Via Ign.com:

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams has waded into the ongoing discussion about the new lightsaber design revealed in the first teaser trailer for the upcoming film.

Collider spoke to Abrams at the Visual Effects Society Awards last night, and the director wasn’t afraid to admit the decision regarding the crossguard was a controversial one internally, too.

“I will say that what’s been funny is, since the lightsaber’s come out, I cannot tell you how many contradictory emails I have received from people who have both defended it with unbelievably detailed graphics,” he said. “I’ve gotten things that are nuts, and I’ve gotten people who’ve shown how it’ll kill you and how it doesn’t make any sense. It’s been the funniest thing to see the arguments that have developed over this thing.

“It was a number of conversations [that led to the design]. It was a sketch that became a whole thing and, you know, this was not done without a lot of conversation and it’s fun to see people have the conversation that we had, but in reverse.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Abrams admitted he hasn’t yet seen a first cut of the finished movie since editing is ongoing, and again re-emphasised his commitment to using real props where possible, instead of immediately relying on CG effects.

Previously, Ewan McGregor has expressed reservations over the new lightsaber. Whether or not Lucas himself would have done anything new with the iconic weapons we’ll never know; Disney apparently didn’t want to do his versions of Episodes VII, VIII and IX.