Did you feel a disturbance in the Force? As if millions of Star Wars fans suddenly cried out in delight? That upswing in the midichlorian count was caused by the release of the first online trailer for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” teasing us with the silhouette and voice of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
The two-minute clip was released today in conjunction with a weekend-long Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Fla.
Without getting too spoilery, let’s just say that the trailer picks up the story where the previous installment, “The Force Awakens,” left off. Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of Ireland that served as a monastic redoubt centuries ago, comes in for a lot of screen time.
Daisy Ridley, who was introduced as a swashbuckling rebel named Rey in the previous film, also gets a lot of screen time in the trailer. Skywalker is clearly giving Rey counsel on the Jedi ways, but apparently not the counsel she was hoping for.
“I only know one truth,” we hear Hamill saying in a gravelly voice, worlds away from the boyish tone he had 40 years ago in the very first Star Wars movie. “It’s time for the Jedi … to end.”
During a 40th-anniversary panel discussion in Orlando, Ridley got the crowd going when she observed that “it’s difficult to meet your heroes, because they might not be what you expect.”
Other snippets bring us up to date on good-guy Finn (John Boyega) and bad-guy Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Even the late Carrie Fisher appears to show up as General Leia Organa in a back-angle silhouette.
Add in some quick battle shots, the Star Wars theme in a minor key, and you’ve got a deliciously dark confection to whet the appetite for the release of “The Last Jedi” on Dec. 15. And if you need any more appetizers, here’s a new poster for “The Last Jedi”:
