'Star Wars VII' Title Confirmed; Everything We Know About 'The Force Awakens'

Big news for “Star Wars” fans today as the official title for the upcoming seventh film was revealed. The title of the J.J. Abrams led movie will be “Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens.”

The announcement was made on Nov. 6 via Twitter. What many, including the Verge, find most striking about the title is how wonderfully simple it is. It’s a classic-sounding name that does a perfect job of being both endlessly exciting and also completely vague. As the Hollywood Reporter points out, “The Force Awakens” isn’t any “less confusing or meaningless” than “The Phantom Menace” or “A New Hope.” This isn’t altogether surprising since Abrams, the film's writer/director, has made it very clear that this new trilogy will lean heavily on the original three films (often referred to by diehard fans as “The Holy Trilogy”).

While the new title is exciting, it’s also created a lot of fodder for speculation as to the film’s plot. With virtually no details known so far, “The Force Awakens” has many asking one important question: “Was it asleep?”

As Entertainment Weekly points out, the Force, both light side and dark side, was featured heavily in the original trilogy. As fans will remember, Luke lifted a giant X-Wing fighter out of Yoda’s swamp and Darth Vader was choking people out from across the room like nobody’s business. Luke Skywalker was supposed to bring balance to the Force, maybe these new films, which take place 30 years after “Return of the Jedi,” will center on his journey to make it the once great power that it was in the prequel trilogy. Original cast members Mark Hamil (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Harrison Ford (Han Solo) will reprise their roles in the upcoming film, so it would make sense for the plotline to center heavily on them.

Disney also announced that principal photography on the film has wrapped, but there is still a lot of work to be done in post-production. The cast even had a reported wrap party at London’s Science Museum last week. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is scheduled for release on Dec. 18, 2015.