'Star Wars: The Force Awakens': JJ Abrams reveals challenges, advantages of making first film in sequel trilogy

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - official poster LucasFilm/Disney

With just over a month before "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" debuts on the big screen, film director JJ Abrams is now busy making press rounds to promote the worldwide release of the seventh installment of the iconic "Star Wars" movie franchise.

Early this week, Wired magazine did an interview with the 49-year-old director to discuss the things that "Star Wars" fans should look forward to in the first film in the new "Star Wars" sequel trilogy.

According to Abrams, the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is made to showcase a new "Star Wars" story that can stand on its own yet lead the way for the development of a new plot in the future.

"We've been able to use what came before in a very organic way, because we didn't have to reboot anything," Abrams explained. "We didn't have to come up with a backstory that would make sense; it's all there."

He also admitted that working on the first film in the new trilogy was not that easy, especially since it will be a part of a continuum that comes from something that is already established. The plot that George Lucas did with the "Star Wars" universe made it more possible to come up with a web of stories for the future installments from the epic saga, he said.

"Working on this new movie has been as much about trying to set up elements of what is beyond what you're seeing as it has been about telling a story that will be satisfying in and of itself. But it can't feel like a cop-out—like we're just setting things up and not resolving them," the filmmaker added.

In addition, Abrams revealed that there is only one thing that he and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan concentrated on when they were writing the script for the film. According to the director, they chose to focus on making the film "delightful" instead of giving an explanation or pleasing the critics.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will be released worldwide on Dec. 18.

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