At this point, has anyone not felt the awakening?
Star Wars fans got to feel it all over again Thursday, when the Star Wars Instagram account celebrated the website's new support for widescreen images -- by casually dropping tiny slivers of new footage from The Force Awakens.
There has been an awakening... #StarWars #TheForceAwakens A video posted by Star Wars (@starwars) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:00am PDT
The biggest surprise to many: Finn, the character played by John Boyega whom we saw wearing Stormtrooper gear in the first teaser trailer, is now seen igniting a blue lightsaber. Remember Kylo Ren and his cross-guarded red lightsaber, ignited in the snow? It now looks like he was preparing to fight Finn all along.
For fans who have been paying attention, it isn't a complete surprise to see Boyega with a lightsaber -- he's pictured that way on exclusive posters for the movie by iconic artist Drew Struzan, which were handed out at Disney's D23 fan conference last month. And of course, simply turning on a lightsaber doesn't make Finn a Jedi.
Still, even for those in the know, the footage was eye-popping -- even for Boyega himself.
Frig my life ! I'm in tears!— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) August 27, 2015
The @starwars Instagram video started & then the screen went blank the 1st time & I actually yelled "What are you doing to me ?!?" out loud.— Kay (@Geek_Kay) August 27, 2015
SOMEBODY HOLD ME!!!! pic.twitter.com/vJMgdMiCuM— Mike Audette (@mike_audette) August 27, 2015
I wonder how large a box of tissues I need to bring to #theforceawakens, because even that instagram trailer made me almost cry.— Bryan Young (@swankmotron) August 27, 2015
(If this is what we do for 15 seconds of footage wtf are we going to do during the actual movie)— Nanci (@nancipants) August 27, 2015
Also included in the Instagram short: the long shot of the First Order and its array of Stormtroopers, which was seen in a promotional spot in Korea earlier this month, and a new quick shot of Daisy Ridley's character, Rey, with soccer-ball droid BB-8.
Oh yes, and that is new John Williams music -- a fresh take on the familiar Imperial March, suggestive of how the Empire evolved into the First Order.