page_title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens / Production / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Kathleen Kennedy, J. J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan speaking at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.
context_page_description: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a 2015 American epic space opera film produced, co-written and directed by J. J. Abrams. It is the first installment in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following the story of Return of the Jedi, and is the seventh episode of the nine-part "Skywalker saga". It was produced by Lucasfilm and Abrams's production company Bad Robot Productions, and was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film's ensemble cast includes Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Max von Sydow. Set 30 years after Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens follows Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Han Solo's search for Luke Skywalker and their fight in the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa and veterans of the Rebel Alliance, against Kylo Ren and the First Order, a successor to the Galactic Empire.
  The film was announced after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm in October 2012, 7 years after the release of 2005's Revenge of the Sith respectively.
context_section_description: Star Wars creator George Lucas discussed ideas for a sequel trilogy several times after the conclusion of the original trilogy, but denied any intent to make it. In October 2012, he sold his production company Lucasfilm, and with it the Star Wars franchise, to The Walt Disney Company. Speaking alongside Lucasfilm's new president, Kathleen Kennedy, Lucas said: "I always said I wasn't going to do any more and that's true, because I'm not going to do any more, but that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to turn it over to Kathy to do more."
  As creative consultant on the film, Lucas attended early story meetings and advised on the details of the Star Wars universe. Among the materials he turned over to the production team were his rough story treatments for Episodes VII–IX, which Lucas requested be read only by Kennedy, Bob Iger, Alan F. Horn, and Kevin A. Mayer. Lucas later said Disney had discarded his story ideas and that he had no further involvement with the film. Lucas's son Jett told The Guardian that his father was "very torn" about having sold the rights to the franchise and that his father was "there to guide" but that "he wants to let it go and become its new generation".
  The Force Awakens' first screenplay was written by Michael Arndt. Early drafts had Luke appear midway through the film, but Arndt found that "every time Luke came in and entered the movie, he just took it over. Suddenly you didn't care about your main character anymore." The writers decided to use Luke as the film's MacGuffin and, as something that the protagonists needed to find, would not appear in person until the final scene.
  Several directors were considered, including David Fincher, Brad Bird, Jon Favreau, Ben Affleck, and Guillermo del Toro; after a suggestion by Steven Spielberg to Kennedy, J. J. Abrams was named director in January 2013, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg as project consultants. Arndt worked on the script for eight months, but said he needed 18 more, which was more time than Disney or Abrams could give him. The production announced Arndt's exit from the project on October 24, 2013, and Kasdan and Abrams took over script duties. Abrams expressed relief that the release date was announced for December 2015 instead of a previously discussed summer release. He and Kasdan planned the story while walking in Santa Monica, New York City, Paris, and London. The first draft was completed in six weeks. Abrams said the key to the film was to return to the roots of the first Star Wars film and be based more on emotion than explanation. In January 2014, Abrams confirmed that the script was complete. In April 2014, Lucasfilm clarified that Episodes VII–IX would not feature storylines from the Star Wars expanded universe, though other elements could be included, as with the TV series Star Wars Rebels.
  Abrams stated that he purposely withheld some plot elements from The Force Awakens, such as Rey and Finn's last names and backgrounds. Kennedy admitted that "we haven't mapped out every single detail [of the sequel trilogy] yet", but said that Abrams was collaborating with The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, and that Johnson would work with The Rise of Skywalker's then-director Colin Trevorrow to ensure a smooth transition and that "everybody's got a say in how we move forward with this". Daisy Ridley later recounted that J. J. Abrams had written drafts for episodes 8 and 9.
  A fictional language was developed for use in the film by YouTube star Sara Forsberg, who created the viral video series "What Languages Sound Like To Foreigners"; Forsberg developed the language by studying languages such as Hindi and Gujarati.
  In November 2015, Lucas recorded an hour-long interview with CBS News reporter Charlie Rose in which he said Disney had not been "keen" to involve him and conceded: "If I get in there, I'm just going to cause trouble because they're not going to do what I want them to do, and I don't have the control to do that any more, and all it would do is just muck everything up." He also said, "They wanted to do a retro movie. I don't like t
caption: From left to right: producer Kathleen Kennedy, writer and director J. J. Abrams, and writer Lawrence Kasdan speaking at San Diego Comic-Con 2015
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