The Telegraph has a few intriguing tidbits from their interview with Richard E Grand and his appearance in IX (amongst other things)…
SPOILERS
"I got 10 pages of script from a Forties British war film, three scenes in total, and had to video myself doing them on an iPad. Then you send it off, and feel like you’re never going to hear anything about it ever again. I got a call two months later to say a car was going to pick me up and take me to Pinewood Studios to meet director, JJ Abrams. Which was odd, because I still had no idea what he was going to direct me as."When Grant arrived he was ushered into a room with Abrams and the new trilogy’s heroine, Daisy Ridley: "Surrounded by all this Star Wars memorabilia going back to 1977. And within about two seconds, he said, ‘Are you gonna do it or not?’ And I said, ‘Do what?’ Then he described the part, and I think he told me what my name was, at which point the room went upside down. What what appears to be a degree of physical discomfort, Grant stops himself from saying anything more. In the grand old Star Wars tradition, the entire cast has been sworn to secrecy, at least untill the trailer and title of the forthcoming Episode IX are revealed in April.
the non-spoilery bit claims… ‘at least until the trailer and title of the forthcoming Episode IX are revealed in April’.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/richard-e-grant-interview-told-play-star-wars-room-turned-upside/ (behind a paywall)