Could you please either hide any rumours or give us a warning -- I'd like to avoid reading rumours in case they turn out to be true (in which case it would become a spoiler). Thank you.
It depends... if the new actor is _better_ then I say go for it! After all, most Star Wars fans seem to have liked the fact that the woman who played Emperor Palpatine (and was voiced by Clive "G1 Kickback" Revill) in The Empire Strikes Back was replaced by Ian McDiarmid in Return of the Jedi, who subsequently reprised his role as Palpie in the prequel trilogy (and also reshot the Palpatine scenes for Empire for the redone DVD release). It seems to be a general consensus amongst fans that McDiarmid is a better actor for Palpatine despite not being the original.
That could work too. It worked with Jar Jar Binks!
"Deysa bombad transformin' mekkaniks, okie-dey!"