JJ Abrams says Luke Skywalker questions will be answered in The Force Awakens

Of all the secrets Star Wars: The Force Awakens has impressively managed to keep under wraps, the mystery of what happened to Luke Skywalker is the biggest. The fan favourite has been notably absent from the numerous posters, trailers and TV spots released thus far, leading to rampant speculation about what's happened to the Jedi.

“No one forgot about him!" JJ Abrams told Entertainment Weekly. "We were hoping people would care, but there are a lot of things that are not on the poster, as busy as the poster is. Certainly Luke is a very important aspect of the story."

It's long been rumoured that the plot of The Force Awakens will focus on Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn's (John Boyega) search for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) once they retrieve his lightsaber, and that could be what Abrams is alluding to here.

Of course, it won't deter fans from hunting for specifics, although Hamill would rather we stop asking questions... "There should be no questions. You go in and it’s a brand new fresh approach at a franchise that we’ve known all our lives." Hear, hear!

Directed by Abrams and starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac and Gwendoline Christie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released in UK cinemas on December 17 2015 before opening in US theatres a day later. Check out our analysis of the international trailer below...

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.