Let the Star Wars rumor mill begin: StarWars.com is reporting that J.J. Abrams is set to attend the annual Star Wars Celebration fan convention, where he and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy will kick off the festivities in “a big way.” The ominous press release quotes Darth Vader to note, “This will be a day long remembered”—which makes it sound like Abrams is going to blow up a planet, but probably just means he’s going to show some footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens or something.
Though with details being kept under wraps, Abrams could pretty much be doing anything, from releasing a new trailer to letting Harrison Ford pierce his ear (either of which would be equally exciting). Abrams’ “big event” will kick off the convention at 10 a.m. PST on Thursday, April 16—eight months before the release of the film—and reports will likely hit the Internet only a few minutes after that.
Abrams has attended Star Wars Celebration as a fan before, but this will be his first time appearing as the new, creative face of the franchise. Hopefully it will go better than that time a Star Trek fan convention voted Into Darkness the worst film in Trek canon.