After fans spent more than 15 hours in line waiting for The Force Awakens panel at Star Wars Celebration, J.J. Abrams made that wait worth it.

The cowriter and director of Episode VII took to the stage at Anaheim Convention Center with producer Kathleen Kennedy and cast – past and present – to reveal the film’s newest (read: awesome) teaser as well as tidbits from the top secret production.

Here are the highlights:

 

1. Abrams shared that he once dressed up as a jawa for Halloween. “But I don’t want to tell you what year it was,” the filmmaker joked.

 

2. As fans know, Abrams initially said no to Kathleen Kennedy’s request to have him direct the film. His reasoning? Family plans and wanting to do more of “his own thing” after feeling like all he was doing was making sequels to other properties. He eventually changed his mind after talking more with Kennedy about the future of the franchise “and it was impossible to say no,” he said.

 

3. According to Kennedy, Thursday’s panel is almost three years to the day when she met George Lucas for lunch to discuss Lucasfilm’s future. The now-president of Lucasfilm never expected Lucas to offer her the job; she thought he was going to ask her for recommendations.

 

4. The filmmakers made it a mandate to build as much practically as they could. They “needed to set a standard” for these new films with their approach to staging the action on physical, tangible sets.

 

5. That desert planet glimpsed in both teasers? It’s not Tatooine. The planet is called “Jakku” (pronounced “jock-coo”). And it is where we meet Daisy Ridley’s character, Rey.

 

6. Speaking of Rey, Ridley joined the panel to reveal that her character is a “scavenger,” one who is very self-sufficent and on her own until she encounters another character – John Boyega’s Finn – and the two seemingly embark on an adventure involving getting shot at by Imperial forces and a flight on the Millennium Falcon.

 

7. Boyega, who along with Ridley and star Oscar Issac, also joined the panel to reveal that Finn is indeed a stormtrooper – it’s not a disguise. “Whether or not he is a good guy or bad guy” remains to be seen, the actor teased.

 

8. Oscar Issac declared his character, Poe Dameron, as “the best damn pilot in the galaxy.” When we first meet Poe, he has been sent on a mission by a “certain princess” (cough, Leia) and eventually circumstances force him to team up with Finn.

 

9. So just how to they make the new fan-favorite droid, B-88, move? No one was talking, but Kennedy did reveal – after the little guy rolled out onto the stage – that Disney CEO Bob Iger helped found the company that developed the tech responsible for B-88 coming to life.

 

10. Remember the photo of the cast at the table read last year? Issac waited in his London hotel room for the call to see if he got the part, to see if he would be able to join the now-famous picture. How did the actor celebrate the good news? He “blasted” the Star Wars theme as loud as he could and wielded his shampoo bottle like a lightsaber, waving it around.

 

11. Boyega waited till the table read to tell his parents that he was cast. When they asked about the sides he was reading for auditions, he told his folks that he was working on FOX’s 24.

 

12. As of Thursday’s panel, Abrams shared that the team is finishing an edit of the film, which hits theaters December 18.

 

Last but certainly not least, Abrams and Kennedy tossed it to a brand-new trailer for the film. Watch that below, and check out our write-up on the new preview here.

 

What did you think of today’s Star Wars panel and the new trailer? Use the Force and sound off below!