First 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Trailer Thrills Fans

LOS ANGELES, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2017 ) - Disney debuted its highly-anticipated first trailer for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" at a fan event in the United States Friday, sending the internet into a frenzy of excitement -- and speculation.

The footage from the eighth installment in the blockbuster space opera, due for release on December 15, was shown at the "Star Wars Celebration" gathering in Orlando marking the 40th anniversary of the original movie.

The 132-second clip teases Luke Skywalker's first meeting with Rey as he teaches her the ways of the Force, opening with the young apprentice on the island where fans saw her find Luke at the end of "The Force Awakens." "Breathe, just breathe.

Now, reach out. What do you see?" says a mysterious male voice as the camera focuses on a breathless Rey (Daisy Ridley) on her hands and knees beneath a cliff face. "Light. Darkness. And balance," Rey replies.

"It's so much bigger," the voice says. "I only know one truth. It's time for the Jedi -- to end," says the voice, which seems likely to be Luke (Mark Hamill). The first fully-formed trailer for "The Last Jedi" had almost half a million views and more than 13,000 comments on YouTube within 90 minutes of being posted, with #TheLastJedi quickly becoming the top trending hashtag worldwide on Twitter.

Directed by Rian Johnson ("Looper," "Brick"), "The Last Jedi" was filmed on the west coast of Ireland and at Pinewood Studios near London. - 'Incredible mind' - ===================== It sees the return of the characters introduced in 2015's seventh installment, including Rey, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega) and a few members of the original crew, including Luke.

The trailer serves up a cameo from the iconic Millennium Falcon in a dogfight with TIE fighters and there's also lightsaber-wielding bad guy Kylo Ren as well as Poe, Finn and droid favorites BB-8 and R2-D2.

The film also stars Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa, who appears briefly from behind in the trailer. Fisher died in December but had wrapped shooting "The Last Jedi" before her death, and was honored with an emotional video tribute as the convention opened Thursday.

Johnson paid his own tribute to Fisher -- who had a career parallel to her acting as a writer and highly regarded script editor -- revealing that she helped him with much of the dialogue.