If you were one of the fans disappointed by Maz Kanata’s limited role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, then we have good and bad news for you. The good news is that Lupita Nyong’o’s wizened old alien pirate is as much of a badass as you suspected. The bad news is that the scene in which she showed off her very particular set of skills was left on the cutting room floor. Silver lining: it could be one of the deleted scenes that shows up on The Force Awakens Blu-ray.

Earlier this morning, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Visual Effects. While much was made of the film’s return to practical effects, of which there were many, a new VFX highlight reel shows just how many digital shots were actually in the finished film and how those shots were used to augment the existing practical effects...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has yet to slip from the box office perch two weeks into 2016, but should this weekend finally do it in, Adam Driver will remain on top. Watch the erstwhile Kylo Ren make his SNL debut in its first 2016 premiere promos, lightsabers and all!

One of the biggest questions following Star Wars: The Force Awakens was that of Rey’s parentage. She could be a Skywalker a Kenobi, a Hutt…we just don’t know. Well at least we don’t know. There’s one guy that knows: J.J. Abrams. Which shouldn’t be a surprise because, duh, J.J. Abrams wrote the movie.

There was a lot of paranoia about spoilers in the days and weeks (and months [and years]) leading up to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Trailers gave almost no indication of a plot beyond the presence of a) stars and b) wars. The official poster didn’t include a picture of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker for fear of revealing his fate. Even press screenings were delayed until the last possible moment to keep the lid on J.J. Abrams’ latest mystery box for as long as humanly possible.

With a movie as epic as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you know there has to be lots of footage that didn’t make the final cut. Reports have been out there for a while now about several scenes that were cut from the film, and while you will get to see some of those scenes when the film eventually hits DVD and Blu-ray, J.J. Abrams says you shouldn’t hold out hope for an extended version of The Force Awakens.

Eventually, another movie will top Star Wars: The Force Awakens and end the incredible run that has transformed it into the highest grossing movie in the history of the American box office. That movie was almost The Revenant. This is no failure, though. The combined powers of Leonardo DiCaprio, stories of a harrowing shoot, and a strong marketing campaign actually gave this movie a fighting chance against a genuine cultural sensation. It may have only hit number two on the top 10, but this is a huge victory for a difficult movie.

In addition to the other box office records it’s already broken, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is on the verge of topping Avatar as the highest-grossing film of all time, worldwide. But the franchise isn’t the only thing breaking box office records — so is one of its stars. Thanks to the huge success of The Force Awakens, Harrison Ford is now the highest-grossing actor in box office history…in America, anyway.

The great franchise toy saga continues, as J.J. Abrams has weighed in on the absence of Daisy Ridley’s Rey from much of The Force Awakens merchandising. The new lead character of the Star Wars franchise isn’t featured in nearly as many toys and merchandising as her male counterparts, inspiring the Twitter hashtag #WheresRey. And following Paul Feig’s reveal of new Ghostbusters action figure prototypes, it seems more crucial than ever that we criticize Disney for their lack of Rey merch — and Abrams is doing just that.

There’s a contingency of Star Wars fans out there who have chosen the mysterious Stormtrooper with the lightsaber-busting baton in The Force Awakens as their new favorite minor character — perhaps hoping to create the new Boba Fett. Adorably dubbed “TR-8R” by fans, it turns out that this particular First Order soldier does in fact have a name, and a little bit of a history with Finn.