Guys, it’s been about 20 minutes since the trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX… oops, sorry… since the trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (SQUEEEEE!) got revealed and I’m still fanboying hard! To use the phrasing of today’s kids: I’M SHOOK!
While that teaser trailer is undoubtedly all most of us fans will be thinking about for a while, the hour-long panel preceding its release was actually rather entertaining. Hosted by Stephen Colbert, the panel saw director/co-writer JJ Abrams and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy joined on-stage by the primary cast of Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and newcomer Naomi Ackie (Jannah).
During the
With this being Star Wars, everybody on the panel was rather tightlipped about dropping any major plot details (Abrams glancing at Kennedy for permission before answering any question was hilarious), but we did learn a few more things not necessarily shown in the trailer.
- Kennedy reaffirmed that this is the end of the Skywalker saga that began in 1977.
- Describing this final chapter in a trilogy of trilogies, Abrams said that “This movie, in addition to being the end of three trilogies, it also has to work as its own movie. It’s about this new generation and what they’ve inherited, the light and the dark, and asking the question as they face the greatest evil, are they prepared? Are they ready?”
- It’s been confirmed by Abrams that “some time has gone by” between the end of The Last Jedi and the start of The Rise of Skywalker.
- While The Last Jedi saw the main cast split up on their own missions in different parts of the galaxy
for the most part, this will be an “adventure” that everybody goes on together. - Abrams confirmed that the late Carrie Fisher could be in this film through the “miracle” of all the unused scenes they of her from the previous two films. Abrams and co wrote around Fisher’s existing scenes so that they could give her a proper story in this film.
- Ackie would not confirm the rumours that her Jaanah was the daughter of William’s Lando, but laughing added that “Lando is a very charming man, so he could have children all over the universe, that’s all I’m saying.” And all we’re saying is that the cape and colour scheme she’s wearing looks very Lando-
esque to us. - When asked about whether Rey repairs Luke Skywalker’s old lightsaber after it was cut in half, Ridley simply said that it “lives”.
- Alas, there will be no topless Kylo Ren scenes in this movie.
- John Boyega wouldn’t confirm that Finn and Rose are romantically involved (he jokingly implied Finn was in a relationship with everybody), but he seemed to suggest that they’ve had an on again/off again relationship by the time we catch up to them.
- While trying to dodge the question about whether Rey develops some more brand new Force abilities in this movie, Abrams and Ridley seemed to hint that she will be pulling off some rather spectacular moves in this movie. We eventually got a hint of that with her incredible lightsaber flip at the start of the trailer.
- Droid BB-8 is getting a droid friend in the form of Dio, who I would like to believe was named after the legendary rock vocalist and whose design was based on Spy vs Spy. I could be wrong.
Along with the pics, we also got the first official teaser poster for the film.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is scheduled for release on 20 December 2019.
Last Updated: April 13, 2019
Dresden
April 13, 2019 at 07:24
It’s about time I get around to watching episode 7 & 8 so that I at least have an idea of what’s going on in this movie.
Daniel Hallinan
April 13, 2019 at 09:09
Man, this trailer has bummed me out.
This movie, with its title, the reforging of Kyo’s mask, embracing the chosen bloodline narrative, returning to Endor AND including the Emperor (as a force ghost?), is proudly stating its intent to focus on undoing everything the previous movie tried to dorather than forging ahead and finishing the story as it stood.
Even if you didn’t enjoy the previous movie, having a third of a trilogy trying to retcon the message of another third of that same trilogy just ends up resulting in a shitty trilogy.
Creative in-fighting is a crappy way for a story to go 🙁
Kervyn Cloete
April 13, 2019 at 13:37
I actually don’t think Abrams will be undoing all of TLJ. There are definitely some thematic deviations (looking back to the past again, for example), and there may be some plot twists but irrespective of how critical a very vocal portion of the fandom got, TLJ was a still an overwhelming critical and commercial success overall and Lucasfilm won’t just throw that away. Abrams has also publicly stated many times how he loves what Rian Johnson did (which he reiterated again on the panel yesterday), not to mention that he had already started work on this before TLJ was even released.
Daniel Hallinan
April 13, 2019 at 13:58
Well, I’m sure the movie won’t assume what actually happened in that film didn’t happen, but it’s *definitely* shifting to loudly contest the narrative point of the previous film – breaking away from the legacy of olden times, breaking away from the idea that you’re somehow special and unique because you’re a protagonist, breaking away from doing things purely because that’s what a fanbase wants you to do.
The title alone includes Skywalker, raising it up in prominence, which the previous film spat on. Rei wasn’t special. Skywalkers aren’t the only people who can use the force, they aren’t the only people who have the potential to change the “world”. The film is revisiting and indulging in aspects of the original trilogy rather than “letting it die”.
While I have no reason to think Abrams disliked The Last Jedi, it definitely seems he’s betting on a safer use of the fiction which contradicts the controversial criticisms of the previous film rather than continuing on where the story and themes left off.
He is, of course, perfectly entitled to do that, and this doesn’t mean the movie will be bad. It’s just unfortunate, and this type of creative conflict dirties the waters of a narrative arc.
Kervyn Cloete
April 13, 2019 at 13:37
Also, forgot to add, we have ZERO idea who the Skywalker in the title refers to. There may not be a chosen one at all. It could refer to Leia, it could refer to Kylo, it could refer to Luke. Having Rey be revealed to be a Skywalker would just be way too on the nose.
CrAiGiSh
April 15, 2019 at 09:07
At least this will be the last episode … or we can only “Hope” …
G8crasha
April 15, 2019 at 12:04
What this all proves is that it is a better idea to create a saga that starts at one and then goes forward: not 4, 5, 6, then 1, 2, 3, then 7, 8, 9 (over such a massive time period – 1977 all the way to 2019 – 42 years and only 9 movies). The standard and quality is so back and forth with the whole Skywalker saga. MCU did it the right way: standalone character movies within a large arc. Hey, I still love Star Wars ( and I know some fanbois might just rip me apart), but I am so apprehensive about eventually watching Episodes 1 – 9 when the last one is released.