Watch: 32-Minute Talk With J.J. Abrams And Lawrence Kasdan About 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' And More

**Spoilers ahead**

Can you propel a franchise into the future by clinging to the stories of old characters? That's a central question that the "Star Wars" series faces following "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." But in a half-hour conversation with Lawrence Kasdan following a Directors Guild Of America screening, director J.J. Abrams explained the balance they were trying to achieve. 

"For us it was very purposefully going backwards to go forwards — a purposeful step backwards to tell a new story with new characters," he said.

Part of that process involved bringing Kasdan into the fold, a veteran of this cinematic world and the characters within. However, as the screenwriter tells Empire in a spoiler talk, he was actually first approached for the "Star Wars" sequel by Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas before Lucasfilm's sale to Disney. And even afterward, Kasdan had some hesitation about jumping into the fray. 

“I wasn’t...