JJ Abrams: "No accident" that Luke Skywalker is missing from STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS marketing

When it was announced that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would be seeing the main original trilogy cast return, it was a really big deal for fans. Now we could finally witness the great Jedi master that Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker had become in the 30 years since we last saw him. Except we totally haven’t. Despite a handful of trailers and TV spots, batches of official images, and even whole heap of leaked pics, all we’ve really seen or heard from Luke is one brief mysterious voiceover, and what appears to be his cybernetic hand patting R2-D2’s head.

This lack of Luke has led some fans to theorize that perhaps this older Skywalker has actually gone over to the Dark Side (it happened in the very popular comic book Star Wars: Dark Empire) and that showing him now would be giving away the surprise. Hell, there was even a very widely circulated theory that Luke has now actually become the new helmeted bad guy Kylo Ren (this despite the fact that Adam Driver is very clearly cast in the role). But this type of craziness is what happens when there’s no real hard evidence and fans just end up clutching at straws as they try to make sense of it all.

Of course the one man who would know all of this for sure though is JJ Abrams, who directed and co-write The Force Awakens – but typical to his secretive reputation, Abrams isn’t spilling the beans. In talking with The Sydney Morning Herald (via StarWarsNewsNet) though, Abrams would confirm one important detail: Luke’s lack of coverage is “no accident”.

“These are good questions to be asking, I can’t wait for you to find out the reason… It’s no accident.”

Oh, that JJ. Always the blabbermouth, right? To be fair though, I have loved the editing of the marketing thus far – giving us glimpses of characters and certain scenes, without really revealing the narrative context to them. In other words, getting fans hyped without the use of spoilers. I applaud this approach, but I must admit that the mysterious fate of Luke Skywalker is very intriguing, especially since it was revealed that the question of “Who is Luke Skywalker?” was actually the hook that got Abrams, a huge Star Wars geek who was hesitant to work on something so precious to him, to sign off on directing this movie in the first place.

The director also went on to update on the film’s production, revealing that just because they were in the homestretch before the film’s release in about a month and a half, it didn’t mean that there wasn’t a lot of work to still be done.

“The visual effects process goes on for so long, my guess is that we’ll probably be doing visual effects for the next three or four weeks even though the cut will be done before then. We’re in the editing room, and you know working on the cut, going over visual effects and doing reviews. We still have another scoring session with John Williams, who is a god when it comes to music, and so it’s been an ongoing surreal experience and I just cannot wait for the movie to be out in the world.”

Abrams also touched on the recent trailer, and how it just obliterated all previous records.

“We were all thrilled that the trailer was seen and embraced, especially people who were saying they’re not even really fans of Star Wars but they’re interested in seeing this thing now and it’s a testament to all the amazing work that this cast and crew have done, and the studio in rolling out the movie the way they have.”

In a separate discussion, Abrams also confirmed that this was indeed the final trailer we will get before the film’s release, so don’t go expecting any more reveals. And you know what? I’m perfectly happy with that.

You can watch the full interview between Abrams and SMH in the video below:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens locally on December 16, 2015.

Last Updated: October 29, 2015