The 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Sizzle Reel Hits Me In All The Right Feelings Spots

This weekend kicks off the latest installment of a fairly new annual tradition: the onslaught of Star Wars promotional material leading up to a December release. It happened this way the last two years with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and it’s going down that way again with Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The first two films in the new cannon both released teaser trailers, but the sizzle reels unveiled at their respective D23 gatherings truly signaled the Disney marking machine was revving up. And not to be left out of the fun, The Last Jedi unleashed a similar video at this past weekend’s D23 2017. Check it out below.

Lucasfilm is certainly good at what they do; they know how to hit me in all the right feelings spots. Even though after the previous two sizzle reels I generally know what to expect, this still gave me chills.

And I won’t lie, and I’m sure I’m not the only one in this boat, but the footage of Carrie Fisher got me all sorts of misty. (Dude, that shot of Oscar Isaac hugging her broke my damn heart.) It’s even more of a kick in the teeth as we lost both George Romero and Martin Landau over the weekend. Recent times have been rough on all of the performers I love dearly and that had a formative impact on my life. Sure, it makes sense—most of these people were adults when I saw them the first time as a kid—but that doesn’t make it sting any less.

With behind the scenes footage and tidbits from the film, there’s way too much to dig into in this video. We could talk about all the wondrous, weird, and adorable (and practical!) creatures; we get our first full look at Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro’s characters; we see Daisy Ridley training to fight three foes, which is awesome; there’s a glimpse of Finn (John Boyega) and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) on an undercover mission; and so many more hints about The Last Jedi. As usual, people with more time and keener eyes than mine will break this down shot by shot elsewhere, so don’t worry, you’ll have no shortage of in-depth examination or speculation to consume.

If history is any indication, by the time we finally see Star Wars: The Last Jedi on December 15, we’ll have endured plenty of TV spots, promos, trailers, photos, and bits of hype. I know lots of people the ubiquitous presence, but I don’t mind. Just the fact that we live in a world where we get a new Star Wars movie every year makes me giddy.