'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Trailer: Your Burning Questions Answered

That gritty Jakku dust has barely settled following Monday’s Internet-breaking release of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer, and fans remain awestruck by the panoply of plot reveals, teases, and shockers J.J. Abrams tucked inside the 2-minute, 30-second clip. While we can’t explain everything that unfolded in the preview, there are a bunch of lingering questions that can be addressed based on what we’ve gleaned from the “Journey to The Force Awakens” collection of books, comics, and video games that establishes a new canon for the Star Wars universe.

Here goes:

1. Han and Leia: Are they still an item? If so, why are Han and Chewie apart from Leia?

Han Solo and Leia Organa remain romantically involved at least up to the period preceding the events of The Force Awakens. In the novel Aftermath, set soon after Return of the Jedi and about two decades before The Force Awakens, Han gets teased by a smuggler pal: “You could ditch the princess, you know. Shake off the costume of a law-abiding, upstanding citizen and come back to the rogue’s life.” But Han is loyal to Leia and the New Republic (which later becomes the Resistance). Post-Jedi, he and Chewie, under orders from Leia, embark on a serious of perilous missions around the galaxy to sleuth out intelligence to stamp out the vestiges of the Empire, which could explain why he’s on Jakku and away from Leia at the beginning of The Force Awakens. By the looks of their embrace in the trailer, Leia and Han still have very strong feelings for each other, even in the most traumatic of circumstances.

2. Jakku is a backwater sand hole of a planet — why would the First Order and Resistance be concerned enough about it to have a big battle there?

As we know by now, Rey is one of the scavenging denizens of Jakku, a sparsely populated, sun-baked Outer Rim planet not unlike Tatooine in the earlier Star Wars movies.

At the beginning of the new trailer, she is seen rappelling through the hulking remains of destroyed starships that litter the surface. The Battle of Jakku’s backstory plays out in the novel Lost Stars (and will literally play out in the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront video game). The Empire, reeling from the destruction of the second Death Star and the deaths of the Emperor and Darth Vader has retreated to the Outer Rim to regroup and plot its comeback. About a year after the Battle of Endor, a sizable portion of the Imperial forces have gathered in the space above an otherwise unremarkable planet. “Here we have the desert world of Jakku — worthless on its own, but soon to live forever in history as the place where the Empire defeated the Rebellion once and for all,” proclaims Grand Moff Randd in Lost Stars. The New Republic dispatches a team of commandos to capture the Star Destroyer Inflictor, but that plan goes awry and the commander of the vessel decides to scuttle the Inflictor on Jakku to avoid having it turned against the Empire. (The Inflictor is the wrecked Star Destroyer seen in The Force Awakens trailer and teasers.)

While losses were heavy on both sides, the battle turned into a rout for the New Republic and seemed to seal the destruction of the Empire. Apparently, the New Republic established an outpost on Jakku (where we learn that Poe Dameron is stationed in the novel Moving Target) to make sure the Empire wouldn’t come back. At some point, the First Order, made up of the remnants of the Empire and aware of Jakku’s historical significance, attacks that base.

3. Why don’t the kids believe in Sith and Jedis?

Midway through the trailer, Han Solo has to explain to Rey and Finn: “It’s true. All of it. The dark side. The Jedi. They’re real.” Understand that Rey and Finn — like most folks across the galaxy without first-hand experience — regard the Force and its adherents as something out of fairy tales. After all, Luke Skywalker, presumably in hiding, was the last known Jedi and the Emperor and Vader were the only dark siders tooling around. In Aftermath, Yupe Tashu, one of the Emperor’s few surviving confidants who is constantly spouting Sith philosophies, is openly mocked by the other Imperials. Even the Emperor is fodder for derision. “We are the ones who built something called a Death Star under the leadership of a decrepit old goblin who believed in the ‘dark side’ of some ancient, insane religion,” says a character named Moff Pandion.

Of course, it’s fitting that Han Solo, the original skeptic from A New Hope (“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”) is the one tasked with convincing the young heroes that the Force is with them.

4. So what’s up with Kylo Ren’s Darth Vader fetish?

From what we can tell, Kylo Ren is not a true Sith, but someone obsessed with the dark arts. Aftermath introduces Acolytes of the Beyond, a cult of true believers who go around in black robes collecting Vader relics. In the novel, they track down what might be Vader’s red lightsaber, with the goal of destroying it “so that it can be returned to its master in death.” Presumably Kylo Ren arises from the sect and becomes the ultimate Anakin aficionado; we know he has somehow recovered the partially melted remains of Darth Vader’s helmet from its pyre on Endor and that he’s trying to claim Anakin’s lightsaber — which Finn won’t give up without a fight.

5. Will Boba Fett be back?

As some fans have pointed out on Twitter, there’s a tantalizing banner amid several flags hanging above the outpost where Rey, Finn, BB-8, and Han converge.

Indeed, that’s the Mandalorian “Kry’bes” symbol notably worn by Boba Fett. But does it mean the crack bounty hunter, last seen tumbling into the Sarlacc’s throat in Return of the Jedi, is alive and well?

Doubtful. Aftermath contains a scene on Tatooine in which a local reveals something recovered from the desert by Jawas. “From the box, he withdraws a helmet. Pitted and pocked, as if with some kind of acid. But still — he raps his knuckles on it. The Mandalorians knew how to make armor, didn’t they? ‘Look at this,’ he says, holding it up. ‘Mandalorian battle armor. Whole box. Complete set, by the looks of it. Been through hell and back. I think my boss will appreciate this.’” That suggests (in a big change from earlier “extended universe” lore) that Boba Fett might not have escaped Jabba’s pit of doom, but that his armor did. Besides, the Kry’bes is a common icon among Mandalorian warriors, so its presence in the trailer might be symbolic of the outlaw syndicates represented by the dweller (here’s a fan-sourced breakdown of all the banners) — or simply an Easter egg for eagle-eyed fans.

What we do know is that Boba Fett’s pre-Sarlacc salad days will be tackled in a stand-alone film slated for a 2020 release.

Watch Yahoo SuperFan break down ‘The Force Awakens’ trailer: