As the countdown to Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues (136 days, but who's counting), fans are starting to learn more and more about this highly-anticipated sequel. Earlier today, we got more insight into the Star Wars writing process from "creative consultant" Simon Kinberg. Last week, J.J. Abrams hit the red carpet premiere of Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, which he produced, where the filmmaker revealed an interesting tidbit of trivia regarding Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As part of a series of "yes or no" question, the filmmaker was asked by MTV if the controversial "midi-chlorians," first mentioned in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, were brought up in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The director simply said, "No."

Towards the middle of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) tells Anakin Skywalker's (Jake Lloyd) that midi-chlorians are microscopic organisms that live inside all of us. When a person possesses a great number of midi-chlorians, they can communicate with The Force. Qui-Gon tells Obi-Wan that these organisms "speak to us, telling us the will of The Force," and that they are also an indicator of a potential Jedi recruit. Young Anakin Skywalker's midi-chlorian count was the highest ever recorded.

Many fans were upset about this "explanation" for The Force and its connection to the Jedi warriors, but George Lucas strayed from mentioning midi-chlorians in the subsequent prequels. Now we know that there will be no talk of these organisms in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so midi-chlorian haters can rest easy. J.J. Abrams did offer a few more details regarding Star Wars: The Force Awakens, stating that they have a cut of the movie, but the running time is nowhere near locked down. Here's what the filmmaker had to say.

"We definitely have a cut. The running time is always adjusting. It's anywhere from an hour and a half to four hours, somewhere in that area. Peter Jackson keeps calling us, saying, 'Make it four hours.' Fine, so there will be a New Zealand edition that will be coming out. No, we're just working."

It was confirmed during the Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel at Comic-Con that we won't see another trailer until the fall. Even with the release of two trailers, fans still haven't seen Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, and we only got brief glimpses of Harrison Ford's Han Solo in the second trailer and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia in the behind-the-scenes footage shown at SDCC. While we wait for the new footage to arrive, take a look at J.J. Abrams' red carpet video interview below for MTV.