Anthony Daniels has promised the new C-3PO will entirely forgo CGI as he readies himself to portray the loquacious protocol droid once again in Star Wars: Episode VII. Daniels, who has appeared in all six previous Star Wars movies, also described the process which saw digital tinkering used to depict the robot in George Lucas’s much-maligned prequel trilogy as “awful”.

“There’s no way I would just do the voice,” Daniels said of his decision to return. “I will tell you that when JJ Abrams rang me to ask about filming Episode VII, one of the first things he said after he told me how wonderful I was — and that didn’t take long — but he then said, ‘Would you be interested in being in the film just doing the voice?’ I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Right!’ He knew I’d say that.”

The cast and crew of Star Wars VII, including Anthony Daniels (left, next to Mark Hamill) Disney/Lucas Film Photograph: Disney/Lucas Film

Daniels, who was speaking to Entertainment Weekly, said he detested being replaced by a CGI version of C-3PO for action scenes in the prequels. “It wasn’t very good. In fact, I’m going to say it was awful,” he said. “One of the difficulties is with a character that you know and love so well is that, as a member of the audience, you go, ‘Oh no, that’s not right. No, he doesn’t move like that.’ With me [in the suit], he’s always going to move the same way and have the same reactions, timing and so on. With CG, you’re working with some brilliant person on the keyboard who is trying to pretend to be me.”

Daniels, 68, also revealed that Abrams’ team has created a new C-3PO suit for him to wear which is expected to be far more comfortable than the old version he wore for 1977’s Star Wars and its two iconic sequels.

In other Star Wars news, a new photograph purporting to be taken on the set of Episode VII has sparked speculation that Adam Driver may not be portraying a “Darth Vader-like” villain, as previously widely reported. In the shot, Driver appears to be wearing the uniform of an X-Wing pilot, traditionally one of the mainstays of the Rebel Alliance fighting force in the long-running space saga.

Hey @ReillyAround @SchmoesKnow looks like adam driver is gonna be a good guy in episode 7 pic.twitter.com/W8bRLspvXQ — Henrick Urena (@henricku75) September 15, 2014

Driver, one of the breakthrough stars of hit HBO comedy drama Girls, has revealed the tenacity he gained from a stint in the US marines helped him succeed in acting. “Suddenly, I wasn’t intimidated by anything. I thought that acting could be pretty simple,” said the 30-year-old actor, in comments reported by the Press Association. “When I happened to get into school, I felt like I could approach it as aggressively as things in the military.”