Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 7 Big Things MISSING From The Trailer

One of the cool things about the teaser trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is how little information we actually get from it.

There’s a sweaty John Boyega, some amazing X-Wing action, a quirky lightsaber and even the Millennium Falcon. But it leaves us with way more questions than answers, and loads more to look forward to in future trailers. 
 
Here’s what the teaser trailer held back…

The Star Wars Trailer: Explained 
 
THE ORIGINAL CAST

Perhaps the biggest omission for the first trailer: no Luke Skywalker! No Han Solo! No Princess Leia! Most importantly, no Chewbacca! It’s an amazingly bold move to reunite the cast of the most beloved movie ever… and then not show ANY of them in the first trailer. Brave stuff.

THE DROIDS

Speaking of which, R2-D2 and C3P0, definitely in the film, are also conspicuous by their absence. In fact, this is probably the first ever ‘Star Wars’ trailer not feature either Artoo or Threepio. Having no recognisable characters, and focusing on just a handful of the newbies really reinforces that this is a break from the first six films. It also means that the moment we see the old gang back together again will have even more impact (presumably in the next full trailer).

PLOT INFO

A common trailer complaint is that it reveals too much of the plot. No chance of that here. This teaser leaves us really none the wiser about what the storyline of ‘The Force awakens’ is.  There’s a desert planet that might or might not be Tatooine. The Empire is still going strong in some form (see the stormtroopers and TIE-Fighters) and the Millennium Falcon is back. But we already knew all this thanks to the on-set photos. 
 
(ALMOST) NO DIALOGUE

Here’s a transcript of the dialogue in the trailer. “There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?” and “The dark side… and the light.” This reveals potentially that a new Jedi has been discovered… but not much else. There’s no exposition here, just (very cool) images.
 
THE IDENTITY OF THE VILLAIN

We only see the villain from behind, but we’re still not sure who he is… and even who plays him. We assume it’s Adam Driver – when his casting was announced in the trade press he was described as a villain in the “vein of Darth Vader” - but it could be Max von Sydow or someone else entirely. 

SPACE

For a film called ‘Star Wars’, there’s literally no stars here. All of the action here takes place close to the planets surface. So Star Destroyers and other heavy duty space tech will have to wait for now.
 
MOST OF THE NEW CAST

The trailer begins with John Boyega in the stormtrooper outfit, and also gives us a glimpse of Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac. But the rest of the new cast members have yet to be revealed. So that’s Von Sydow and (maybe) Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis (unless that’s him on voiceover duties), Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, and Pip Andersen. We know next to nothing about what their roles are, so there’s still so much more to learn in upcoming trailers. Which is as it should be.

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' is released in the UK on 18 December 2015.

Watch the trailer below.