The day has arrived, and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" hits theaters today, and as the early reviews have noted (here’s ours), the picture’s DNA is formed by the original trilogy. As you’ve already seen in the trailers, villain Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, has a obsession with the late Darth Vader, and in fact, there was one line snipped from the movie that nodded directly to the past. The actor recently told Digital Spy that a scene was filmed with a variation of the quote "I sense something, a presence I’ve not felt since…" but that it was ultimately scrapped.
Indeed, we’re likely to learn more about the development process of ‘The Force Awakens’ down the road once everyone knows the secrets J.J. Abrams and co. have packed into it, but in a lengthy chat with Nerdist, producer Kathleen Kennedy credits the fans for keeping spoilers at bay. She notes that most folks actually want to see the movie with fresh eyes, which has made their job a bit easier when it comes to clamping down on leaks. It’s a great talk, and you can check it out in full below.
Meanwhile, people are already looking ahead to Rian Johnson‘s ‘Episode 8,’ and Daisy Ridley is already excited. “[Rian] follows it up very well. We’ve mainly been promoting number seven, but the script is fantastic and I’m very excited to get started. I’m signed up for one more, then we’ll see,” she told Yahoo.
See you at the cinema tonight — check out some new featurettes and TV spots below.