Fans of the Star Wars franchise have been enjoying all the tidbits and things coming out of Celebration this weekend in Orlando with all sorts of projects, actor and creative appearances, and retrospectives. As well as a heartrending piece for Carrie Fisher as well. What a lot of fans were waiting for was the extended panel today for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as it was hoped/expected to be the best place to introduce the first trailer for the film. And they did just that.
It’s a trailer that will certainly provoke some reactions from people for a range of reasons. It’s not an upbeat trailer like the first one was for The Force Awakens, but this film has a different job to accomplish. That trailer was meant to reconnect all the generations of fans and to show that without George Lucas involved that they knew what the fans wanted and what they would expand with. This film is going to get plenty of comparisons to Empire Strikes Back but more so in tone as it’s looking to be more serious, likely more grounded, and definitely more character driven. A darker film though without the likely echoes of Empire so strongly within it. There are a lot of little details in the mix that the hardcore fans will start going through, but for now just take in what we have and realize what an incredible ride we still have ahead of us.
The cast is confirmed with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis. New cast members will include Academy Award® winner Benicio Del Toro, Academy Award® nominee Laura Dern, and talented newcomer Kelly Marie Tran.
The film is being directed by Rian Johnson, who also worked on the screenplay for it. It’s scheduled for a December 15th, 2017 release.