Star Wars fans wonder where's Luke

Twitter said there were more than 17,000 tweets a minute when the trailer aired Monday night and over 1.1 million tweets since then.

By AP

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Published: Thu 22 Oct 2015, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Sat 24 Oct 2015, 10:18 AM

Millions of fans cried out in joy after they saw the latest trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it also left more than a few wondering where Luke Skywalker has been during all the marketing.
Twitter said there were more than 17,000 tweets a minute when the trailer aired Monday night and over 1.1 million tweets since then. Facebook reported that 1.3 million people had 2.1 million interactions related to Star Wars within the first hour of the trailer screening. Even Mark Zuckerberg commented on the official fan page, writing "this looks amazing. I love Star Wars."
It didn't take a Jedi to notice that Luke Skywalker was missing from the promo.
The ads have focused mainly on new characters such as Daisy Ridley's Rey and John Boyega's Finn. But the clips also have strategically teased out the return of original characters such as Harrison Ford's Han Solo and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia. Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker is nowhere to be seen - in full at least.
Fans have heard Luke's voice and seen what is presumed to be his gloved hand on R2-D2, but his conspicuous absence from the most recent trailer and the official poster had many Twitter users asking #whereisluke and wondering what that means for his character.
Director J.J. Abrams is somewhat notorious for keeping the plots to his films under wraps, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been no different.
The 2-minute, 35-second spot debuted during ESPN's Monday Night Football halftime and was made available online immediately after. Overnight ratings for the game show a definite viewing spike during halftime, suggesting that many tuned in solely for the trailer, not the Giants-Eagles game.