One Last Time

what we know about “star wars: the rise of skywalker”

by gabe cohn

Above: The gang reunites aboard the Millennium Falcon for the ninth film in the saga. Below: Poe (Isaac) is back in action.
J.J. Abrams was biting
his lip.
It was mid-April, and the director
was sitting onstage at the Star Wars
Celebration convention in Chicago
in front of a sea of rapt fans, the
crowd a dark mass peppered
with glowing smartphones and
the odd raised lightsaber. To his
left sat Kathleen Kennedy, the
president of Lucasfilm. To his right,
Stephen Colbert, who was trying
— in hammy interviewer mode
— to get Abrams or Kennedy to
reveal details of “Star Wars: The Rise
of Skywalker.”
“What I will say is that the movie
doesn’t pick up immediately after
the last film,” Abrams said, speaking
slowly and carefully. “Some time
has gone by.”
In other settings, the answer
would sound withholding,
maybe even evasive. But in the
world of prerelease “Star Wars”
reconnaissance, where information
is scarce and obsessively controlled,
it was something of a revelation.
(“Oh, I get it now,” Colbert said
after another vague response a few
minutes later. “You asked me to
come to Chicago to ask questions —
not get answers.”)
“The Rise of Skywalker,” directed
by Abrams and set for release Dec.
20, will conclude the trilogy of films
that began in 2015 with Abrams’
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
and continued under the direction
of Rian Johnson with 2017’s “The
Last Jedi.” It will also end the
nine-film trilogy of trilogies
sometimes referred to
as the “Skywalker
saga,” which
includes the
original
three “Star
Wars” films,
the prequel
trilogy that
began in the
late ’90s, and
the new movies,
which picked up the
plot 30 years after that
of the original films.
So what might the latest movie
have in store? While information is
limited, we do know some details —
and can hypothesize about others.
The Heroes
When the previous movie, “The Last
Jedi,” ended, the stormtrooper-
turned-freedom-fighter Finn (John
Boyega) was reunited with the
budding Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley).
The pair had spent the bulk of
the movie apart, with Finn and
the fighter pilot Poe (Oscar Isaac)
working to protect the rebel group
known as the Resistance from
the evil First Order; Rey was
hounding an exiled and
ornery Luke Skywalker
(Mark Hamill) on
a remote planet,
trying to secure
his aid in the fight
against the bad
guys. The new
movie will feature
more scenes with
all of its star heroes
in one place, centering
on what Abrams described
at Star Wars Celebration as “an
adventure that the group goes on
together.” It also may or may not see
Rey being pulled toward the dark
side — a possibility dangled in front
of audiences by footage released
in August that briefly shows Rey
holding a red lightsaber.
Rey
Palpatine Will Be (Quite?) Operational
Perhaps the biggest surprise in
the “Rise of Skywalker” teaser
trailer comes at the very end.
That’s when we hear the distinct
cackle of Palpatine, the cloaked
evil leader also known as
Darth Sidious. Palpatine was
the catalyst for Anakin Skywalker’s
transformation into Darth
Vader in the prequel trilogy. He
A hooded Palpatine (McDiarmid) and Rey (Ridley) face each other in a scene from the upcoming addition to the franchise.
The Villains
Despite a vast military that
continues to give it an upper
hand in the battle to quash the
Resistance, the First Order finished
the previous movie with a budding Kylo
crisis. After the death of Supreme Ren
Leader Snoke (played through
motion capture by Andy Serkis), a
power struggle surfaced: On one
side was Kylo Ren (Adam Driver),
the moody runaway son of Han
Solo and Princess Leia whom Snoke
had twisted into something like a
villainous one-man Darth Vader
tribute band, and on the other
General Hux, the uptight evil
commander played by Domhnall
Gleeson. It seemed unlikely that
either was about to cede ultimate
control, so we’re likely to see even
more conflict between them in “The
Rise of Skywalker.”
ostensibly met his demise when the actor who plays Palpatine, also
Vader chucked him down the Death clarified that while he is part of
Star’s reactor shaft at the end of the new film, that laugh was an old
“Return of the Jedi,” and hadn’t scrap. “I have to tell you that that
been a factor in the new trilogy. particular laugh was not specially
We know he will return in the recorded,” he said. “They found it
upcoming movie in some form, but somewhere, probably from one of
no details beyond that have been the old movies or in a digital vault
released. (In an interview at Star or maybe George’s iPhone — I don’t
Wars Celebration, Ian McDiarmid, know.”)

Han Solo’s pal Lando (Williams) makes a comeback in “The Rise of Skywalker” after a rollercoaster trip to the dark side and back.
Lando Has
Got a Lot of
Guts Coming
Here
The beloved Leia (Fisher) makes one last appearance in the final film of the saga as she embraces Rey (Ridley).
Leia Lives on
Carrie Fisher’s death in late
2016 came after she completed
filming for “The Last Jedi.” But for
“The Rise of Skywalker,” it posed
a quandary. “You don’t recast that
The other big new-old face in
“The Rise of Skywalker” is Lando
Calrissian. Billy Dee Williams
will return to play the character,
the cape-wearing friend of Han
Solo who was introduced in “The
Empire Strikes Back.” Lando ended
up betraying the good guys in that
movie, only to redeem himself
part,” Abrams said in the interview
with Colbert. “And you don’t
suddenly have her disappear.”
So, the director explained, they
took unused scenes with Fisher
from “The Force Awakens” and recut
them, weaving the old footage into
the plot of “The Rise of Skywalker.”
by joining them later. Based on
a moment in the teaser that sees
Williams piloting the Millennium
Falcon alongside Chewbacca, we
can make at least one safe bet about
Lando in the new movie: It looks
like he will be fighting on the light
side again this time around.
While the move is unlikely to spark
the same ethical debates that
the digital resurrection of the actor
Peter Cushing in “Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story” did in 2016, how
successfully the Fisher scenes work
will probably be discussed in the
days after the new film debuts.
The complcated relationship
between Rey (Ridley) and Kylo
Ren (Driver) returns as a focal
point in the new film.
New kids on the block
There are several major additions
to the cast. Keri Russell plays Zorri
Bliss, a masked rogue whom we
know next to nothing about. What
we do know is that Russell wears
a maroon-and-gold costume in
the movie and that, according to a
preview in Vanity Fair, her character
hangs out in a disreputable
district of a new planet called
Kijimi. Richard E. Grant, the
English actor who received an Oscar
nomination earlier this year for
Ticket Sales
Break Records
his supporting role in “Can You New
Ever Forgive Me?,” plays Allegiant droid
General Pryde, a distinguished D-O
honcho in the First Order. And
Naomi Ackie, a younger British
actress who is among the cast of
the Hulu comedy-drama “The
Bisexual,” plays Jannah, a caped
fighter who joins the heroes in
the battle against the First Order.
There’s also a new droid, D-O, who
looks like a hair dryer riding a
unicycle.
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise (total unadjusted for inflation) but
of Skywalker won’t reach theaters Skywalker just beat its brisk sales
until December 20, but the mega- by a robust 45%.
release from Disney’s Lucasfilm
Ltd. was already breaking records Atom’s new tally of best first-
on October 21. hour sales performances is
dominated by space knights and
The premiere of the film’s final superheroes: 1) Star Wars: The
trailer during the Monday Night Rise of Skywalker 2) Avengers:
Football halftime show provided Endgame 3) Avengers: Infinity
the kickoff for advance tickets War 4) Star Wars: The Last
sales for Star Wars, and fans Jedi 5) Star Wars: Rogue One.
responded in record numbers,
according to Atom Tickets. According to Atom Tickets’ fall
movie survey, “Star Wars: The
Atom Tickets reported a new first-
Rise of Skywalker”  is the most
hour sales record with a ticket
anticipated movie this fall.
total that blew away the the record
set earlier this year by another Already this year, Disney became
the first studio in Hollywood
Disney behemoth,  Avengers:
history to release five films with
Endgame. That superhero epic
box-office grosses north of $1
eventually became the highest-
billion.
grossing film in Hollywood history