One of the most anticipated panels from Star Wars Celebration this year focused on Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi and one of the most exciting moments, of course, came when Johnson finally unveiled the first trailer for the film.
The trailer gave us a look at Rey learning to control her new abilities and finally let us hear Luke Skywalker speak for the first time since the new trilogy began, but the panel wasn’t just oriented on the trailer. We also got some information about what Luke’s role will be, along with hints at how Rey and Finn’s (John Boyega) arcs will be expanded on. We didn’t get too much information about Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), but there are still quite a few interesting tidbits to take away from the panel.
A brand new trailer and a brand new poster
Before debuting the trailer, director Rian Johnson introduced the absolutely stunning official poster for The Last Jedi, featuring series lead Rey triumphantly holding her lightsaber aloft, before a background of stars and the looming faces of her mentor, Luke Skywalker, and her nemesis and Luke’s nephew, Kylo Ren.
Addressing the giant elephant in the room, the first trailer for the packed Celebration crowd — which was played twice — features Luke and Rey’s voices taking about the Force, as various scenes drift by. You can watch it right here, and find out what their conversation might mean and what was conspicuously left out of the new footage right here.
Hints at Luke’s long-awaited role in the new trilogy
One of the most pressing questions fans had about Star Wars: The Force Awakens before its release was “Where is Luke?” Preliminary trailers had only included one shot that was implied to be Luke Skywalker, the lead character of the original Star Wars trilogy, while it was clear that Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Carrie Fisher’s Leia Organa were significant characters. A single leaked picture of Mark Hamill in Jedi robes traveled around the Internet with the swiftness of any meme.
When the film hit theaters, the reason for all that became clear: Luke was barely in the movie, and had no lines. The Last Jedi promises to make good on that deficit: it appears, as suspected, that Luke will play a major role in the narrative. We even got our first look at him in the new movie, greying and disheveled from years of self-imposed exile.
But will the Jedi hero who brought about the fall of the Empire and turned Darth Vader himself to the Light side of the Force be everything that Rey expects him to be? Daisy Ridley had some unnerving words for anyone expecting Luke to leap to the rescue of the plotline.
A look at the franchise’s newest character
With a new entry in the Star Wars universe comes a new character: Rose. Rose is played by Kelly Marie Tran, and the actress described the character as “part of the Resistance,” adding that she worked in maintenance. Tran couldn’t tell her parents, family or friends about her role in the film, so lied about working on an independent movie in Canada while they were filming.
Even though she’s one of the newest characters, people are already falling in love with her. More specifically, people are falling in love with the idea of Star Wars continuing to diversify its cast by bringing on an Asian actress. Even though Rose seems like the type of character we’re going to root on in The Last Jedi, there’s a lot we don’t know about her. Like, for instance, her last name? Do people just not have last names in Star Wars anymore?
And something cute besides
Also BB-8 was there. You know you want to look at some cute BB-8 footage.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released on Dec. 15, but between more trailers being released over the coming months, Disney’s D-23 conference and San Diego Comic-Con, expect a plethora of news along the way.