Though the spoiler warnings were firmly in place - with Abrams asking fans not to spoil anything when they've seen the film - the director was willing to confirm what we categorically won't see in the film. When asked if there are Ewoks in The Force Awakens...
"Um, living?"
Wait... so there might be dead ones? Has Maz Kanata perhaps got a stuffed one in her Aladdin's Cave-like pirate base? And then later...
"No, there are no ewoks in this film. But there are a lot of them in Return of the Jedi."
That pours water on the theory that the little fur-balls would return after the IMDB cast-list featured Christopher Ang supposedly playing a character simply called Ewok (Green). That was already debunked, but at least this offers firm and final confirmation. But there's still the question of who Warwick Davis is playing.