The official title for 2015’s Star Wars movie makes an unexpected change

By Rick Marshall November 7, 2014

twitter star wars online session cast the force awakens — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Rest easy, Star Wars fans. The upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII will not, in fact, be titled “The Return of Jar-Jar Binks.” Thankfully, the next installment of the sci-fi franchise will hit theaters with a title that inspires more hope than dread: Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Walt Disney Studios and LucasFilm announced the project’s official title just a few days after principal photography concluded on the film. A title card (pictured) was revealed along with the full title.

The reveal originated on the official Facebook page for Star Wars as well as on StarWars.com, with both sites confirming that shooting had wrapped on the production. As many fans and outlets have noted, the official title drops the “Episode VII” branding, opting for a shorter title that assumes some familiarity with the continuity of the series.

Star Wars: the Force Awakens hits theaters December 18, 2015, and features the return of franchise actors Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker, as well as newcomers John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong’o, and Gwendoline Christie. The film is directed by J.J. Abrams.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Entertainment

The best Star Wars shows on Disney+

Rosario Dawson in Ahsoka.

Disney+ began with a promise that the much-hyped Disney streaming service meant that multiple Star Wars live-action series could finally be made. It took a few years after the 2019 premiere of The Mandalorian, but we're finally at a point where we can make an actual list of the best Star Wars shows on Disney+. In fact, the live-action series are almost as numerous as the animated shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels that kept the franchise going between the films.

Ahsoka is the latest Star Wars series to join Disney+, and it serves as a bridge between the animated programs and the live-action shows that may carry the franchise back to the big screen. Ahsoka is not as gritty or political as Andor, but there's a lot to like. If you're new to the franchise or a Star Wars veteran who just wants to know where to catch up on your favorite space opera, we've put together this guide to the best Star Wars shows on Disney+. May the Force be with you when streaming!

Entertainment

Did Andor ruin Ahsoka, and maybe the entire Star Wars franchise, by being too good?

Ahsoka Tano holds one of her lightsabers in Ahsoka episode 4.

Disney+’s Ahsoka is a lot of things: A quasi-sequel to Star Wars Rebels, a spinoff of The Mandalorian, a rollicking space adventure. Above all else, though, Ahsoka is a show made by and for Star Wars fans. Created by George Lucas’ chosen protégé, Dave Filoni, the series is overflowing with details, Easter eggs, and characters from past Star Wars films and TV shows — namely, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels. These various references have all been collected in a story that seems designed to serve as the bridge between the Rebels finale and Filoni’s now-announced Star Wars crossover film, which will purportedly close out the New Republic story first introduced in The Mandalorian.

At the center of said story is the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and the Imperial Remnant’s quest to bring him back into the fold. That mission is the driving narrative force of Ahsoka, which pits the show’s heroes against those who wish to find Thrawn and rescue him from his years-long exile in a foreign galaxy. The series is, in other words, a lot less about Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and her personal journey than its title would lead you to believe. In fact, of all of its concerns, Ahsoka’s characters feel increasingly less like its top priority.

Entertainment

The 10 best lightsaber duels in Star Wars, ranked

Luke Skywalker lunges towards Darth Vader during their lightsaber fight on Cloud City.

Star Wars has contributed countless indelible moments and images to our popular culture, but if there’s one artifact that is most intrinsic to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, it’s the fantastical weapon of the Jedi Knights, the lightsaber. From the very first time audiences saw Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader cross glowing, humming swords aboard the Death Star in 1977, we’ve been absolutely obsessed, and storytellers across multiple media and nearly half a century have been only too happy to indulge our craving for increasingly elaborate lightsaber duels.
Lightsaber fights come in all shapes and sizes, from emotional one-on-one bouts in live-action to wild animated free-for-alls, and selecting our 10 favorites from the franchise to date was no easy task. There are a lot of metrics by which to judge — the excitement of the action itself, how it’s shot, the story behind it, the use of environment, even the music to which it’s set — but the cream of the crop are those duels that either dominate one category or harmoniously balance each one. Will your favorites make the list? You’ll find we’re full of surprises …

10. The Ronin vs. the Bandit Leader (The Duel - Visions, season 1, episode 1)