A lot of sites are making their name passing along supposed Star Wars: Episode VII news, and one of those sites is Making Star Wars. They had the recent rumor about a possible Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff, but along with that story were a few nuggets about the movie's villains and their ties to a past enemy from the Star Wars prequels. Some may consider this a spoiler so just be warned!
According to the site's sources, Episode VII's villains will be an "aristocratic family line" of bad guys, with the theory being they are related to Count Dooku. Dooku was played by Christopher Lee in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The character was also the central bad guy in the Clone Wars animated series. He was once a Jedi but turned to the Dark Side under the name Darth Tyranus.
Apparently, the characters played by Gwendoline Christie, Adam Driver, and Benedict Cumberbatch (when he was rumored for the film) are all connected to this Dooku bloodline. In particular it's Christie's character who will now have the connection to Dooku that Cumberbatch's was intended to. There have been some set photos of Christie dressed like a common member of the rebellion, but that doesn't mean much. Her character could be hiding in plain sight just as Dooku did. Driver has always been expected to play a bad guy so connecting him to this isn't much of a surprise.
With so many sites claiming to have their own inside sources at Lucasfilm either some of them are making stuff up or J.J. Abrams has lost total control of his vaunted "mystery box".
