'Chewie, we're home': New Star Wars trailer reveals an older Han Solo

They still have to wait eight months for the real thing, but Star Wars fans have been gifted a new teaser trailer for The Force Awakens, the franchise’s seventh official instalment.

“The force is strong in my family,” Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, is heard saying.

“My father has it. I have it. My sister has it. You have that power too,” Skywalker says before handing a lightsaber to an unidentified person.

The new movie is set around 30 years after the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi, when the second Death Star was destroyed and the Galactic Empire fell.

The trailer teases glimpses of much-loved android R2D2 and the charred remains of Darth Vader’s mask.

One shot also shows Skywalker’s robotic hand, replacing the one he lost in the famous duel with his father.

Grey-haired and considerably weathered, hero Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) appears with Chewbacca (played by Peter Mayhew) and declares, “Chewie, we’re home!”.

Hollywood director J.J. Abrams revealed the trailer’s desert landscape belongs to the planet Jakku. Fans believed the first scene shots of the film indicated the plot would centre on Tatooine, the Skywalker family’s home planet.

The new film follows an elite pilot Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac) who has been sent on a mission and will feature returning cast members Princess Leia (played Carrie Fisher) and C3-P0 (played by Anthony Daniels).

The trailer was released to coincide with a four-day Star Wars convention, ‘Celebration’, held in California this week.

The highly anticipated film will be released in December.