Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has made it through production maintaining a shroud of secrecy so thick that not even series creator George Lucas knows what Disney and J.J. Abrams have planned for the new installment. Of course secrecy hasn’t stopped rumors from spreading, and those rumors have painted an interesting picture of what The Force Awakens storyline is all about.

The Star Wars 7 Trailer lent a lot of credit to what Internet rumors had been saying for months; today, more rumors about the Episode VII plotline and characters seem to fall in line with what we heard before – albeit with a few tweaks. Needless to say, if you don’t want to be SPOILED, stop reading here.

Making Star Wars has dropped a slew of new story rumors regarding the major characters of Star Wars 7. For those who need a refresher (or to be informed), here’s what we know about our major players:

The Characters

John Boyega is playing Finn, a guy gone AWOL from the Empire.

Daisy Ridley is playing Rey, a salvager on Tattooine who may or may not be Han and Leia’s daughter.

Oscar Isaac is playing Poe Dameron, an Alliance pilot.

The soccer ball droid is called BB-8 and he belongs to Rey.

The cross guard lightsaber-wielding darkside character is named Kylo Ren. (presumed to be Adam Driver’s character).

The Original trilogy characters – Luke, Han, Leia and Chewbacca are all back.

Game of Thrones‘ Gwendoline Christie is rumored to be an elite shock trooper commander pursuing Finn for defecting.

Rumored Character Storylines

Here’s what Making Star Wars has to say about these characters :

The implication is that basically Rey and Luke go into hiding at exactly the same time for the same reason. She is the daughter of Han and Leia and she’s tasked with protecting a lightsaber that can open a proverbial Pandora’s Box of evil. Artifacts being sought after by Kylo Ren are collected because they’re trying to figure out which artifact will open the tomb. Luke Skywalker is guarding the tomb and being tormented by evil spirits that appears half crazed from the duty he’s been on.

Domhnall Gleeson was a rebel for many years and he’s the son of “a huge character.” But he defected to the Empire when he learned that the Rebels had constructed a super weapon in secret. With less than honorable people in the Rebel Alliance now, Gleeson’s character is tasked with hunting Finn while also on a secret mission to destroy both super weapons of the Empire and the Rebels.

Gwendoline Christie is his lead shock trooper. She’s a chrome trooper with black and red cape that is hunting Finn. She uses a lightsaber, is arrogant, demeaning, and kills indiscriminately. Her face is heavily scarred and she has a military haircut. Yes, the ability to cloak herself did come up and it supposedly is used twice in the movie.

Luke is in hiding during much of The Force Awakens. He has put himself in a self imposed exile and is protecting an ancient Sith tomb from being opened by the main bad guy, Kylo Ren.

It is true that a simple lightsaber leads the trio to Han but what isn’t mentioned is that Han is extremely reluctant to allow his daughter to be part of this plan.

This source believes Rey is Han Solo’s daughter. Over the course of the film we learn she is in love with Poe and Han Solo does not approve. There is a scene which shows Finn trying to shoot a blaster and he is awful – it’s a little in-joke about how inept Stormtroopers were in the Original Trilogy.
They say that Finn’s family was murdered by The Empire and he was forced into recruitment along with his best friend. His best friend is killed in the opening sequence of the film in front of Finn. This role is rumored to be played by Pip Andersen. It is shortly after this scene that he meets his likely next best friend for life, Poe.

Finn and Poe end up in an imperial brig after being caught.

Finn instantly dislikes Poe. But being in the brig they concoct a plan to steal a TIE Fighter. Meanwhile Rey fast-talks a guard and steals his keycard to break them out.

Finn and company steal an advanced TIE and unfortunately it crashes, injuring Finn.

There is a scene in the bar where Finn uses a lightsaber to deflect laser blasts at him and Rey says she thinks Finn has found his calling.
They also note that Finn is a total pacifist. He doesn’t fight those that killed his family but this is the pathway to Finn being able to defend the people he loves.

Max von Sydow: A former Rebel Alliance veteran now dealing in antiquities – very much like a SW version of Brody from Indiana Jones. It turns out that Rey has a lightsaber which holds information vital to the rebellion and this is hidden inside BB-8.

The old guy reveals to Rey that the crystal in the lightsaber they are holding has the ability to open the tomb Luke is guarding. If accurate, this could explain why the lightsaber is so important and why our heroes only have one while on the sand planet in the depictions I’ve seen.

Rey’s last name: Her real name is revealed through Han Solo much to the surprise of Finn and Poe.

Previous Rumors

Now, here’s what we previously heard about the storyline for Episode VII:

The setup is a dark future 30 years after Return of the Jedi. Things have not been easy, as The Empire has not simply rolled over and died with the defeat of the Emperor. It’s been a long haul fight for both sides.

The story starts with John Boyega as a stormtrooper (or stormtrooper type) who is shot down on over a desert planet (which may or may not be Tattooine). There he encounters Daisy Ridley’s character, who helps heal and protect him, thereby starting his transition to the good side.

After encountering a severed hand holding a lightsaber, Ridley and Boyega try to return it (either out of duty or for profit).

Ridley’s character is said to be a street-smart salvager working for Max von Sydow’s old demented cyborg character. She brings him the lightsaber for info – but he may be an old member of the Jedi-hunting Inquisitors, who are connected to the Sith.

Ridley and Boyega’s quest ultimately leads them to Han Solo and Chewbacca, who recognize the lightsaber as Luke Skywalker’s.

With the kids in tow, Han and Chewy set off to find Luke, who has supposedly been missing since the events of Episode VI (or sometime thereafter).

When they find Luke Skywalker, he may be half-crazy living in self-imposed exile (Obi-Wan style). As a Master Jedi, Luke is allegedly paranoid about the power he wields and falling to evil like his father. Seeing Ridley and Boyega’s Force potential helps pull him back to serving the side of good.

Luke reveals to Ridley and Boyega that the Inquisitors – who are indeed actively hunting down any Jedi Masters or Jedi-in-training when Episode VII takes place – are very much connected to the Sith. (The first Inquisitor was just introduced in the Star Wars Rebels cartoon series.)

This prompts a flashback, showing Darth Vader recruiting the very first Inquisitors. That sequence could also (somehow) incorporate a very young Leia, who rumor has it will be played by Carrie Fisher’s biological daughter Billie Lourd.

At some point, Boyega’s former boss/commanding officer (Gwendoline Christie) catches up to the young heroes and reveals her own connection to the Force – possibly being a member of the Inquisitor organization, whose ranks may also include Kylo Ren.

Concept art reveals what may be Ridley and Boyega eventually having a showdown on an ice planet with cybernetic villain Kylo Ren.

Of course this has ALL BEEN RUMOR, technically. However, with so many rumors from different sources, all converging on the same ideas of characters and storyline? It’s hard to see so much smoke and not believe there is fire behind it.

As laid out above, the Star Wars 7 story is a natural extension of the series; weaves in strong ties to the larger Star Wars shared universe that now includes the Rebels animated series and the upcoming spinoff film; and has relevant parallels to real-world socio-political realities.

That’s all to say: we’re still optimistic that this story layout could result in a truly enjoyable and interesting Star Wars movie.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens will be in theaters on December 18, 2015.