Star Wars: The end of the Skywalker Saga brings conflicting emotions

The end of the Skywalker Saga brings up a number of conflicting emotions for this Star Wars fan.

For years now, many fans have been speculating that Star Wars: Episode IX will be the final entry in the Skywalker Story, and actor Oscar Isaac has confirmed that speculation in a recent interview with Today.

In the interview, Issac stated that Episode IX is in fact “the end of the Skywalker Saga. Nine Stories and this is the culmination.”

More from Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

He goes on to state that “I think what J.J. has done, and the entire Lucasfilm team, is incredibly fulfilling. It’s also special for us because you get to learn a lot more things about these characters.”

He did not offer anything else to say about the upcoming film, but this does confirm for fans that this will likely be the final Skywalker-centric movie in the franchise going forward.

Since the first Star Wars movie was released back in 1977, the Skywalker family lineage has seemingly been the focal point of the films.

Aside from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story, each of the other nine entries all have had a Skywalker as the main driving force of the story, with Luke as the main protagonist of the originally trilogy, and the prequel trilogy revolved around Anakin Skywalker’s life and eventual turn to the Dark Side.

In the recent sequel trilogy, Luke’s disappearance and his sister Leia’s search for him with the Resistance was one of the main plot points of Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and Kylo Ren, another descendant of the Skywalker family and Luke’s nephew, was the film’s main antagonist.

In Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren returned again to serve as the movie’s antagonist, and Luke Skywalker returned to train Rey in the ways of the force, and at the conclusion of the film, he was seen fading away and becoming one with the force after projecting himself to Crait to distract the First Order and allowing the remainder of the Resistance to escape the planet.

Going into Episode IX, the only two (known) members of the Skywalker lineage who are still alive are Kylo Ren and his mother/Luke’s sister, General Leia, and Luke Skywalker was confirmed to appear in the movie back in July of 2018 prior to the beginning of filming, with his role likely being as either in a flashback or as a “force ghost”.

However, Leia’s actress Carrie Fisher passed away in 2016 and will appear in the film with archival footage, so this will likely be the character’s final appearance in a live-action film. Additionally, Luke Skywalker’s role and capacity in the film have yet to be confirmed, and rumors are circulating that his will only appear in a cameo.

Photo Credit: Lucasfilm

Mark Hamill also express some frustration with the way his character Luke has been used in a recent interview, citing that he was upset that he only got to star in one movie, so with he also may not be willing to return to the franchise in the future.

The bottom line is that both Luke and Leia will be appearing in the film, but this is likely the last we will be seeing of both of these characters in a live-action film, at least for the time being.

With both of those two characters done after Episode IX, the last remaining Skywalker descendant would be Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. Isaac’s interview might have also clued us in on the new Supreme Leader’s eventual fate as well. If this truly is the final entry into the Skywalker Saga, with Kylo being the last living Skywalker descendant, and is set to be the film’s main antagonist, then it is very possible that we will see his demise in the upcoming film.

Isaac’s comments on this film being the final chapter in the story of the Skywalker family has me a bit conflicted.

On one hand, the Skywalker lineage has been the focus of seemingly every movie, and it is a bit sad that they will not be in the films anymore. Growing up, Luke Skywalker was one of my heroes and this news confirms that Episode IX pretty much will be the last we see of him, or any of characters of the original trilogy again going forward.

With that said, I think that deviating from stories following the Skywalker family could be the right move going forward. The Galaxy is a big and interesting place, and an original story with new characters could be just what the franchise needs to get some renewed interest from the fans.

After the conclusion of Episode IX, there are two separate sets of trilogies set to be in development, with one created by Rian Johnson, the director of The Last Jedi, and a second trilogy headed by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, who are the creators of the HBO Game of Thrones series.

Currently, nothing is known about what to either of these trilogies will entail, but they both promise to offer something new and unique to the Star Wars universe, especially the trilogy set by Benioff & Weiss, as they have done a terrific job in their work on Game of Thrones, creating one of the most captivating television series in history, so I am very eager to see what they add to Star Wars lore.

Just on a personal note, I would love to see their take on a Knights of the Old Republic type story for their film trilogy.

While I am still a bit upset that this will be the end of Luke and Leia’s story in Star Wars Episode IX, I am still grateful that I have gotten to see them appear the new trilogy together again, even if how the new movies played out isn’t exactly what I expected. In whatever capacity they appear in in Episode IX, I’m sure that I’ll appreciate seeing them both appear one last time even more now that I know it will be for the final time.

Star Wars: Episode IX will be released in theaters on December 20, 2019.