If you woke up today and found yourself yearning for some news about the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, you’re in luck – we’ve got some quotes about what’s happening with the film from none other than Jedi Knight Mark Hamill that will shed some light on how a few of your favorite characters will be integrated into the new film.

It’s not exactly a secret that plans are afoot to bring Luke, Leia and Han back in some capacity in the new film – Harrison Ford has already essentially said he’s interested – but Hamill is onboard as well. The actor broke down the state of negotiations in a recent interview.

“They’re talking to us. George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we’d be interested. He did say that if we didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out. … I can tell you right away that we haven’t signed any contracts. We’re in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed — on their end, not mine. They’re more busy than I am.”

The good news here is Lucas’ assurance that other actors wouldn’t be cast in the roles if Hamill or any of the other main characters decided not to return. This does of course raise an interesting question – just how involved is Lucas in all of this, anyway? It doesn’t seem like he’d have the power to make those kinds of promises after the sale to Disney, but maybe he’s a little more involved in all of this than we realize.

The actor then continues on, telling Entertainment Tonight that he hopes all of the main cast’s most important players will be back in some form.

“Another thing I’d want to make sure of is are we going to have the whole gang back? Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee and Tony Daniels, everybody that’s around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody’s onboard here, rather than just one.”

This sounds great, in theory, but we’re hoping they don’t get carried away and make these characters too much of a focal point in the story. Part of the allure of a new trilogy is moving things forward – and Luke and the gang have had their time in the spotlight. We’re all for them being around – as long as it doesn’t detract from moving ahead.

As for Hamill himself, he says he knows what his future in the series will be.

“I’m assuming, because I haven’t talked to the writers, that these movies would be about our offspring – like my character would be sort of in the Obi-Wan range, an influential character. … When I found out that ultimate good news/bad news joke – the good news is there’s a real attractive, hot girl in the universe; the bad news is she’s your sister – I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to wind up like Sir Alec. I’m going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.’”

Ah, the life of a Jedi… forever alone, except for the droids.

How much of the original cast do you want to see in a new Star Wars film? Let us know below.

[via Bleeding Cool]