Star Wars: The Force Awakens characters named in trading cards

Actor John Boyega is playing Finn "on the run" in the hotly anticipated movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, according to a batch of trading cards releasedby director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.

The eight cards, obtained by Entertainment Weekly, put names to the faces of five characters, including Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac, who is shown as X-Wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron.

The colour-coded cards are a nod to the old school collectible decks used to promote the first Star Wars films in the 1970s and '80s.

"Im only sorry we couldnt give everyone a stick of gum,"Abrams told themovie magazine.

It's not yetclear if the cards will be available for purchase by the public.

DaisyRidley plays Rey

The cards also show that Daisy Ridley's character, seen riding her "speeder" in the trailer, is called Rey, but her surname remains a secret. There was speculation that Ridley would play thedaughter of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher).

Fans are also learning the nameof the ball-like droidseen scrambling across the sand in the film's insanelyviral trailer. Like droids of the past,C-3POandR2-D2, this robot hasan alphanumeric moniker:BB:8.

More to be revealed

Little more has been revealed about other members of the cast, includingLupitaNyongo, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie orDomhnallGleeson.The trading cards identify a dark figure wielding a three-bladed red lightsaber asKylo Ren, but we don't know which actor is playing the villainous character.

Fans have learned that the actor behind the ominous voiceover in the trailer belongs to AndySerkis, the award-winning actor who playedGolluminThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy.

Star Wars fans are clamouring for any crumb of information in anticipation of the franchise's seventh instalment.The 88-secondteaser trailer for the film garnered more than 40 million YouTube views in the first 72 hours after its release last month.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer

10 years ago

Duration 1:17

Disney has released the first trailer for the seventh film in the Star Wars saga on iTunes

• On mobile? Watch the trailer here

The iconic X-wing Starfighters and the Millennium Falcon also appear, and the familiar notes of the iconic Star Wars theme can be heard.

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Principal photography is already complete for the film,whichis set 30 years afterEpisode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Original Star Wars cast members including Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisherand Harrison Ford are set to return. It's assumed they will reprise their roles asLukeSkywalker, Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo, respectively.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is slated for wide release onDec. 18, 2015.