What's Happening In The Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer?

It’s finally here! The first trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ has landed and it’s pretty cool if you ask us.

But what’s it all about? Who’s that guy with the awesome cross-blade lightsaber? Who’s that adorable new droid?

Here’s our shot by shot analysis…

The voiceover

"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?"

“The dark side… and the light.”

At first listen the ominous voiceover sounds a bit like Benedict Cumberbatch, but it couldn’t be… could it? It could just as easily (and probably much more likely) be the voice of confirmed castmembers Andy Serkis or Max Von Sydow.

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The first line coincides with John Boyega’s charcter bursting into shot, so are we to assume he has Jedi powers?

If Luke Skywalker destroyed the Sith at the end of ‘Return of the Jedi’, this talk of awakenings in the dark and light side of the force suggests we’ll see new Jedi and Sith in ‘Episode VII’.

Deserter in the desert

This is British actor John Boyega, best known for ‘Attack The Block’. He’s the top billed actor on the iTunes trailer page hosting the teaser, so we can assume he’s the lead character. We think this is on Tatooine - the film shot a number of desert exteriors in Abu Dhabi - but we don’t know for sure.

As we’ve long assumed, Boyega’s playing a Stormtrooper, but he looks like he’s in trouble. Who’s he on the run from and is that the sound of a probe droid we can hear? We guess he’s probably a deserter by the looks of it.

New Droid

This cute little fella is a brand new droid, previously unseen in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. He (or she) has an R2-D2 style head atop a rolling body.

According to rumours, this droid is a side-kick of sorts for Daisy Ridley and he’s said to be “curious and adventurous”. We’re glad the role of comic relief is returning to the droids, we couldn’t handle another Jar Jar Binks.

They’re back!

The troopers with the poorest aim in the Galaxy are back for ‘Episode VII’ which indicates that the Empire was not fully defeated at the end of ‘Return of the Jedi’.

These guys look infinitely more menacing than the head-bumping troopers of old and they have new weaponry, so here’s hoping they’ve been putting some target practice in too.

Daisy Ridley

This is newcomer Daisy Ridley. She’s said to be playing a character named Kira, who lives on a desert planet, presumably Tatooine. Earlier rumours suggested she has a workshop inside the hollowed out body of a fallen AT-AT walker. Cool!

Fighter pilot

This is our first look at Oscar Isaac’s ‘Force Awakens’ character. He’s a rebel fighter pilot - check the helmet decal - flying an X-Wing variant across a lake. Could this be Naboo, the home of Darth Vader’s wife Princess Amidala?

The dark side is not happy

We’re guessing this is the main villain of ‘The Force Awakens’, possibly played by Adam Driver. He’s probably a Sith lord (or at least one in training) and his lightsaber looks angry, unfinished, and deadly.

We don’t get to see his face, and rumours persist that he’s part cyborg but we’ll just have to wait and see.

The film shot a number of scenes in Puzzlewood, an ancient forest in Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean, so we assume this is one of them.

The money shot

Finally, we get to hear John Williams’ iconic score and see the Millennium Falcon in action. We’ve got to admit we got goosebumps.

The swooping, twisty tracking shot is the most JJ Abrams-style shot in the brief trailer and it’s a total doozy.

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Image credits: Disney