It’s time to bid good bye to a saga that began in 1977 in a galaxy far far away. The final trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker dropped last night and for those of us that live and breathe Star Wars…it was an emotional one.
As the protocol droid said, it’s time for “one last look”. So check out that trailer below as we break it down.
The new teaser kicks off with what looks to be Rey doing some training on a jungle-strewn planet and then cuts back to what looks to be the interior of the ruined Star Destroyer on Jakku. All the while we have Finn with the first voice over saying that the Force has brought them together.
Then we switch out to Poe Dameron giving a pep talk to the Resistance on how “good people will fight if we lead them.” In the crowd we see a few familiar faces such as Lando Calrissian and also a Mon Calamari which reports are saying is Aftab the son of Admiral Ackbar.
We also get a look at a familiar Alderaan Cruiser like the Tantive IV which Leia used in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Then we get a shot of Rey again with a lightsaber on a stormy water planet with what looks to be similar weapons from Echo base on Hoth in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back.
Yeah, there are a lot of call backs to the previous films in this trailer. And from the storm we see Kylo Ren appear like Euron Greyjoy from the novels (yeah, I’m gonna make a Game of Thrones reference).
We cut again to what looks to be a bunch of TIE Fighters heading to a glacier-like structure. This could possibility be the planet Kijimi where the mysterious leader of the Spice Runners of Kijimi, Zorii Bliss is from. She has a connection with Poe and is played by actress Keri Russell.
Then we get an ominous voiceover of Emperor Palpatine saying, “Long have I waited, and now, your coming together is your undoing.” We also see a very Sith-like sinister throne. That throne really matches the early concept art of the Emperor’s throne from legendary Star Wars artist Ralph McQuarrie.
We also then see an amazing shot of a Star Destroyer breaking through the ice from below.
It’s followed by a huge…and when we say huge, we mean a HUGE assembly of Star Wars starships which includes the iconic Millennium Falcon and a cockpit full of hero characters. Also if you look VERY closely you can spot the Ghost from the animated series Star Wars: Rebels here.
Then back to Rey and Kylo on the stormy water planet and locked in a lightsaber duel. We’ll have to see who ends up with the high ground there. We also get a look at a new water vehicle which we’re pretty sure is going to end up being a bit of merchandise that they’ll be pushing during the holidays, if they haven’t already.
Next up we get Babu Frik who is one of the new alien characters that is an Anzellan droidsmith who is working on C-3PO while the gang looks on.
I don’t know about you but I think the new wheelie droid D-0 is pretty adorable. There’s a little easter egg if you look at the background, you can spy an old battle droid from the prequel moves. Heart strings are tugged here at this scene which is followed by some running and a final hug from space mom aka General Leia (we miss you).
That shot of Rey and Kylo on the ruins of the Death Star just looks so money. It has to end up as a poster and/or some fan artists out there are probably recreating it. Fast foward we get a batch of quick scenes that includes Kylo and Ren smashing something apart (with Rey holding what looks to be a dagger in one hand) and a herd of galloping orbaks (furry, horse-like creatures) on a Star Destroyer. That battle just looks totally insane.
Wow…that was a lot to unpack there. Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker will be opening in theaters on December 20th. Tickets for the film opening as early as December 19th have already gone on sale and some theaters are already selling out. This is gonna be history in the making folks, so be sure to get on that ASAP.