I kind of feel sorry for all of the other studios, films and TV shows that were trying to get attention at this year’s Comic-Con, because Star Wars really went all out. People were crying. People were freaking out. No one could hide their glee. And props to JJ Abrams for bringing everyone out for Comic-Con – seriously, I think every major cast member of Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out. Even (dun dun dun) Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. It was amazing! This was Harrison’s first time at Comic-Con and his first big public appearance since his plane crash in March. All of the joy and tears were mostly for Harrison, if we’re being honest. To see a grizzled old Han Solo up there with grizzled Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher… OMG. Harrison made jokes (he told the crowd he “walked here”) and explained why he decided to come back to the beloved franchise:
“It should’ve felt ridiculous. [The first movie] was 30 years ago, and I sort of grew up. And yet here I was doing something I did so long ago and I will tell you that it felt great… I wasn’t so sure it would be but the company was the right company, the director was the right director. Larry [Kasdan] wrote us a wonderful story and I was proud and grateful to once again be involved. The original Star Wars that I was a part of really was the beginning of my working life and I was very, very grateful for the opportunity that I had in that film and for the success of that film. It was great to be back… [I didn’t expect this to] come back to bless me rather than haunt me. I was very grateful when I read the script because I read something that I thought was really remarkable, really well written and with some very intriguing developments.”
After the panel, JJ and the cast invited everyone to a big surprise concert of Star Wars music performed by the San Diego Symphony. Disney really spent a lot of money on this year’s Comic-Con, right?
When I say that every major cast member was there, I really mean it. These are the cast members who came out, in addition to Harrison, Carrie and Mark: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson and Gwendoline Christie. We also found out that Driver and Christie are definitely playing bad guys…? And they released this new “behind the scenes” video that gave me chills.
