Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director Shows Off Behind-The-Scenes Footage

Disney's D23 Expo is in full swing, and Saturday's events saw The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson unveiling some seriously cool behind-the-scenes footage of the upcoming Star Wars flick. 

The video features The Last Jedi stars Daisy Ridley (Rey), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), newcomer Kelly Marie Tran (Rose), and more, plus many of the film's creatives, on the set of the space epic. 

"Rian has written a story that is unexpected but right. Some of the stuff that happens, people are going to go, 'oh my God.' And even though everybody knows that it's the second in a trilogy, it feels like its own thing," said Ridley in the featurette, which was posted on the official Star Wars YouTube page. When she's not chuckling with her co-stars on the other side of the camera, she's seen showing off her stellar fighting skills and going toe-to-toe a group of bad guys. 

Hamill echoed Ridley's statements, revealing that what happens in The Last Jedi took him by surprise. "Even though I think I know it all, they threw things at me story-wise I couldn't have imagined," the Star Wars icon admitted in the clip. 

Off the back of Hamill's remark came Tran's own thoughts. A fresh face in the Star Wars universe, Tran revealed that she finds the franchise incredible for many different reasons. "Star Wars is so cool because there [are] all these creatures and all these amazing visual effects, but all the characters are also so complex," she stated. 

Boyega admired Johnson for his ability to make Star Wars "fresh and new," especially with The Last Jedi, which shifts everything in the "opposite what to what the audience is expecting." Similarly, Christie stated that the upcoming film encapsulates "our most ancient story of good against evil told in the most fascinating way [with] a real spiritual depth to it."

The final star appearance came with the late and great Fisher, who summed up The Last Jedi in a beautiful way: "It's about family, and that's what's so powerful about it." 

The footage is sprinkled with funny moments, like Ridley, Hamill, and Johnson humming a Star Wars tune before a take, and Boyega and Tran sharing a belly-laugh between scenes. But there are also intense looks at one-on-one battles, fiery explosions, and lightsaber duels, as well as stunning shots of the film's new landscapes and a peek at Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro's new characters. 

Take a look at it all in the video above. 

While it definitely isn't a trailer by any means, and Disney hasn't yet debuted another "real" look at the film during D23, the footage Johnson showed off is the first we've gotten since the Last Jedi trailer was released during Star Wars Celebration back in April. Given that this new clip is packed full of interesting moments, something tells us it'll hold Star Wars fans over for a while.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is set for release on December 15. Until then, take a look at the biggest mysteries surrounding the film.