If confirmed, rumour about Swedish actor would complete identities of major cast members of JJ Abrams’s highly anticipated new Star Wars film

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

It is one of the final pieces in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens puzzle – Max von Sydow’s role in JJ Abrams’s hyped space opera reboot. Now Making Star Wars claims that the veteran Swedish actor will portray a village elder on the desert planet of Jakku who plays a vital role in the quest to find the missing Luke Skywalker. His name? Lor San Tekka.

The rumour, if confirmed, would mean that every actor who appeared in the famous first cast photograph in April 2014 now has an allocated role in The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens to open in Europe before US Read more

We already knew that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher will return as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia, and Entertainment Weekly revealed in December 2014 that John Boyega would play rogue stormtrooper Finn, with Daisy Ridley as Rey and Oscar Isaac as dashing X-wing pilot Poe Dameron.

Vanity Fair revealed in May this year that Adam Driver will play villain Kylo Ren, with Lupita Nyong’o as CGI character Maz Kanata and and Gwendoline Christie as the imposing Captain Phasma. Later the same month StarWars.com said Andy Serkis would play Supreme Leader Snoke, and in July, Domhnall Gleeson was revealed at San Diego Comic Con to be portraying First Order villain General Hux.

Rumours have abounded as to the identity of Von Sydow’s character, and Making Star Wars’s claim has not been confirmed by Disney. There have even been suggestions the Ingmar Bergman regular could be portraying an elderly Boba Fett, the cult favourite bounty hunter from the original Star Wars trilogy, who apparently died in Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits cinemas on 17 December in the UK and Australia and 18 December in the US.