7 Takeaways From The Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer

3) The Fight With The Empire Rages On

As I mentioned before, it’s clear from this trailer that the Empire is still at large, and that they’re still waging war with the Rebel Alliance. Blowing up the second Death Star and killing the Emperor in Return of the Jedi ultimately didn’t end the galactic conflict at the center of the original trilogy.

We don’t know which side has the upper hand this time around, however. After all, it has been thirty years since the events of Jedi, so anything is possible. In any case, my geek heart is happy to see TIE Fighters engaged in a dogfight with the Millenium Falcon (over the sands of Tatooine, no less), and to see X-Wings in formation, ready to engage with what is likely a dangerous Imperial threat.

Speaking of X-Wings, I must also note that this is the first time we’ve seen them flying around on an actual planet, instead of zooming around outer space. It reminds me a bit of the Rebel Alliance video games, which were chock-full of exciting planet-bound missions. Let’s hope Abrams played those games, too.