Watch STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Panel from Star Wars Celebration
There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? No, I’m not referring to the awakening of the Dark and Light sides of The Force, I’m talking about the reinvigoration of an old franchise and its multiple generations of fans. This culmination of old and new was addressed every which way during the Star Wars Celebration panel for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which ended in the debut of the new teaser trailer. Director and co-writer J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy were on hand to walk fans through the delicate balance they must strike between old and new technology, the original and new cast, and satisfying longtime fans while also ushering in a fresh and more diverse crop of characters to a growing audience.
Free Reyes filmed the panel, which you can watch in its entirety below. Panel highlights include:
- Abrams talking about his determination to use practical effects and sets as much as possible before handing it off to the visual effects teams.
- The trusty droid R2-D2 meeting BB-8 — the new spherical droid whose ability to move around is quite hard to wrap your head around
- Discussions with new cast members Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley, and John Boyega, and returning cast members Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, and Mark Hamill
- An army of new Stormtroopers
Below the panel we also have photos from the event that were released by Disney. Photos by Getty Images.
