J.J. Abrams hangs with a very familiar face in the first behind the scenes photo from Star Wars: Episode VII

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII is still a ways away from beginning production. Hell, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan just took over writing duties a few weeks ago. But, with any monumental film production there is a lot of work that goes into preparing for filming. In anticipation of the on screen work, Abrams and the crew at Bad Robot are likely working long hours to make sure every aspect of the new trilogy beginning with STAR WARS: EPISODE VII will be perfect.

With that in mind, we are expecting a lot of familiar faces to grace the film including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. But, there are a few more characters who can easily return for another trio of adventures that have not been mentioned yet: C-3PO and R2-D2. While it was likely a lock they would be coming back, this first behind the scenes pre-production photo tweet from Bad Robot:

Now, I have an R2-D2 replica in my office so this doesn’t necessarily mean what we are seeing is the physical R2 unit that will be in the movie, but at the very least the hashtag of #StarWarsVII leans in that direction.

If anything, it is nice to get something official to show us that the Bad Robot team is ramping up for their largest project to date. It does feel a little weird that it is coming from somewhere other than Lucasfilm, but I am sure we will get used to it.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII opens everywhere on December 18, 2015.