We'll keep you updated as more details for Episode VII are slowly but surely revealed.

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Star Wars Episode VII will be in theaters in 2015.

Source: Latino-Review