‘Star Wars Episode VII’ Finally Gets A Title: What Does It Mean For Film’s Plot?

After much speculation and a whole lot of rumors, Star Wars Episode VII finally has a subtitle, according to Entertainment Weekly. So what’s the new movie called? Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In a world full of comic book movies, it’s occasionally difficult to remember that geek movie culture exists outside of panels, but movie sequels don’t get much bigger than Star Wars, no matter what decade you’re living in.

Ever since Disney bought the rights to Lucasfilm, along with the rights to create more Star Wars movies, fans have been wondering what the title of the new film would be — and if a pattern could be deciphered from previous installments of the franchise.

Since the first film in the original title was called Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, rumors began to spread that Star WarsEpisode VII: A New Dawn would be the title of the new film, and that the title would be made to mirror that of the original. While the title would have, of course, been a reference to that original film, it would also have been sort of a fourth wall-breaking reference to the launch of Disney’s foray into the Star Wars movie universe. While it’s possible that was the subtitle for Episode VII at one point, it is clear Disney has decided on a different direction.

Following Entertainment Weekly‘s announcement, Disney tweeted out the following.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has completed principal photography. #TheForceAwakens #StarWarsVII pic.twitter.com/qBhel6CDjr

— Walt Disney Pictures (@DisneyPictures) November 6, 2014

So not only has a title been confirmed, but principal photography for the flick has officially been completed.

So what can we gather from the subtitle The Force Awakens? It’s a vague one, to be sure, and it’s difficult to guess the tone it’s supposed to evoke. Is it a positive or negative form of “awaken?” There is some speculation regarding the plot regarding Luke Skywalker, and taking that into account, it is very possible this “awakening” can be in Sith-like form. But following the near-extinction of Jedi in previous films, it could just mean the re-awakening of the “race” as a whole.

One last interesting note is that with the official title release from Disney, it looks like they may be dropping the episode numbers as a part of their titles, as the official title release doesn’t have the episode number in it. It makes sense since Disney definitely plans to blow the Star Wars universe wide open with all kinds of film releases (both related to, and not related to the film franchise). It’s also possible, this is just a mistaken inconsistency, but as the release date of December 18, 2015 draws near, we’ll see.

Does Star Wars Episode VII‘s title have you excited for the franchise? Let us know below!