Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 13 Things We Learned From The Press Conference

Kylo Ren almost looked like Captain Phasma.

With just days left before JJ Abrams' new chapter of the Star Wars saga lands in cinemas, Los Angeles hosted the global press conference with a large selection of cast and crew talent. Inevitably, Mark Hammill wasn't there, and neither was Jar Jar Binks. Read into that what you like. For a production so notoriously shrouded in secrecy, the press day was actually pretty insightful. Obviously spoilers of what IS in the film were kept to something of a minimum, as Abrams didn't want any pre-release marketing to "show you the movie in cliffs notes form. Disney actually took the lead to keep things quieter." But the panel members (split into two sets) did go into a lot of detail about the production, as well as offering some story and relationship details and openly admitting what ISN'T in the film. And there's some choice nuggets of information in there that fans ought to be getting excited about. Plus, as an added bonus, there was confirmation that Gwendoline Christie doesn't know if Jon Snow is alive or dead (thanks to John Boyega asking outright): "I don't know, I only get my bits of script."

13. The Trilogy Isn't Actually All Mapped Out

In stark contrast to Marvel's grand plan that seems to have been mapped out since day one of their production, Star Wars' wider narrative is actually pretty fluid. According to super producer Kathleen Kennedy "not every single moment" of the trilogy is mapped out but "that collaboration is I think is what is going to guarantee that everybody has a say in how we move forward with this. And so far it€™s going great. J.J. and Rian already talk at length, because Rian is about to start shooting Episode VIII - these guys are getting ready to head over in January." That "these guys" was directed at John Boyega, seemingly confirming that he will return for Episode VIII. There's clearly an over-arching thrust, but things will clearly be subject to change. Another little hint we did get was that Captain Phasma might return, judging by something Gwendoline Christie had to say:
"To not risk ruining everything for everyone, it's interesting to see where my character may go."
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