It's Official: R2-D2 Is in 'Star Wars: Episode VII'

When Bad Robot tweeted a picture of JJ Abrams with R2-D2 last week, it was pretty obvious that the iconic droid would be in Star Wars: Episode VII. We don't have any info about the movie's actors, plot or even title of Episode VII, but no one should have questioned whether or not R2-D2 would be in it. The little droid has been in every Star Wars movie, linking the Skywalker family and probably being the only character who knows all the details of the saga.

In case you still had your doubts that R2 would be in Episode VII, the official Star Wars website confirmed the news on Tuesday.

The first behind-the-scenes photo from Star Wars: Episode VII hit Twitter last Thursday, featuring director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, and a certain blue and white astromech droid — who StarWars.com can now confirm will indeed be in the film.

On top of that, Lucasfilm was pulling some fans into the process of building R2 for Episode VII.

Meet Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples, Star Wars fans and members of the worldwide R2-D2 Builders Club. They create fully functioning, film-accurate astromech droids like the R2-D2 seen in the photo, and they’re officially part of the creature effects team for Star Wars: Episode VII. They didn’t apply for their jobs, but still had what is probably the best reference one could hope for. 

“It all started when Kathleen Kennedy toured the R2-D2 Builders area at Celebration Europe this past summer in Germany,” says Steeples, who finished his first R2-D2 in 2007, after 10 years of collecting parts and researching. “She posed for pictures with us, looked at all the droids we’d built and was very complimentary. I mentioned that the R2-D2 Builders in the UK were available if required, as a semi-joke. When I was contacted to work on the film by [executive producer] Jason McGatlin, it was on her recommendation.” 

Steeples, from Berkshire, England, and Towersey, from Middlesex, England, are working full-time on Star Wars: Episode VII at Pinewood Studios (where the Twitter photo was taken), focusing solely on astromech-building — for now.

I really hope there's a scene in Episode VII where R2 points out to Luke and Leia that — oh, by the way — he always knew that they were brother and sister and that Darth Vader was their dad. Totally forgot to mention that before, guys. Sorry.