“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Opens One Year from Today
Published at
LucasFilm(NEW YORK) — Dec. 18, 2015 — one year from today — will be a day long remembered for Star Wars fans: it’s when Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters. The film, the first Star Wars movie released since ABC’s parent company Disney purchased George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away, is the first chapter in a new trilogy.
For now, not much is known about the plot of J.J. Abrams’ film, so fans the world over have resorted to poring over every frame of the 88-second teaser that was released on Black Friday.
Dan Casey, associate editor of the geek culture website Nerdist, says fans are excited about the fact that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, the stars of the original Star Wars films, are returning for this one.
“I think that people were honestly…quite surprised that the original cast was going to be returning, because it didn’t seem like something they wanted to do,” he said. “It felt like something that they were trying to distance themselves from, actually. So…that was just sort of like icing on the cake. It was — you know, if people were excited at ten, that kicked it up to eleven.”
Aside from the returning cast — which also includes Anthony Daniels as finicky protocol droid C-3PO, Kenny Baker as R2-D2, and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca — The Force Awakens also stars series newcomers Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Daisy Ridley as Rey, and John Boyega as Finn.
The new character names were recently revealed by Abrams, who didn’t elaborate more about the newcomers’ roles. He was also mum about who Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will be playing.
While some Star Wars fans were disappointed by the three prequel films, Casey insists the movie from lifelong Star Wars fan Abrams seems specifically designed to make disgruntled fans say, “All is forgiven.”
“Everything I’ve seen so far has just been like a “Hey, come back to the fold,” Casey tells ABC News Radio. “It’s sort of like that ‘come to Jesus’ moment where they recognize some of the faults with the prequel trilogy and they’re trying to course correct and from everything I’ve seen so far, just judging by that trailer, it sounds like they have their heart in the right place.”
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio