There has been an awakening – we’ve felt it, revelled in the nostalgia and are now eagerly awaiting December 18. Last night, during ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Disney fired up the engines on the new and likely final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
If moviegoers were sent into a tail-spin after the film’s pair of teaser trailers, then the full-length clip is enough to bring the Internet to its knees. Dancing around the core plot of The Force Awakens, there was plenty to dissect within the 2 minute sizzle reel, and thankfully we now have an array of screengrabs from the trailer to give us a closer look at the action.
Opening on the barren wasteland of Jakku, the clip introduces us to Daisy Ridley’s scavenger, Rey. Rappelling into the yawning and capacious ruins of the downed Star Destroyer glimpsed in the first teaser, the actress has described her character as a lone wolf – that is, until she crosses paths with John Boyega’s disillusioned Stormtrooper, Finn.
Crash landing on the Outer Rim planet that Rey calls home, it appears the pair are then pursued by a pair of TIE Fighters, eventually leading to the arrival of Han Solo, Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon. After gathering together in the hull of the beloved ship, Han confirms the rumors about the defining events of the prequels. “It’s true,” he says. “All of it. The Dark Side. The Jedi. They’re real.”
For all of the fuss being made about Luke’s absence from the official poster – and now the trailer – Star Wars: The Force Awakens seems to be keeping its legendary Jedi under wraps for as long as possible. It’s a deft touch, really; in the 30 years that have lapsed since Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker has seemingly fallen off the radar, and any mention of him or his power is the stuff of myth as far as Rey and Finn are concerned.
But when the First Order emerges with an all-new planet killer, the new-fangled trio go in search of the missing and reluctant hero. At least, that’s the main plot points weaned from yesterday’s trailer – there are also shots of Carrie Fisher’s Leia, BB-8 riding shotgun in a X-Wing and some really rather incredible dogfighting.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens whizzes into theaters on December 18 in North America.
