UPDATE: The teaser's narrator and actor behind the menacing voice is new cast member Andy Serkis, E! News has confirmed.
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It's finally here!
The trailer for the new Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, aka Episode VII of George Lucas' cult sci-fi film series has been released.
The video, which was posted online on Nov. 28, aka Black Friday, highlights everything new about the anticipated film, the first of a third trilogy: New actors, a new droid and a new weapon!
"There has been an awakening," a deep, menacing voice says as the sand dunes of what appears to be the planet Tatooine are shown. "Have you felt it?"
The actor behind the voice, Andy Serkis (pictured below), is known for portraying Smeagol / Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies and has also appeared in movies such as 13 Going on 30.
Fans had previously speculated that the narrator was Benedict Cumberbatch, who voiced the villain dragon Smaug in The Hobbit films and had remained coy when asked about being involved in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. while others thought it was Max von Sydow, a confirmed new cast member.
Anyway, back to the trailer.
A man in a slightly new-looking Stormtrooper uniform, played by Attack the Block and 24: Live Another Day star John Boyega, then pops up unmasked, sweating and hyperventilating,
We are then treated to a glimpse of a new, rolling droid that looks like a combination of R2-D2, who is featured in the movie, a soccer ball and a Boggle game piece, moving alongside what appear to be podracers.
Also shown: Masked Stormtroopers getting ready to battle and a shot of newcomer Daisy Ridley flying a small aircraft across the desert.
Inside Llewlyn Davis star Oscar Isaac, another newbie, is seen inside the cockpit of another aircraft, while footage of several X-Wing starfighters, sporting a slightly new design, flying over a lake are also shown.
And then, a hooded figure (a Sith Lord?), shown from behind, makes his way through the dark in a snowy forest and pulls out a never-before-seen type of lightsaber.
"The dark side," the voice says again. "And the light."
Cue John Williams' iconic movie theme and footage of the Millennium Falcon, engaged in what appears to be an air battle with several TIE Fighters. The legendary spacecraft is sporting a new sensor dish, following the damage it sustained when Lando Calrissian flew it through the Death Star during the Battle of Endor in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was helmed and co-written by Star Trek reboot director J.J. Abrams also stars fellow newbie Adam Driver, who also starred in Inside Llewlyn Davis and is best known for his role as Adam in HBO's Girls.
In September, celebrity photos showed Driver dressed in the same white and orange uniform the one Isaac's character wears in the teaser.
The plot remains top-secret, although several spoilers (or foilers?) have been posted online.
Other newcomers include Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave actress Lupita Nyong'o, Gwendole Christie, who plays Brienne of Tarth on HBO's Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter actor Domhnall Gleeson.
The new Star Wars film also brings back most of the cast from the original '70s and '80s trilogy—Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Anthony Daniels as C-3P0 and Kenny Baker as R2-D2, plus Warwick Davis.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set for release on Dec. 18, 2015.
—Additional reporting by Noelia Murphy-Devaney
(Originally published on Friday, Nov. 28 at 8:52 AM PST)