Veteran cast, newcomers feel Force at Comic-Con

The cast and filmmakers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, debuted a new behind-the-scenes reel and teased some new information at Comic-Con about the highly secretive film.

Filmmaker J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, were joined on stage by Star Wars veterans and Force Awakens stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

Seated next to Hamill, the gruff Ford was not hesitant to talk about his reluctance to revisit the world of Star Wars and the character of Han Solo.

“It should have felt ridiculous, it was 30 years ago,” Ford said. “I sort of grew up.”

He never thought that he’d do another film after the original trilogy.

“I was very gratified when I read the script because I read something that I thought was really remarkable, really well-written and with some very intriguing developments,” Ford said.

“I was delighted to be involved and I was very happy to be part of the story and the cast again.”

The Force Awakens, which hits theatres on Dec. 18, picks up about 30 years after events in Return of the Jedi.

Before fans were treated to the Star Wars veterans, they were introduced to the newcomers on the light side of the force and, for the first time, those on the dark side.

Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie and Domhnall Gleeson were on hand representing the bad guys. As the mysterious three-pronged lightsabre-wielding Kylo Ren, Driver tried to skirt any questions about his character.

When pressed, he talked vaguely about the philosophy of evil. “We didn’t really have a lot of conversations about bad or evil when we were shooting it,” Driver said. “It was more the difference between being bad and being right.”

Representing the light side of the force were Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac.

Abrams debuted a behind-thescenes reel available online.