The Force Awakens: 10 Mysteries We Hope Will Be Solved

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1. What has happened in the galaxy far, far away since the events of Return of the Jedi?

The Rebel Alliance, and the Empire… have, apparently, morphed into the Resistance and the First Order thirty years after the death of Emperor Palpatine aboard the Second Death Star. What caused this shift? We know from Chuck Wendig’s novel Aftermath that in a matter of months following the destruction of the Empire’s two most powerful leaders and its deadliest weapon in Episode VI, the Alliance was working to set up a New Republic, with Mon Mothma as the Chancellor. The fractious Empire, meanwhile, was struggling to rally.

What happened to change all that? Did the New Republic ever truly come to fruition? Is the First Order the insurgent group now, or have they somehow managed to make General Leia and her followers the underdogs once again? These are a lot of questions to answer, and J.J. Abrams has gotten to them all in Episode VII.

Next: 2. What have the Big Three been doing?

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