In November 2013, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Studios purchased Lucasfilms from the mildly shortsighted George Lucas, thus acquiring the film rights to movies that were once owned by his production company. The two major franchises include the swashbuckling Indiana Jones series and the massively broad universe of Star Wars. As soon as the $4.05 billion deal was made, Disney announced that a wide variety of Star Wars films would go into production, the first of which being a continuation of the original film saga, the long awaited Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Zooming into theaters on Dec. 18, this latest installment of the Star Wars films still has its plot kept under wraps. All that has been officially announced in terms of the plot is that it takes place after Return of the Jedi, but nothing else. A majority of the original cast, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, will be returning, but most likely will not be the main focus of the film.

What the film will be mainly about this new generation of actors, including relatively well-knowns such as Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver and Domhnall Gleeson, to lesser-knowns such as Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Lupita Nyong’o. But once again, as the plot is unrevealed, one can only speculate as to what their roles will be.

Helming the project is writer/director J.J. Abrams, famous for his work on the most recent Star Trek films. As he transitions from one science-fiction franchise to another, Abrams shows his prolific knack for creating these marvelous worlds, proving that he’s the best man for the job, both visually and from a storytelling perspective. It’s also refreshing to see that the film won’t be relying entirely on computer-generated special effects, as Abrams has stated that he wants to use as many authentic landscapes and props as possible.

Also, like most J.J. Abrams projects, much of the film is being kept secretive. Essentially, only the characters’ names have been revealed, but little has been announced about the plot. Abrams did a similar trick with Star Trek Into Darkness, in which he never identified the villain of the film until it was released in theaters. Hopefully, the same goes here and audiences can go into the film not knowing what to expect.

The fact that there’s going to be a new Star Wars film by the end of the year is absolutely mind-boggling. Fans of the saga deserve a truly spectacular movie after the horrid atrocities that the prequels ended up being, with the exception of Revenge of the Sith. However, Attack of the Clones and Phantom Menace were simply abysmal, and it seems that The Force Awakens will be able to wash that bad taste out of everyone’s mouths.