Set thirty years after Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens follows Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Han Solo's search for Luke Skywalker and their fight in the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa and veterans of the Rebel Alliance, against Kylo Ren and the First Order, a successor to the Galactic Empire.

The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Max von Sydow.

Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan, co-writer of the original trilogy films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi, rewrote an initial script by Michael Arndt.

It was positively received by critics, who found it an action-packed film with the mix of new and familiar actors capturing the nostalgia of the original trilogy and giving the franchise new energy.

[60] Additionally, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen,[61] Christina Chong,[62] Miltos Yerolemou,[63] Amybeth Hargreaves,[64] Leanne Best,[65] Judah Friedlander,[66] and Kevin Smith appear in minor roles.

[67] Riot control stormtrooper FN-2199, who calls Finn a traitor during the battle on Takodana, was portrayed by stunt performer Liang Yang and voiced by sound editor David Acord.

[76] Among the materials he turned over to the production team were his rough story treatments for Episodes VII–IX, which Lucas requested be read only by Kennedy, Bob Iger, Alan F. Horn, and Kevin A.

[84] Arndt also developed some backstory elements for the returning characters from the original trilogy, such as how Leia was instrumental in rebuilding the Republic after the fall of the Empire before being discredited when it was publicly revealed that her biological father was Darth Vader (this would go on to become a central plot point in the canonical novel Star Wars: Bloodline).

[109] In November 2015, Lucas recorded an hour-long interview with CBS News reporter Charlie Rose in which he said Disney had not been "keen" to involve him and conceded: "If I get in there, I'm just going to cause trouble because they're not going to do what I want them to do, and I don't have the control to do that any more, and all it would do is just muck everything up.

[131] In January 2014, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Benedict Cumberbatch, Jack O'Connell, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alex Pettyfer, Jesse Plemons, Sullivan Stapleton, Tye Sheridan, Hugo Weaving, Michael Fassbender, and Adam Driver all met with Abrams for the film.

[138][139] In March, John Boyega, Plemons, Ray Fisher, Matthew James Thomas and Ed Speleers were Abrams' top choice for the lead role.

[154] In April, Ridley, Boyega, Isaac, Driver, Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow were announced as part of the cast; while Ford, Hamill, Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Baker reprised their roles from the original trilogy.

[159] In October, Warwick Davis, who played Wicket in Return of the Jedi, as well as Wald and Weazle in The Phantom Menace (1999), announced that he would appear in The Force Awakens, but did not reveal his role.

[177] On July 28, 2014, filming took place over three days at Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland, with a cast including Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley.

[188] To that end, the droid BB-8 was a physical prop developed by Disney Research,[189] created by special effects artist Neal Scanlan and operated live on set with the actors.

[192][193] In February 2014, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) announced plans to open a facility in London, citing Disney's Star Wars films as a catalyst for the expansion.

[198] In December 2015, Pablo Hidalgo, the creative executive at the Lucasfilm Story Group which handles all the canonical continuity for the Star Wars universe, revealed that the working title for the film was Shadow of the Empire "for the longest time".

[203] Recording sessions for The Force Awakens began in June 2015 at the Sony Pictures Studios' Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage in Culver City, with William Ross conducting most of the music.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said the reaction to the trailer was "staggering [...] the entire room of almost eight thousand people just leapt to their feet and roared, I mean I can't think of anything I've ever been to—other than a rock concert—that felt quite like that".

It was positively received, with Nigel M. Smith of The Guardian writing: "The featurette's angle is a strong one and connects with fans of the original trilogy in an incredibly poignant way.

[189] Sphero had participated in a Disney-run startup accelerator in July 2014, where they were invited into a private meeting with Disney CEO Bob Iger, in which they were shown on-set photos and imagery of BB-8 before its public unveiling.

[292] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $780.1 million, accounting for production budgets[b], marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it first on their list of 2015's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

[295] Dergarabedian stated, "No matter what, [The Force Awakens] is an absolute, all-out blockbuster without peer in terms of the sheer speed at which it has crossed all of these major box-office milestones.

The website's consensus reads, "Packed with action and populated by both familiar faces and fresh blood, The Force Awakens successfully recalls the series' former glory while injecting it with renewed energy".

[338] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph said the film "sets out to shake Star Wars from its slumber, and reconnect the series with its much-pined-for past", and "it achieves this both immediately and joyously is perhaps the single greatest relief of the movie-going year.

"[339] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said that it was "both a narrative progression from the earlier three films and a shrewdly affectionate next-gen reboot", and it was "ridiculous and melodramatic and sentimental, but exciting and brimming with energy and its own kind of generosity.

[346] Tom Long of The Detroit News wrote that though some may find the film too similar to the original Star Wars, it leaves "the ungainly and unneeded clumsiness of the subsequent prequels far behind", and "the energy, humor, and simplicity of direction [has] been recaptured".

[349] Reviewing for Forbes, Scott Mendelson cited the film's "top-tier production values and a strong sense of scale and scope", but felt it was so much "an exercise in fan service [that] it is only due to the charisma and talent of our newbies and J. J. Abrams' undeniable skill as a visual storyteller that the Mad Libs narrative doesn't outright destroy the picture.

"[350] Brian Merchant of Motherboard said that the film "is supposed to be all about exploring the unexplored, not rehashing the well-trod", and that "one of the most unabashedly creative enterprises of the 20th century has been rendered another largely enjoyable, but mostly forgettable Hollywood reboot.

[352] In an interview with Charlie Rose that aired on December 24, 2015, Lucas likened his decision to sell Lucasfilm to Disney to a "divorce" and outlined the creative differences between him and the producers of The Force Awakens.