History Trivia / TheForceAwakens

** Creator/AdrianEdmondson has made a career out of playing {{Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist}}s and hitting [[Creator/RikMayall]] [[GroinAttack in the dick]] for comedic purposes. Here, he appears as Hux's strait-laced, gruff aide Commander Peavey.

* Enabling the UsefulNotes/AudioDescription track for the blind will have a voice describe everything that is happening on-screen. The voice in question is that of Martin Billany (aka Creator/LittleKuriboh), as demonstrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0egskvmsoVQ here]].

* AscendedFanon: The name Captain Phasma existed way before Disney registered the name trademark. In the 2009 fan fiction ''Tarkin's Fist'', Phasma was a 10 year old daughter of an Imperial Admiral. Her name was eventually adapted by Lucasfilm for the commander of the First Order Stormtroopers and was geared with a [[ChromeChampion chrome Stormtrooper armor]] originally designed for Kylo Ren.

* CareerResurrection: While Hamill has had a successful career as a voice actor, he hasn't played many live-action roles for a long time. Since his involvement with ''The Force Awakens'' was announced, he's appeared in more live-action works such as ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' and ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}''.

* CashCowFranchise: Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion because ''Star Wars'' is one of the biggest (if not the TropeMaker, the TropeCodifier). And it paid off: ''The Force Awakens'' made over $500 million in its opening weekend, and got to $1 billion in 12 days (the fastest film to hit that mark). [[http://deadline.com/2016/01/star-wars-the-force-awakens-highest-grossing-film-domestic-box-office-record-beats-avatar-1201676602/ One month later]], it managed to overtake ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' as the highest grosser in North America, and the total there finished at a staggering $936.7 million. Worldwide, ''The Force Awakens'' stands as the third highest of all time, as well as the biggest moneymaker not directed by Creator/JamesCameron (both meaning it managed to, like ''Avatar'' and ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'', surpass $2 billion worldwide, and, like only ''Avatar'', do it on its initial release). Of course, that's not even getting into TheMerch, or the inevitable ''Ride/StarWarsGalaxysEdge'' at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks.

** The Knights of Ren are closer to the original version of the Sith, who were a rival faction of force users who supplanted the Jedi as the Empire's main peacekeepers.

** Kylo Ren himself is much closer to the prototype Vader, a high-ranking but still subservient general who does not need his trademark mask and is a member group of rival Force users to the Jedi who ended up betraying and murdering their former comrades

** Han Solo leads a small unit onto the surface of the superweapon planet to sabotage a shield generator for the coming attack.

** In ''The Phantom Menace'' Lucas wanted to have Anakin bring Queen Amidala's ship out of hyperspace directly above the planet of Naboo's surface as a way of bypassing the blockade and showing off his massive Force potential. Here Han does it on Starkiller base to bypass the shield and show what a crazy bastard he is.

** In a very early script for ''Film/ANewHope'', the original surname for Luke and Anakin was "Starkiller" and was titled ''The Adventures of Luke Starkiller''. Of course, that's not the name they wound up with, but as nod, the Death Star {{expy}} in this film was named Starkiller Base.

* SequelGap: It's been 32 years since the SeriesFauxnale (which is the last canonical story up to that point in time), and 10 since the last ''Star Wars'' Prequel.[[note]]It's also been 7 years since the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' film, which was a CompilationMovie more than an actual installment in the saga.[[/note]]

** After a set leak in June of 2014, showing off the ''Millennium Falcon'' along with other things, Abrams responded by tweeting that the leaks were unfounded and denied that the ''Millennium Falcon'' was present in the film... In the form of a note left on top of the ship's iconic Dejarik board.

** A fairly-plausible rumor detailing the film's opening act gained popularity online... Except for one part where it was mentioned that Luke's disembodied cybernetic hand would be a MacGuffin to kick off the plot, which was largely ridiculed and dismissed. For the update that announced the winner of the Force for Change initiative, a metallic hand was shown to be holding the note revealing the winner's name, and given the background of the location, the picture seemed to have been taken on Skellig Michael Island, where Hamill had last been seen filming. Whether it's just a poke at the rumor or if it's a simple preview of what's to come is anyone's guess.

*** Ford was the worst. When Creator/ConanOBrien offered him $1k to spill something about the new movie, he replied "A long time ago, in a place far, far away... I forget the rest." When he was on Creator/JimmyKimmel, he would take questions but wouldn't answer any ''Star Wars''-related ones. Cue being asked questions by a Jedi cosplayer, a stormtrooper, [[FanDisservice a fat man in a Princess Leia metal bikini outfit]] and a wookie (which caused Ford to start a joke-argument with him, leading to his exit from the show for the episode).[[note]]This is actually a CallBack to a similar skit when he was promoting ''Film/CowboysAndAliens''[[/note]]
*** Abrams didn't fare too much better. He took questions and answered vaguely in response, and then took some suggestions from the audience. Cue the same Jedi cosplayer saying there should be a lightsaber battle, and that [[{{Squick}} Leia and Chewie should do it]]. The same fat man from earlier suggested there should be some starfighter battles. And that Leia and Chewie should do it because it's what the fans want to see. Creator/BillyDeeWilliams then stood up and suggested [[BoldlyComing nothing but two hours of Lando and beautiful ladies making love across the galaxy]]. Finally, none other than Creator/WilliamShatner stood up and suggested Kirk exploring the ''Star Wars'' universe on the road trip of a lifetime. [[RuleOfThree And that Leia and Chewie should do it]].

* CreatorsFavorite: Creator/JohnBoyega called this his favorite of the Sequel Trilogy. ''Film/TheLastJedi'' being his ''least'' favorite (though he did say they were all "lovely" films).

* RecycledScript: In addition to recycling concepts and plots from both ''A New Hope'' and ''The Empire Strikes Back'', large portions of the story are remarkably similar to George Lucas's original story treatments for those films.

** Han Solo PassingTheTorch to the younger cast was intended to continue through the trilogy. Luke successfully passes it to Rey in ''The Last Jedi'', but Carri Fisher's tragic death prevented Leia doing the same in ''The Rise of Skywalker''.