San Diego Comic-Con 2015 has officially come and gone, for better or worse. Part of the recovery process includes binging all the news you may have missed and while it’s unlikely you haven’t seen the Star Wars panel yet, we’re still going to talk about it because duh.
The panel, which took place in Hall H on Friday afternoon, was a glorious hour of news, stories, and fan questions. You can watch it below!
It started with the big trio of Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, director J.J. Abrams, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan discussing bringing this film to life. Abrams, prompted by host Chris Hardwick, discussed how much this franchise means to him and that, at the end of the day, is one of the most exciting things about this project.
The team also talked about practical effects and not relying too much on CGI. From this, we got a special behind the scenes video of The Force Awakens and if you don’t tear up watching this, I have serious questions for you.
Simon Pegg! Peter Mayhew in the Chewbacca costume!
“It’s being done with such love and such enthusiasm from everybody,” Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) says in the video. “And I think that you’ll be able to feel that coming off the screen.”
I know I already feel that.
Speaking of Isaac, the new trio (John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, and Oscar Isaac) then came out on stage to big applause. There was plenty to talk about, but Boyega and Isaac’s stories about Harrison Ford are real highlights.
Then the dark side arrived as Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), and Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), joined their fellow cast and crew on stage.
These three weren’t at Star Wars Celebration, so it was exciting to see them, particularly Gleeson whose character had been a secret up until now. Unsurprisingly, they were all relatively mum about their characters (except for when Gleeson hilariously spoiled the name of the base his character is on — Starkiller, inspired by Luke Skywalker’s original last name) but when a fan asked the cast what side of the force they prefer, all of them said the dark side.
So that was fun but of course, Hall H really erupted when Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford took the stage.
When asked about walking on set again, Ford explained: “I will tell you that it felt great. I wasn’t so sure it would but the company was the right company, the director was the right director, Larry wrote us a wonderful story, and I was proud and grateful to once again be involved.”
In the true spirit of Comic-Con, the panel didn’t end there. Abrams surprised the entire audience with a concert in a nearby park of the music from the films, joined by the cast! Believe me, I was super jealous too.
Needless to say, Star Wars was one of the biggest presences at Comic-Con and for good reason. I keep thinking my excitement for this film can’t get any bigger and then it does! Is December here yet?
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams and starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, and Gwendoline Christie, is set to come out on December 18, 2015.
