SPOILER The camera pans down from scroll to an infinity of stars, overhead....

@Kyle, can your sources tell us whether this was just a hoax?:

 

I have always thought it more likely to be Darth Vader's lightsaber floating through space. Alot of people have assumed it to be lukes, but vader lost his while dueling on the death star. So there is a higher chance for it to end up floating in space. To me it makes more sense to be his as luke dropped his to Bespins surface not space

 

If Luke is anything like his dad, he probably went through a few between his first one and VII.

 

From what was in the concept art it seems most likely to be the one from ESB.

 

The opening scene of the stars pan down to a (metal) hand/arm clutching a unlit light saber falling though deep space would seem dumb(and a tad hacky).
Id think all the synthetic "flesh" would burn off or deteriorate quickly. Even fabric like a leather glove couldn't work unless it was the same type-thickness as worn by NASA astronnaughts on missions.
Id also think a light saber like any other mechanized device or object would burst apart or at least break if it hit the planet surface. It couldn't be turned on or wielded.
If that DID happen I'm sure half the cinema audiance would jump up & squeal OH COME ON! Lol.

A cool opening could be like COL John Hannibal Smith, SF reveal in The A Team(2010).
Master Luke(beaten or tortured by some bad guys) could escape & recover his trusty light saber or remake a new weapon(like the edited scene in ROTJ) then wax some evil bad guys, on his way to hooking up with the young leads.

 

It could be considered a Sith Relic, if someone went to the trouble of recovering Darth's burnt helmet why not scour the moon for debris from the Death Star and find his Saber and perhaps the Emperor's throne?

 

This could then lead to those searching for the lightsaber hearing about Daisy Ridleys character having /finding a red lightsaber.

 

@Kyle

Do your sources know anything about whether or not this desert planet we keep hearing about is Tatooine or some other place?

When the Abu Dhabi set pics leaked in summer, the idea of revisiting Tatooine really bugged me, but the more I hear about these leaks, the more I feel like they might be able to pull it off without being far fetched. It just seems dumb that everything in the Galaxy Far Far Away takes place on this one redneck planet.

 

In the concept art leak, we can see that the saber they found is definitely blue.

 

I just saw ROTSith again.... saber? How Bout Windu's???? If you watch the pivotal scene where Anakin cuts off Mace's hand... and then of course he is flung hundreds of feet away by Palpatine, The saber falls straight DOWN... right out the window.... this is the only time that a saber was focused on SO directly BY THE CAMERA.... very peculiar..... plus.... Boyega IS black if u havent noticed. Not bringing race into it. But, only other black characters are Lando... and Windu... Any thoughts? Purple anyone? As far as we know, the saber remained where it fell. Right at the bottom of that building (was it Palpatine's office?)

 

If Daisy is Han's daughter and Force sensitive, it would be ideal for Luke to teach her. Don't think Leia would be able to.

 

I'm sure there are a lot of lightsabers in the galaxy, what happened to all the ones that Grievous collected from the Jedi he killed? I really want to know what happened to the Darksaber that Darth Maul had at the end of son of Dathomir, that was unique.

 

If true, I like the idea of TESB saber being in all three trilogies.

 

It seems to be like Excaliber, or Narsil (Anduril) from LOTR. The idea of using Anakin's lightsaber was first in Zahn's Thrawn trilogy where they cloned Luke from his hand and the clone used the lightsaber.

 

I mentioned Excalibur as well in some other post... and very LOTR yes. I agree. Are they trying to give us an altered version of Heir but trying to simply account for it being 30+ yrs later instead of 5? (honestly, I've only read the Heir/Thrawn trilogy... never read any of the others but I have read the wookieepedia a lot to catch up) I certainly don't mind a few nods and plot points to the EU but I'm not counting on a major remake of Heir. But...... just a certain point of view.... Then again, you can't dismiss clones no matter how much people think it is rehashing. Cloning has always been a major plot point since '77.

 

I would love to see it return...but remember, Vader's saber was designed exactly the same as his old blue one except slightly larger hilt.

Wouldn't it be crazy to see it lit up and instead of blue, it's red?

 

I like the idea of Ridley and/or Boyega finding a red light saber. I would like to speculate that the Jedi Order was fairly well established by Luke after ROTJ...let's say 8-10 Jedi Knights but no Jedi Master. I would also like to speculate that these Jedi were trained knowing that the Sith were completely destroyed some 35 years ago. This would promote a larger shock of finding a red light saber versus a more common green or blue one. Who does it belong to? Have the Sith somehow returned? The mystery of not knowing what this find implies is what would push our young Jedi Knights into finding a lost Luke.

 

Kyle, this is 95% right

Only speculating

 

You know, I'm really hoping the camera doesn't pan at the end of the opening scroll.

Instead, I'd really like to see the stars race toward camera, and for multiple capitol ships to enter frame from all angles (top, bottom, both sides) so the first thing we experience is being thrown into the centre of a fleet racing through hyperspace. Would be sensational, familiar, and a great reveal for the featured opening planet when the fleet suddenly come to a halt (like the Rebel fleet going into hyperspace in RotJ, only in reverse).

Now that would be awesome! Then we can have the hand stuff, lol!