If you've been following the news about JJ Abrams' Star Wars film, you'll know there's been rumour after rumour, possible casting after possible casting. So much so, in fact, that it's probably hard to keep track of it all, right? Well, not to worry. We've very cleverly done a round up of what's legit and what's bantha fodder. Don't know what that is? It's the Star Wars equivalent of poo. Yeah. *adjusts thick-frame glasses*

CASTING

NOBODY HAS BEEN CAST. Let's just say that again so that you understand. Not a single person has been cast officially in the role. Now, the kicker is that pretty much every A-lister actor has been attached to it. The running tally we've picked up so far is as follows:

- Benedict Cumberbatch

- Saoirse Ronan

- Ryan Gosling

- Alex Pettyfer

- Michael B. Jordan

- Rachel Hurd-Wood

- Cillian Murphy

- Jonathan Rhys-Meyers

- Abigail Breslin

Daniel Day-Lewis, as reported yesterday, has had "a meeting" with producer Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas himself. We're not sure if he's in or even if Star Wars was discussed. It seems likely it was given that it's all Kathleen Kennedy and Lucas are interested in and working on at the moment. According to a few sources, Cumberbatch has signed up for the role and that he'll be in at least three Star Wars films and that he'll be a villain. This, however, contradicts other rumours that suggesting that the few first Star Wars films are going to be origin stories for individual characters. Which leads us nicely along to our next point...

THE PLOT AND THE TITLE

We know Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt is writing the script. So far, he's the only confirmed writer involved. However, it's JJ Abrams so we're guessing he himself is going to give it a once-over and we'd imagine JJ Abrams' go-to writers - namely Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzmann and Damon Lindelof - will get a look in as well. There's be no official word on plot as yet. Rumours have gone from saying that the first three films are going to be individual origin stories, focusing on Yoda, Han Solo and Princess Leia to taking place thirty-odd years after the events of Return of the Jedi.

JJ Abrams is a f*cker for keeping things wrapped up and off the Internet for as long as he can. Not only that, he's more than prepared to deny and flat-out lie to cover up the plot of his films. He denied up and down that (SPOILER ALERT!) Khan would feature in Star Trek Into Darkness and look how that turned out. He hasn't denied anything specifically about the script so far, he's just been his usual, super-evasive self.

The title that's doing the rounds is Star Wars: Episode VI - A New Dawn. I wouldn't put a lot of hope in that being the actual title, to be honest. There's been HUNDREDS of scripts written for a potential new trilogy so any guess is possible.

THE ORIGINAL CAST

We know that Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Harrison Ford (Han Solo, duh) have all been contacted by JJ Abrams about the new films. Hamill has let it slip that Skywalker will feature in some aspect. Now, we're not saying he's full of shit, but we think he's full of shit. He might be just saying that so that he'll be asked back and that the fan surge for his return will land him a small role or something. Harrison Ford grunts at the very mention of Star Wars and Fisher, well, nobody knows. Ian McDiarmid, who played Emperor Palpatine in all six films, has been approached. Again, nothing confirmed or official.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF

Finally, something we can ACTUALLY confirm. JJ Abrams has said he's not using digital, but is filming in 35mm. What does that mean? Basically, he's going back to basics. The prequels were all done on digital and nearly all of it was done in blue/green-screen. He's been emphatic about how this will look more authentic, more real and more emotional. That means he's going to being pulling back on the CGI and focusing on practical effects whenever possible. Which is very cool. The charm of the original films was that you could see the effects on-screen. Christopher Nolan's a big fan of this technique.

John Williams is going to be doing the score. That's been announced and confirmed. Usually, JJ Abrams favours Michael Giacchino. He did the soundtrack for the TV show Lost, The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible 3 and a few more. It's also been announced and confirmed that they're filming in Pinewood Studios in UK. Why is that significant? Because the original trilogy were filmed there. Kathleen Kennedy, the producer, has said that they're all about honouring the original trilogy as much as possible. That feeds into hiring John Williams, filming it in Pinewood and approaching the original cast.

Now, back to rumours. One or two sources have claimed that they've started building sets in Pinewood. One of the sets being built - completely to scale - is Han Solo's ship, the Millenium Falcon. We think that's bullshit and here's why. There's no way they'd be charging ahead with building a set if they haven't locked Harrison Ford down for the role. Now. There's a flipside. Harrison Ford seems to be signing up for any work he can get lately - Ender's Game, Expendables 3 and so on. It seems likely that he'd say yes to another Star Wars film. After all, it gave him his career and, for all his curmudgeonly interviews, he's quite positive about his time and experience working on it.

THE TV SERIES

There was talk for a good long while that they were trying to get a TV series off the ground. The supposed title was 'Star Wars: Underworld' and the story was going to focus on bad-ass, monosyllabic bounty hunter Boba Fett and his whole story. Now, the very latest rumour is that with the success of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and its huge ratings, Lucasfilm / Disney are now more determined than ever to get the show moving. There was a thing floating around a year or two ago about looking for untested, unknown writers for the show and that it was going to be along the lines of Battlestar Galactica. Obviously, when Lucasfilm was sold, everything went on the backburner - the TV show included. We think they're more likely to focus on the films first, build them up and then go for TV afterwards.

And that's everything we've heard, collected, seen and know about the film so far. We're guessing that there's going to be one, big giant announcement with casting, the title and the plot synopsis revealed so that Star Wars will dominate the news-cycle for the entire week with nerds like us dissecting and analysing every aspect of it. Until then, may the Force-- No. We're not doing it.