So, we are one month away from getting another Star Wars film. How crazy is that?! After seeing Return of the Jedi back in the 80s, there were always rumours that there was supposed to be at least 6 or maybe even 9 episodes in total. And obviously as A New Hope was Episode IV there was always a chance of getting 3 prequels. But Episodes 7-9 seemed to be even more of a whisper that would never see the light of day. It’s amazing that it’s now actually happening. I’m still pinching myself. Can’t believe it’s only one month away.
I’ve tried to avoid all the rumours and conjecture so far online. I’ve only watched the main official trailers and I haven’t read any of the detailed frame by frame analyses that some websites have had or even some of the extra photos released by Star Wars. But I wanted to write down some thoughts about what might happen in the film, if nothing else just to have a record of my own thoughts to see how close I get it. So, there are no major official spoilers in the below, it’s just all guesses based on the trailers. But still be cautious if you really want to go into the film cold.
We obviously know a little bit about Han, Chewie and Leia so far. Han is basically still Han. He’s hanging with Chewie and they are on the Falcon. Perhaps they don’t start that way though. Maybe he is a retired war hero kicking it back, married to Leia and the events of the film somehow bring him back into action (perhaps to save/talk to Luke?). Leia looks like she could still be living the life of a leader of a group of people.
The main thing to theorise about though is the whereabouts of Luke and also the exact form of the ‘big bad’. Some people think there is a connection there. The obvious guess that I have heard is that Luke is the big bad, or Kylo Ren’s boss. Or even that Luke is Kylo Ren. I don’t think so. I think that’s too simple and too unlikely. Also Kylo Ren isn’t a Sith so there doesn’t need to be two of them. But I do think that Luke will struggle with the dark side in some way. I think that is part of his DNA. The thin line between light and dark is maybe a side effect of being so strong with the force. I think he perhaps became a recluse because people became scared of his power as he was the only Jedi left, or perhaps he had an incident that scared him as it put him too close to the brink of the dark side and he removed himself. But something then happens in the Galaxy (involving Finn or Kylo Ren etc) that makes Han and Chewie have to go and bring him out of hiding. But I still think he will wrestle with demons.
It is looking likely that Rey is Han and Leia’s daughter. But is there another twin? Could be it Kylo Ren? Part of me doesn’t like it when the universe is so small that everyone is related but I also kind of like the idea that Han and Leia have a wayward son, and Darth Vader would have been that kid’s grandfather after all. (I got the ‘Kylo Ren brother’ idea from @TheRetroHunter by the way. I can’t claim that as my own).
One interesting thing is how Finn is seen holding a lightsaber to fight Kylo Ren. But does he have the Force? Or is he just defending himself with a lightsaber he happened to find? Is Rey the one with the Force powers if she is the daughter of Leia? Or do you think Luke has actually had any children and maybe lost a wife and that’s what made him become a hermit? So many questions.
I also think Han will die. He was meant to die in Empire and I’m sure Harrison Ford still wants him to die. I reckon he will die in this one but if not I think he will definitely die in the next film quite quickly. If Chewie lives then that would be interesting as Chewie is bound to Solo by a life long pact after Solo saved his life. So that would be interesting having Chewie flying the Falcon on his own. Maybe he hooks up with Lando in the second film? Chewbacca could go on until Episode 9 as he doesn’t need to be tied down to Peter Mayhew.
One thing that was interested from the main trailer was that it seems that the events of Yavin and Endor etc have become folklore and people don’t really know much about Jedis or the Dark Side of the Force. Perhaps a little bit surprising after Luke was instrumental in beating the Emperor and Darth Vader and people have forgotten only 30 years later, but I guess Jedi’s had already been dying out for about 20 years previously. Still interesting that nobody really knows about it. So I’m hoping we have a new introduction to the Force and that it obviously doesn’t involve any mention of midi-chlorians. I certainly love how it is Han now who is the one who is telling the next generation about the Force, when in A New Hope it was Han who was debunking the Force calling it ‘simple tricks and nonsense’. Things like that are a nice nod to the original trilogy without making it too obvious.
Another thing I found interesting was that the ship design hasn’t really advanced too much. Considering how much ship design had progressed in the 30-ish year time frame between the prequels and the original trilogy it is surprising that they are still just using a slight variation of X-Wings and Tie Fighters in The Force Awakens. But perhaps all the best engineers and designers in the galaxy were on the second Death Star when it blew. And I’m not complaining, because that Tie Fighter design is so iconic.
A summary of these and other things we can possibly expect…
- Han will die
- No mention of midi-chlorians
- Chewbacca to kick some ass. I think we’ll see more of Chewbacca doing action stuff
- Mandalorians to make some appearance and at least some reference to Boba Fett
- Tatooine mentioned but not visited
- No appearance of a Hutt
- I think it will end on a cliffhanger. Perhaps not as major a cliffhanger as Empire had but I don’t think it will be as standalone a movie as A New Hope was
- How does Finn end up with Luke’s lightsaber?? (that is one bit of news I couldn’t miss from the website headlines)
So what about the fates of the other characters?…
Luke Skywalker – Safe. Will be in 2nd film for sure. And probably the 3rd
Princess Leia – Safe. Could have smaller role in 2nd film though
Han Solo – Not safe. Will die in either this film or the 2nd film. Probably this one
Chewbacca – Safe. He can go on for longer than Harrison Ford because they could get a new actor under the suit
R2-D2 – Safe. I think he is one of the untouchable characters.
C3-PO – I think something may happen to C3-PO. We’ve seen the red arm in some photos and possibly the trailer, so something obviously happened to him, perhaps previously. Perhaps he will just have a smaller role. He may be separated from R2 for the majority of the film
Rey – Safe. She will be in all 3 movies. Untouchable
Finn – Safe. He will be in all 3 movies. Untouchable
Poe Dameron – Probably safe. I think it’s maybe him we see get tortured by Kylo Ren though, so who knows
Kylo Ren – Possibly safe. Some are saying that he is not the main big bad of the movie and that Kylo Ren may suffer the same fate as Darth Maul. Personally I’d like to see that as it means we would get a new baddie in the 2nd film. But I’m not sure. My initial gut instinct is that he could be here to stay.
Captain Phasma – Possibly safe. Perhaps she is like the Boba Fett of the films and makes an appearance in all three. Although if they have Kylo Ren as an ongoing baddie through the three movies then Captain Phasma could well be a one hit wonder. If I had to choose then I would go for that second option… Kylo Ren safe and Phasma not safe.
Who knows what will happen. It’s hard to know exactly which way Abrams and Kasdan will go. All I know is that I can’t wait until Dec 17th here in the UK. I’ve already booked the day off work and am going to see it twice. Stay tuned for my Star Wars Week where I will rewatch and review the first six episodes of Star Wars in the 6 days preceding The Force Awakens, and then I will review TFA on the 7th day.