A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, we discovered that the first Star Wars movie was actually the third. And the universe exploded. Decades later, the ACTUAL first Star Wars movie came out. Now, another decade or so later, we’re FINALLY getting the real sequel to the original trilogy. Are you confused yet? Me too! Yet I’m still excited. I grew up with Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. The kids I babysat years ago grew up with Sith Lords and Anakin. Now my son will grow up with…who?
Meet the new characters of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Photos courtesy of Disney. They come from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens celebration. Follow the #TheForceAwakens! hashtag to keep up with news!
Let’s be honest, as much as I love Luke, Leia and Han Solo, they’re looking a little, well, weathered. This movie takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi and even deep space can’t prevent aging, right? So we need some new blood to appeal to new blood! Star Wars: The Force Awakens introduces three new characters to the Star Wars universe: Rey, Finn and Poe. Not very Star Wars-like names, if you ask me.
Rey is a self-sufficient scavenger from the planet Jakku. Finn is feeling pretty anxious because he’s a defector Stormtrooper. Poe? His full name is actually Poe Dameron and he’s a mysterious X-Wing pilot. No princesses or sons of Sith Lords here…that we know of! Does that mean we won’t have a “Finn/Poe/Rey, I am your father” moment? Only time- and J.J. Abrams- can tell.
Speaking of J.J., I can’t think of a more brilliant choice of directors to bring Star Wars to a whole new generation. While I’m still incredibly mad at him for the ending of LOST, he’s still a brilliant director with an incredibly vision. He’ll do George Lucas justice. In fact, he was Lucasfilm’s first choice as director according to internet buzz, so clearly Lucas has a lot of faith in him.
For those of us who grew up on Luke Skywalker, don’t fret, Hamill reprises his role as the Jedi Knight! During the four-day celebration, he told the audience that fans would have come for his head if he didn’t take the role back.
“It’s not, like, a choice,” he said. “It’s like I was drafted. Can you imagine if for some reason I said that I don’t think I want to do it? I would have all of you surrounding my house like villagers in a Frankenstein picture. Angry villagers, with lightsabers instead of torches. I’d sort of be like the most hated person in fandom. ‘Oh, you’re too cool for school. You don’t want to come back and do Episode 7.’”
Very true, Mark, very true. Check out a few more pictures from the celebration!
Are you planning to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens? What character are you looking forward to learning more about?
This is so exciting! I can’t wait to see these!
I am so excited for this. I’m also so happy for actor John Boyega. He was in an adorable little film called ‘Attack the Block’, a low, low budget sci-fi with a LOT going for it. See it if you can find it.
Exciting news! Definitely something we are looking forward to.
My husband and I are huge Star Wars fans. I can’t believe I had no idea that this was coming out. I think it will be fun to see how they tie in the new characters to the movie!
I haven’t see any of the star wars movie….I know don’t judge me lol. I could never get into them but my son loves them he even wants his room to be start wars. I may get into it so I can get caught up so when he comes to me with questions I will know
Honestly I don’t remember the story of Star Wars and its characters. I should really watch this new film to catch up with all the online and offline buzz and relate with the conversation. We’ll see the Star Wars: The Force Awakens soon. I’m intrigued about the visual effects since I’m sure that there would be cooler upgrades from the previous productions.
You know… I have never seen Star Wars. I know it was like one of the greatest movies and the effects were awesome for the time that this was filmed but I could just never get into it. I know a lot of people who love Star Wars, sadly I am just not one of them! I am rather hated upon for this! Haha Like I broke the law of just being human! haha
What a fun event to attend! I still haven’t completely bought into all of the prequels, or even the notion of prequels at all. Still, I keep an open mind as much as possible. Maybe the new run of expanding the story will be good. I think that my favorites will always be the original 3 though.
I can’t wait to see what JJ Abrams has done with the franchise. Anything is better than the last 3 movies, lol. My son is a Star Wars freak. I don’t even know how he knows all the information he does, but you can ask him probably anything about Star Wars and he can tell you. It’s crazy.
I wasn’t even aware there was going to be another one. o.O;; I’m a bit out of the loop since I’m not a huge movie person! ^_^; I will have to re-watch the original movies and go from there!
My husband would be totally exactly about this! I have never actually seen any of the Star Wars movies, but it’s never too late to catch up! Now that I have a son, he is going to want to watch these. I should see what everyone loves about it!
Star Wars was never much of my thing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of the movies in full. I think that I’ve learned most about it from my 6 year old son.
What a great celebration of the revival of a new Star Wars movie! Wow this is the most iconic sci-fi series ever and its still going strong! I wish i could of been at this press event and I like the idea they got some new cast members as well as brought back Luke!