Regardless of how you feel about the direction the new Star Wars trilogy has taken, there's still no denying the excitement of watching a trailer for the next installment. After some divisive twists were made in Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, J.J. Abrams is now back at the helm for the last installment of the trilogy he helped create. We had no idea what the ninth episode would be about other than a few unconfirmed leaks, but we now have our first footage and title for the movie thanks to Star Wars Celebration. With Disney planning on taking a hiatus from Star Wars movies following the release of Episode XI, it seems they really want to end the Skywalker Saga on a high note.
Below is the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker:
Before we even get into the actual trailer, the title of the movie itself seems to be a lot less broad than some of the previous ones. Having said that its still completely open to interpretation, as its hard to tell which Skywalker the title is referring to. We know Luke will be featured in the movie despite meeting his end in Last Jedi as he has new lines of dialogue to Rey in the trailer, but this will most likely be in the form of a force ghost. It could also be referring to Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo, who himself is technically a Skywalker and could finally receive his redemption. And then there is of course the possibility Rey is a Skywalker after all, despite the scene in Last Jedi saying otherwise.
The trailer itself doesn't give too much away in terms of plot, but we do know the trio of Poe, Rey, and Finn will finally all be together on a mission this time around rather than scattered. J.J. Abrams has confirmed a significant amount of time has passed since Last Jedi when The Rise of Skywalker starts off, and we see Kylo Ren has had time to repair his helmet. Carrie Fisher is seen in the trailer despite her passing two years ago, and we know footage is being used from deleted scene from the previous two movies to continue Leia's story arc here. We also get our first look at the return of Lando alongside Chewie in the Millennium Falcon, but its still unknown how he will factor into the plot and how they run into him in the first place.
But probably the biggest reveal of the entire trailer is the laugh at the end, which belongs to none other than The Emperor himself Palpatine. As Star Wars fans will remember, Palpatine was featured heavily in the prequels and original trilogy, but had seemingly met his end in Return of the Jedi. Well it looks like that wasn't the case, as the voiceover by Luke about how "no one is ever really gone" seems to fit perfectly with this. We also see the gang looking at the remnants of the Deathstar, which could be the original one where The Emperor died. Its certainly a surprising reveal as many of us had believed Snoke would be taking the place of The Emperor as the larger evil behind the curtain, but that went out the window after his death in Last Jedi. Ian McDiarmid made an appearance at Star Wars Celebration to even confirm his return to the role, so its just a matter of how he's going to pull it off.
So what did you think of the trailer for The Rise of Skywalker? Do you like the title? Are you happy to see Palpatine return? Let us know below!
