Finally, some news that might go a long short way to appease all the Star Wars purists out there: screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi alongside creator George Lucas, is rumoured to be on board to write an episode for Disney's new trilogy. Toy Story 3 scribe Michael Arndt is already confirmed to write Episode VII, set to be released in 2015. That leaves the eighth and/or ninth episode for Kasdan to tackle. The Oscar-winning Arndt, who lectures budding screenwriters on what he calls the original trilogy's near-perfect storytelling arc, may well face the unenviable job of being the opening act for his mentor's new film (or films), while also having to follow The Empire Strikes Back. Eep.

Though Disney and Lucasfilm have yet to confirm his involvement (all Star Wars-related announcements will be made on StarWars.com), there have been rumblings about Kasdan and writer Simon Kinberg signing on to pen the second and third films in upcoming trilogy since Tuesday, says The Hollywood Reporter. The pair is also said to have been tasked with producing duties alongside George Lucas' right-hand woman, Kathleen Kennedy. 

Kasdan, who gave audiences The Bodyguard and The Big Chill (which he both wrote and directed), is a writing/directing/producing triple threat. Kinberg has worked on two X-Men films and he wrote the screenplay for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.

As for the director's chair, it remains empty and un-monogrammed—though Kennedy and Lucas did drop some vague hints about what they're looking for in a potential director a short while back in a videotaped interview that appeared on StarWars.com (of course). But THR says the the Kasdan/Kinberg deal is locked—which means Disney and Lucasfilm are probably just running it by their 36 lawyers before we officially get to hear about it.