Star Wars 7 premiere countdown begins: 5 things to expect from The Force Awakens

Finally, the day is approaching when galactic war fans will see their heroes Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca in Star Wars 7. Here are five things you need to know before you grab your ticket to watch The Force Awakens.

Spoilers ahead: Read at your own risk

1. Luke Skywalker: The suspense around the former Jedi master will finally be unraveled once the movie is premiered. Until now, Mark Hamill's iconic character has been kept under the wrap and he was totally missing from the official movie poster, teasers and trailers.

His absence has led fans to speculate that either his role starts at the end of the movie or he has actually turned into Kylo Ren and is taking his father Darth Vader's legacy a bit farther by trying to eliminate the Resistance force.

However, these speculations appear largely impossible as a latest international trailer released by Disney reveals that Kylo Ren is not wearing his helmet while fighting with Finn and from the back it appears more like Adam Driver than Hamill.

2. Han Solo and Chewbacca: The former rebel leader and his loyal friend will return in the movie and help Rey and Finn know more about the Dark Side, Jedi and the Force which were considered as a myth. Han will help them flee from Kylo's terror grip by letting them boarding the Millennium Falcon and together they will start their epic journey to search Jedi legend Luke.

In the Return of the Jedi, the First Order and the Republic sign treaties to restrict the former group to the Outer Rim. But due to growing unrest, a civil war will erupt and to deal with that Princess General Leia Organa will form a secret Resistance army to be ready for any possible attack from the evil power-hungry groups.

3. New characters Finn and Rey to untangle the Jedi myth: The movie will begin 30 years after the events of Star Wars episode VI and will focus on runaway Stormtrooper Finn and uncongenial space scavenger Rey, who will accidentally find the lightsaber that belongs to the former Jedi master. They along with hotshot pilot Poe Dameron will start their quest to find Skywalker, who was once the most powerful warrior in the galaxy but has since turned into a myth. However, the trio will be chased by Kylo.

4. Major galactic war in the offing: It is rumoured that Andy Serkis' Supreme leader Snoke will play a vital role in architecting an epic intergalactic civil war. Fan website Making Star Wars had previously reported that Snoke will try to lure the greedy politicians of the Republic, who lust for the wealth they enjoyed during the time of the Imperial Senate.

5. The Force Awakens tickets: The J.J. Abrams directed movie is on its way to creating box office history even before its premiere as the advance ticket selling (which was launched in October) for the Disney/Lucasfilms' space opera has caused websites to crash due to "unexpected high demand" from Star Wars fans.

Ticket-selling website Fandango has already sold 8 times as many tickets as they do on the first day of sales and the website has informed IB Times UK that movie theatres are adding new show times to meet the demand. AMC sold almost 1,000 shows within 12 hours, which is 10 times higher as compared to its single-day sales record.

Star Wars 7 will premiere on 17 December in the UK, a day before its US premiere.