If you’re a Star Wars fan or have ventured within close proximity of the Internet over the course of the past 24 hours, you’ve likely heard that the new trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Force Awakens was unveiled yesterday during Monday Night Football. Needless to say, the trailer is currently being watched on repeat by thousands upon thousands of people, and many of them are mercilessly dissecting it in order to wring some fresh details out of it regarding the heavily anticipated upcoming movie.
With that being said, let’s take a look at all the speculation surrounding The Force Awakens following the release of this new trailer:
Chewbacca’s Dead?
The most troubling takeaway from the trailer for Star Wars fans is this image of Rey, sobbing over what appears to be a very hairy body. We all know that the hairiest body in the Star Wars galaxy belongs to Chewbacca, and fears that The Force Awakens may see the Wookiee meet his untimely demise are only heightened by the shot of Han Solo and Leia consoling one another. Please, say it ain’t so, JJ!
Han Solo Acknowledges the Force
Han’s character arch appears to take a drastic turn in The Force Awakens. While he was shown to be a wise-cracking skeptic in the original trilogy in regards to the Force, his admission of “it’s true, all of it” when asked about the events leading up to the destruction of Darth Sidious’ Empire, shows that he’s since learned to acknowledge that Jedi and Sith are very real. The likes of Chuck Wendig’s novel Star Wars: Aftermath have shown us how the fight for peace didn’t stop at the Battle of Endor, and judging by this trailer it seems that in those years Han has transformed from a witty gunslinger into a battle-hardened war veteran. That will certainly make for a very interesting transition, though we still want to see that scruffy-looking nerf herder delivering a few one-liners.
Rey is Luke’s Daughter?
Someone other than Luke and Leia in The Force Awakens has to be a Skywalker, and if you believe the Internet then it’s increasingly likely that two of the film’s characters have Skywalker blood in them. The first is Rey, with it being suggested that she is the daughter of Luke and… er… yeah, we don’t know that part yet. But there are a number of factors that contribute to this theory being reasonable; the first being that she is featured very prominently on the film’s poster, which you can see below…
…and the second being that it doesn’t seem likely that she’s Han and Leia’s daughter, as Han is shown discussing the events of the original trilogy with her, something which you’d imagine would have come up during her childhood. There’s another argument which suggests that Rey could be Han and Leia’s daughter and that she simply went missing for a while, but seriously, how many times could Star Wars possibly pull the “Skywalkers keep misplacing their kids” thing before it starts to become a little bit suspicious? Like, seriously, put a tracking device on them or something.
Kylo Ren is Han and Leia’s Son?
Yes, Star Wars fans have a weird habit of thinking that everything in The Force Awakens must be immediately connected to the George Lucas’ series, but c’mon, when Lucas somehow managed to shoehorn C-3PO into the prequels by revealing that he was actually Anakin’s droid all along, you can’t really blame them for doing so. With that being said, the prevailing theory is that Kylo Ren is Han and Leia’s son, and at this point it makes some degree of sense.
Firstly, we know that Kylo is obsessed with Darth Vader, which would make sense if he’s Leia’s son, with it making Vader his grandfather. Secondly, it seems plausible that The Force Awakens would star a Skywalker in the leading role – if Rey was actually Han/Leia’s daughter rather than Luke’s, that would likely mean that she would carry the Solo name instead, which just doesn’t seem right for a Star Wars film.
Or the trailers could be throwing us a major curveball and Kylo could actually be the star of JJ Abrams’ trilogy, depicted struggling with the dark side in the first film only to eventually see the error of his ways, with it then being revealed that he’s Luke’s son in a little twist on the parental revelation from Empire Strikes Back.
Oh, and as for the rumor that Kylo Ren could actually be a newly evil Luke Skywalker in disguise? That now seems even more unlikely given that he’s shown running towards Finn without his mask, with the tousled, dark brown locks he’s sporting clearly not belonging to Mark Hamill.
It Looks Like a New Death Star is in Action
The trailer depicts Kylo Ren on board a new space station which, if the floating space structure depicted in the film’s poster is anything to go by, is probably a new Death Star. The glowing red light seen in the shot is then echoed in the next scene, which shows a planet being ripped through by – you guessed it – a bright red beam. It seems that Kylo Ren has a fully operational Death Star 3.0 at his disposal, and it’s destroying more planets than just Alderaan and Despayre.
Where is Luke?
Luke Skywalker is curiously absent from the new trailer, which suggests that his appearance is going to be a big reveal. But why?
It’s being heavily suggested that the above image of a hooded figure with a robotic arm is Luke, and that would make sense given that he did indeed have a cybernetic hand. However, Luke’s prosthetic was much more lifelike than what is shown here, so could this mean that much like her father before him, Luke is now more machine than man? This would certainly explain his absence from the film’s poster, with his appearance in the film therefore being more shocking as a result of seeing a Luke who resembles Vader more than he does Anakin.
It’s also been suggested that Luke could make his first appearance during the lightsaber duel which concludes the trailer, with Finn (who we’re still completely in the shade about in regards to his impact upon the film’s plot) taking on Kylo Ren. Finn looks a little out of his depth in the confrontation, so maybe Finn becomes Luke’s Padawan after the encounter, with Luke training him in a similar manner to how Yoda began his journey to becoming a Jedi. We hope for Finn’s sake that he doesn’t have to carry Skywalker around in a backpack.
An Empire Cover-up
We know that The Force Awakens‘ First Order are carrying on the work of the Empire, but given how the trailer highlights the confusion surrounding the events of the Battle of Endor, it seems that this splinter group formed from the remnants of Episode III – VI’s evil army have done a good job of covering up what exactly went down. Considering the trailer shows Rey asking Han Solo about the events surrounding the war between the Rebels and the Empire, with The Force Awakens taking place just 30 years after Return of the Jedi, it would suggest that the good guys’ victory isn’t exactly common knowledge, or at least the events surrounding the Empire’s defeat have been kept under wraps.
This could mean that it hasn’t been made clear that Anakin Skywalker was actually the individual who successfully brought the Empire to their knees, and that he converted back to the light side of the force before his demise. This would explain why Kylo Ren believes that he is carrying on Vader’s work, even though Vader was the one who killed the Emperor and saved Luke from certain death. Have the First Order been using propaganda to undermine the achievements of the Rebels?
