J.J. Abrams is considering killing Jar Jar Binks. While the controversial character will not be a character in the director’s new Star Wars film, he is considering including the character’s death as a bit of fan service. “I have a thought about putting Jar Jar Binks’s bones in the desert there. I’m serious! Only three people will notice, but they’ll love it,”said the director when sitting at an editing station.

Abrams is committed to making his new film a service to old-school Star Wars fans. The director’s closest friends say they haven’t seen him acting so childlike since he was, well, a child. “He turned back into an 11-year-old boy,” said LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy when describing Abrams’ demeanor when on the director’s chair.

Abrams himself chalks his childish behavior up for the successful practical effects that were used on The Force Awakens. He was particularly taken by the new Millenium Falcon set.  “I mean, walking onto the Millennium Falcon set? To be on it, it’s insane. There were people who literally cried when they walked onto that set. It’s a strange thing, the effect it has,” said Abrams of that set piece.

The new film will make extensive use of the practical effects that entranced original Star Wars audiences in the 1970s and 80s. Annie Leibovitz’s recent photgraphs for Vogue show a plethora of puppets and rubber suits that will more effectively replicate the world of the original films than the computer-generated imagery of George Lucas’ more recent prequels.

Another practical effect that excites Abrams at the moment is a creature similar to a Jawa that appears in a sandy desert scene. The new creature is “a classic, old-school seesaw puppet,” said Abrams, meaning that it is installed on a lever and buried in the ground.

The director has only good things to say about the creator of The Force Awakens’ practical effects. The director praised Neal Scanlan’s facility with puppets, especially the new sand creature. “We just buried it in the sand, and Neal Scanlan, the creature guy, pushed down on one side and the thing came up on the other side,” said Abrams.

While George Lucas has spent decades digitally retouching the original Star Wars films, Abrams thinks that computer manipulation will dilute the purity of practical effects. “It’s so old-school and crazy. We could improve this thing, but at some point do we lose the wonderful preposterousness?”said Abrams when talking about the pressure to digitally manipulate unpredictable practical effects.

A hotly anticipated feature of the new film is Harrison Ford’s return to the role of Han Solo, Abrams is optimistic about the star’s performance in The Force Awakens, and says that Ford’s performance as Han will be much less disappointing than his recent Indiana Jones performance. Ford is “excited to get back in those shoes again, which was really interesting because I thought he hadn’t been a fan,” said Abrams of the famously crotchety actor.

The younger director’s notes seem to have realy spurred the veteran actor to shed some of the tics that have gotten him through many paycheck-cashing action roles. “There was a fire in his eyes that you see in the movie,” said Abrams, adding, “I knew that he had done in some movies a kind of more growly thing, and I didn’t want Han to be growly,” said the director.

All in all, the new Star Wars film should have something for everyone excited about the series’ history and mythos. The Force Awakens will certainly have high expectations when it debuts.