Entertainment

Here’s a Shot-By-Shot Breakdown of the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Trailer

We pick apart the most anticipated trailer of the year.

YouTube

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Star Wars movie coming out. Last night, millions of voices suddenly cried out in pure joy as the final trailer for The Force Awakens debuted during — of all places — Monday Night Football.

We brought you the news as soon as we could, and we figured we’d let you watch it a few times to absorb the awesomeness before we took a deeper look at what J.J. Abrams and co. have in store for us come December 18.

YouTube
  • Rey is seen scavenging on the desert planet of Jakku in the ruins of a downed Star Destroyer. It’s an apt little metaphor for the political environment we see in The Force Awakens, but more on that later. We can’t help but see the resemblance between Rey’s look and when Leia dressed up as the bounty hunter Boushh in Return of the Jedi. Rey is widely hinted at being Leia’s daughter, is this on purpose?
  • Lupita Nyong’o’s as yet unseen character Maz Kanata asks Rey, “Who are you?” No one really knows anything about the character other than that she’s some sort of space pirate. Then Rey responds, “I’m no one,” which is definitely not true considering Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s recent comments. “The Force. It’s calling to you,” Kanata says at the end of the trailer. “Just let it in.” As you know, the Force runs strong in the Skywalker family.
YouTube
YouTube
  • We’re not entirely sure what this spacecraft is, or why Rey is staring intently at it. Maybe it’s a kind of callback to Luke’s desire to get off his own desert planet, Tatooine, from the original trilogy.
YouTube
  • John Boyega’s Finn says “I was raised to do one thing,” hinting at the fact he may come from a military family or was simply raised to fight as a stormtrooper for the First Order. It’s a safe bet that Finn is behind the wheel of that pretty awesome black and red striped TIE fighter, and crash lands on Jakku as seen in the first shot of the original teaser. He says, “But I’ve got nothing to fight for,” meaning maybe he goes AWOL or he was sabotaged because of dissent.
YouTube
  • Echoes of the original movie’s shot of Mos Eisely, except this village looks even more remote than anything on Tatooine. Maybe Rey is there hiding for some reason?
YouTube
  • Pure Vader vibes from this shot of Kylo Ren standing on the deck of a Star Destroyer, but what’s he looking at? Does that red glow belong to the possible new Death Star seen on the poster? Ren, speaking to Darth Vader’s melted helmet, says, “I will finish what you started,” meaning he’s a wannabe Sith fanatic who is trying desperately to emulate Vader. The fact that he has the helmet at all is fairly spooky.
YouTube
  • Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron is an X-Wing fighter for the Resistance, the updated Rebel Alliance. He’s most likely playing the roguish Han Solo-type for the new generation, which is appropriate because Solo was tortured by Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and Dameron looks to be in a bad spot here with Kylo Ren.
YouTube
  • Ren glow? Mass planetary destruction? We’re thinking this is the third Death Star wreaking havoc on some poor planet.
YouTube
  • Millennium Falcon back. But is Han Solo flying it? It’s changed hands before…
YouTube
  • This one should give you goosebumps. Han Solo, the ultimate skeptic from the original trilogy, explaining to the new lead characters that the Force, the dark side, the Empire, and what happened are all true. It gives us a hint at what the post-Return of the Jedi galaxy is like. What was seen as the ultimate victory for the Rebels and Luke Skywalker is barely known by everyday people now. Does this mean that the fall of the Empire caused some kind of dark age depression throughout the whole galaxy?
YouTube
YouTube
  • Finn and Dameron are bros at this point in the movie, meaning Finn has renounced the First Order to join the Resistance, who seem to be mounting an attack or defensive position. It’s good to see that not much has changed in 30 years since the events of Return of the Jedi, and X-Wing pilots still rock those orange jumpsuits.
YouTube
  • With its flags, stone columns, and weird looking droids, this one is another mystery. Han is obviously leading Finn and Rey there. Could this be Maz Kanata’s hideout where she interrogates Rey?
YouTube
  • This one is a shot we’ve seen before, but its use in this trailer is just wonderful. Still speaking to Finn and Rey, Han says “They’re real,” referring to the long dormant order of Jedi. But that robot hand, black cloak, and that familiar droid could mean one thing: this is Luke Skywalker, who has been noticeably absent from all ads and trailers. It seems he’s on a volcanic planet of some kind. Did he return to Mustafar where his father completed his descent to the Dark Side to become Darth Vader?
YouTube
  • Cue up some more fiery shots of drop-ships and the totally badass Captain Phasma, who seems to be the leader of the stormtroopers. Are they on this volcanic planet searching for Luke?
YouTube
  • Rey is none too pleased. Did somebody important get hurt or killed?
YouTube
  • There’s Chewie again! But it looks like he, Han, and Finn were being held hostage.
YouTube
  • BB-8 belongs to Rey, but now the little astromech droid is helping the Resistance battle the First Order on an ice planet somewhere. Is this the same Hoth-like planet seen in the second teaser?
YouTube
  • This is a big leap, but hear us out: What’s this trench doing in the middle of a planet, and doesn’t it seem very familiar to a similar trench that Luke and the Rebel Alliance flew in to destroy the first Death Star? Does this shot mean that the First Order disguised their new Death Star as an actual ice planet, and the Resistance is there to blow it up yet again?
YouTube
  • Our first real glimpse of Leia is another sad affair, mirroring Rey, which may be on purpose. But she and Han are back together again, and look to be with the same Resistance group as Finn and Poe.
YouTube
  • If Kylo Ren is a weirdo Sith fanboy hoarder, he’ll probably want Luke’s lightsaber, which the Jedi dropped at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. But he’ll have to take it from Finn in what looks like a badass snow forest fight. We should note here that you don’t have to be a Jedi to wield a lightsaber.
Related Tags