It's almost here!
In 59 days (mark your calendars!), Star Wars: The Force Awakens will arrive in U.S. theaters. As anticipation builds for its Dec. 18 release, Lucasfilm debuted a new trailer during ESPN's Monday Night Football. Sure, millions of people were already going to watch the game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles, but thanks to social media teasers on Sunday, even more viewers tuned in to see it.
Pre-sale tickets went on sale immediately after the trailer's release.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, also known as Episode VII, will see the return of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and Admiral Ackbar (Tim Rose). It will also introduce Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), Teedo (Kiran Shah) and Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). Additionally, Pip Andersen, Cecep Arif Rahman, Leanne Best, Christina Chong, Crystal Clarke, Warwick Davis, Greg Grunberg, Amybeth Hargreaves, Jessica Henwick, Billie Lourd, Lupita Nyong'o, Simon Pegg, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Yayan Ruhian, Iko Uwais, Max von Sydow and Miltos Yerolemou were cast in unspecified roles.
Few plot details have leaked since production began in early 2013, though we do know a few things about Episode VII. Set 30 years after the events of 1983's Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the Empire has morphed into a junta called the First Order. Meanwhile, X-wing pilots fly for a splinter group called the Resistance.
In August, J.J. Abrams opened up to E! News about reviving the film franchise that's earned over $4.38 billion since 1977. "It was a constantly overwhelming experience to work on this movie," the director said. "The biggest job I had, I think, was fighting that, because I could never let my sort of fan heart overwhelm what I knew was required, which is for me to do my job. Giving notes to Harrison Ford about what Han Solo should or shouldn't do, it's a weird thing in concept. You have to just go, 'That's not how I can look at it. I have to look at it like I'm the director and he's the actor. What's the scene?' That was sort of the biggest challenge."
"My job isn't just to be a fanboy," Abrams added. "That would have helped no one."
When Abrams signed on to direct the blockbuster, there was no story in place. "It was, without a doubt, a formidable assignment," he told Entertainment Weekly in August. "There were so many options and so many paths that could be taken. Even when we were in debate—and sometimes it was frustrating and heated—it was always thrilling because almost everywhere you looked there was something potentially extraordinary, which felt very much like the DNA of Star Wars itself."
"Any good story has conflict," the filmmaker said. "And if all were rosy 30-some years post-Jedi, we would be hard-pressed to find an interesting story to tell."
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is in theaters Dec. 18.