Here’s my theory, so I can either be really right or horribly wrong. Luke is a new bad guy. Maybe he saw something Vader was doing and agreed with it. I don’t know what the hell that might be but it explains why there’s no Luke in the trailer and why the bad guy has Vader’s helmet. How many other people would have known that Vader’s body was taken off the Death Star and where to look for the burned remains.
So Luke is the new badish guy, or at the least the person with Vader’s helmet.
This movie could redeem TRotJ by having the bad guy, Kylo Ren (right?), searching and finding Vader’s helmet on the moon of Endor. He turns around and is facing a tribe of curious Ewoks.
He lights up his crossbar lightsaber and goes to town on them like Anakin did on the Sandpeople.
The new Ewok collectible merchandise is sold in pieces.
This is exactly what I have to tell myself anytime I even THINK about this movie.
I was 7 when I saw the first one in the cinema and I’ve love them since like so many of my generation.
This trailer made me more excited than a movie probably should. Please please please J.J. don’t let this be another Phantom. I’m a natural cynic but I honestly more excited for this than I have been for any other entertainment event in as long as I can remember.
Now excuse me while I go look at that again and for a minute or two become a kid again 
If the force is awakening again, perhaps both have force power. I think Kylo Ren and Rey are twins, kids of Han Solo and Leia.
“Now you have that power, too.” from the first trailer.
Redeeming Kylo Ren may be a plot point of the series.
If you want to look at Io9’s breakdown of the trailer.
I admit, I’ve been trying to temper my expectations between the poor prequels and JJ’s terrible handling of the Star Trek movies. I did just geek out a little bit when looking though.
That would be a complete and utter betrayal of what the original trilogy stood for. The sad thing is I could totally see JJ. Abrams doing it to be “edgy”. The man is a technically competent director but a total failure as a storyteller. I hope Disney reined him in hard.
The thing is, the Republic/Empire is big. According to the novelizations of the original movies (which I think are still part of the new canon), it’s home to over 1 billion inhabited worlds and hundreds of thousands of sapient species, and there doesn’t appear to be any form of galactic CNN. It’s said in the novelization of ANH that almost nobody outside the neighboring planets ever even heard about the destruction of Alderaan, and it’s not like the Imperial Remnant (or whatever it’s called now) would publicize that the Emperor and his right hand were dead. A bureaucracy that size can survive the death of one man - chances are one of the grand moffs declared himself the new Emperor and business just kept on as usual outside of the areas the Rebels were able to hold.
There was a short clip in the trailer showing a forested place being engulfed in fire. I assume that was the post-Death-Star Endor holocaust.
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The thing is, the Republic/Empire is big. According to the novelizations of the original movies (which I think are still part of the new canon), it’s home to over 1 billion inhabited worlds and hundreds of thousands of sapient species, and there doesn’t appear to be any form of galactic CNN.
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I figure the destruction of the second Death Star and death of the Emperor would be seen by the rest of galaxy the same way most people in the world saw the fall of the USSR. Step 1: There’s a USSR, Step 2: something weird is happening in Moscow, Step 3: No more USSR, somehow. Everyone gets the broad sweep of the situation, but the exact details of what went down and who specifically was involved at whatever steps is not really well-known.
I’ve been thinking about it a bit more. I don’t know the Star Wars universe that well, I only know the movies really. Could be Luke is more a third wheel and not evil. Perhaps Vader wanted to do something else and they talked in spirit form after his death.
As I said, it seems strange that anyone besides Luke and maybe Leia and Han knew Luke took Vader’s body off the deathstar. As I said though, I don’t keep up with Star Wars beyond the movies. Just what I picked up from seeing Vader’s mask and no sign of Luke when everyone else was there.
In Jedi you see many non Ewoks on Endor at the end.
3:30 mins in you will see lots of rebels dancing and celebrating. Luke is the only one seen at the pyre that Vader was burnt on but it would be simple to just put a single line in that a rebel that was there gave the info in a drunken bar story about where Vader ended up.I’m fairly sure that was Luke (with the cybernetic hand and all) caressing R2-D2.
I’m getting the strong, yet not unsurprising, feeling that Luke is holed up somewhere remote in an Obi Wan kind of way.
If I had to take a guess, I’m guessing it’s that old temple ruins with the tattered banners hanging that Han is leading Finn and Rey to. Someone needs some Jedi training.
It should also be noted that the Force was largely mocked and disbelieved by most in the OT. Hell, Vader has to Force choke one of his own men to get him to shut up about how ridiculous it is to depend on Vader’s hooky religious beliefs.
The only ones left who wielded it in the OT were a handful across the entire galaxy: Luke, Vader, Obi Wan, Yoda and the Emperor (Leia had it, but doesn’t use it). By the end, all that’s left is Luke.
So what trickled down, legend-wise, over the battles of the Rebels vs. the Empire was some talk of some very focused Jedi and Sith at play in the heart of each grand battle… but the details from eye-witnesses would be largely be dismissed or non-existant if the died in the battle. And maybe that’s how Luke, Han and Leia wanted it to be.
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but are the next movies based on Lucas’ original story? My understanding is that Lucas wrote a full story arc at the very beginning. When he started filming he realized he couldn’t do the who thing so picked out the best part, which became A New Hope.
My understanding is, no. It’s all new, but co-written by the same guy who wrote Empire Strikes Back (Lawrence Kasdan)
AFAIK, no - the new story is entirely the creation of Abrams, Kasdan, and whatever studio functionaries were assigned to smooth it into something marketable.
Chewbacca (and most likely Han Solo) bites it in this one. Take it to the bank.
I was thinking either Luke or Leia (or both).
I’m thinking Luke’s a bad guy in need of redemption, here. They sure ain’t showing him a lot and redeeming Luke would get pretty much everyone in the audience emotionally invested.
Hmmm, thanks. That concerns me. Lucas did downright deplorable dialog but his stories usually had much to offer. Now I’m curious about what the original story had for episodes 7-9.