"Chewie ... we're home."
Globally fans are rejoicing over the return of the "real" Star Wars as The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm on Thursday night unveiled a new second teaser trailer for the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens movie in which an older, greyer Han Solo (Harrison Ford) appears in an instantly emotional moment with his trusted sidekick, Chewbacca, which hasn't aged a day.
Apparently Wookiees have a lifespan of 200 to 300 years.
The new trailer has fans abuzz over the highly anticipated new Star Wars movie, directed by J.J. Abrams, which will be released globally on 18 December.
The 2nd trailer for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens was unveiled at the opening of Star Wars Celebration Live in Anaheim, California, where the films new and veteran stars, J.J. Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy gathered to talk about the film.
Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) showed up, joining a phalanx of Stormtroopers and new stars Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega on stage.
The visually stunning Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens trailer - set to John Williams' score - has fans in awe, showing a crashed Star Destroyer in the sand, the ruined helmet of Darth Vader, an X-wing starfighter and ends with an instantly emotional broment with Han Solo inside his ship the Millennium Falcon, saying "Chewie ... we're home".
Luke Skywalker can be heard, saying the exact words millions of fans know - then slightly adapted - of "The force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it. You have that power too", after which he hands a lightsaber to someone.
Ad Age echoed global fans' sentiment that the Force is strong with the new trailer, saying that "Even fans who swore to never look at a new Star Wars film again after what George Lucas and crew did with the last three films are going to forgive everything after seeing this trailer", adding that "that ads don't get much better than this".
J.J. Abrams further endeared himself to Star Wars fans by saying that as much as possible was done with real objects and real constructed environments - unlike the artificially-feeling prequel trilogy. The latest movie is set roughly 30 years after The Return of the Jedi.
While there will be numerous special effects in Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams said that as much as possible the actors and producers worked with real objects and scale models on real sets, trying to create the original feel of Star Wars over computer-generated imagery.
"We needed to set a standard, a standard you felt was real. You want it to be legitimate, you want it to be authentic."
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens will be followed by the second film in the new trilogy, set for release on 26 May 2017.
Two stand-alone spin-off Star Wars films are also in development. The first, Rogue One, will be released on 16 December 2016. A live action Star Wars TV drama spanning 100 episodes is still in the planning stages.
Meanwhile on Disney XD (DStv 304) the animation show Star Wars Rebels has resumed on Saturdays at 08:30 with new episodes.
