Will Star Wars originals return for Episode VII?

Carrie Fisher, seen in speaking in Los Angeles in 2012, appears to have confirmed she'll reprise the role of Princess Leia in the upcoming new Star Wars film. (Phil McCarten/Reuters)

As soon as Disney announced its purchase of Lucasfilm and its plan to add new cinematic instalments to the Star Wars franchise, fans have been abuzz. Who will direct? Who will star?

With the all-important question of which director could effectively jump start the beloved space series answered (Star Trek reboot master J.J. Abrams, naturally), fans and film industry folk have shifted the focus to the return of classic characters. Will they or won't they?

Now, Carrie Fisher -- aka the original Princess Leia -- appears to have confirmed her return. Or has she?

In between bon mots about her bedroom decor, new projects and career goals, Fisher offered a point blank "yes" to Palm Beach Illustrated when asked whether she will be reprising her iconic role.

Then, the writer, humourist and actress proceeded to joke about how she envisioned the space-princess poster girl today.

"Elderly. She's in an intergalactic old folks' home," Fisher said, laughing.

She adds that Leia -- last seen when Fisher was a young ingenue in 1983's Return of the Jedi (notwithstanding the infant Leia shown in 2005's widely panned prequel instalment Revenge of the Sith) -- would still be wearing "the bagel buns and the bikini, because probably she has sundowners syndrome. At sundown, she thinks that she's 20-something. And she puts it on and gets institutionalized."

Mark Hamill, who played series star Luke Skywalker, has been forthcoming about creator George Lucas approaching the original cast and being "in talks" with Disney to potentially return in the new batch of films. Still, he admits to knowing nothing about the storyline.

And what of Harrison Ford, currently filming Anchorman 2? Various reports have him "expected to reprise his role as Han Solo" in the new sequel.

With the first new instalment not slated to hit theatres until 2015, fans have started to question bringing back the veterans (Ford is 70, Hamill 61 and Fisher 56) for another action-packed escapade.

For his part, Hamill is looking on the bright side, predicting that if he returns, he could play a similar mentor character as late British thespian Alec Guinness, who was in his early 60s when he starred as the venerable Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977's A New Hope.

"I'm assuming... that these movies would be about our offspring," Hamill said in an interview in February.

"I thought, 'Well, I'm going to wind up like Sir Alec [Guinness]. I'm going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.'"

What do you think? Should J.J. Abrams bring back the original cast members, find new actors or simply focus on a fresh story set in the Star Wars universe?

The 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope starred (from left) Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. (20th Century-Fox/Associated Press)