The Date That Made December Feel Important Again

December 18, 2015. That was the date Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn announced for Star Wars: Episode VII, and even reading those words back now it’s hard not to feel a ghost of the original excitement. JJ Abrams directing. Lawrence Kasdan co-writing the script—which felt right, felt like an actual acknowledgment that the soul of the original trilogy lived partly in that man’s hands. And John Williams returning for the score. Of course John Williams.

The announcement landed like a small holiday of its own. No footage, no title, just a date and a list of names—and that was enough. The franchise machine had been running for months since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, but this made it real in a different way. It was in the calendar. It was actually happening.