Even though there are two more days left of San Diego Comic-Con, last night’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel in Hall H was easily the most anticipated event of the convention. While there was generally a feeling that nothing big would be revealed, there was still plenty of great moments for the fans who managed to get in.
Much of the panel featured comments that we’d heard before. J.J. Abrams talked about how important it was for the crew to build physical aliens and use practical effects. That lead to the introduction of the weird character seen in the Force For Change video last year. It turns out that the character is named Bobbajo.
“You can feel that those are real weapons and those are real stormtroopers back there,” writer Lawrence Kasdan said. “It was all real. We got that part right.”
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy did say that the main episodes are part of the main saga, while the standalone Anthology films are self-contained stories. But we already knew that and no further information was revealed about the Anthology movies. In addition, we heard nothing about Rian Johnson’s involvement in the next Episodes and there was no mention of Colin Trevorrow directing a Star Wars movie.
There really was no new trailer, but they did show a really nifty behind-the-scenes video, that confirmed a few things. It turns out that Simon Pegg really does have a part, but we might not actually see him onscreen. You can also spot Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill at work with the new castmembers.
Every main castmember was there. First, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Iaaac walked onto the stage. Then, they were joined by the villains - Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson and Gwendoline Christie. It was revealed that Gleeson will be playing General Hux. “I am evil. I’m British,” Gleeson joked.
Hamill and Fisher then came out on stage, but the big surprise was an appearance by Ford. It was the actor’s first public appearance since his March plane crash.
“It felt great…the original Star Wars was the beginning of my working life…so it was great to be back. Thank you,” Ford said.
Here’s the behind-the-scenes video shown at the convention:
The Force Awakens hits theaters on Dec. 18.
screenshot from Star Wars YouTube video