Star The newest Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker footage released at D23 was chock-full of exciting moments. Here are the 5 fans should look forward to the most.
The newest teaser for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had a lot to take in, to say the least. Sith Lord C-3PO, imperial star destroyers, Darth Vader’s iconic breathing and Palpatine’s chilling voice were all standout moments from the trailer but none were as exciting as Darth Rey.
Now that we’ve had a chance to fully digest the trailer and its contents, I think it’s time to pick out the most exciting moments and talk about which deserve the most hype leading up to Episode IX. These are the top five moments shown in the trailer that fans should be excited to see in The Rise of Skywalker.
5. Leia
It will be bittersweet to see Carrie Fisher’s beloved Princess Leia on the big screen one last time, posthumously. Although she tragically passed away in 2016 before The Rise of Skywalker had filmed, director J.J. Abrams was able to use footage from the last two movies “in a new way.”
When discussing Fisher’s role in Episode IX, Abrams said that her character will be “in a way, the heart of the movie.” Hearing this, fans should expect Leia to have a critical role in the Resistance’s fight against the First Order and perhaps be influential in bringing her son back from the dark side.
People have suggested Kylo Ren may turn back into Ben Solo. The inner conflict between the light and dark within him has been raging since The Force Awakens.
He’s clearly tried to solidify himself in the dark side before but for every hateful and violent act he commits, he follows it up with an act of vulnerability and compassion. For example, he’s able to kill his father, Han Solo, and has the chance to kill Leia, but can’t bring himself to do it; he obviously still has a major emotional connection with his mother that he’s unwilling to break.
I’m hoping we see Leia the mother more than Leia the resistance general as the end of Kylo Ren’s internal battle between the light and dark side comes to its conclusion.
It will be sad to see Princess Leia for the last time, but we should be excited to know that she will have an integral role in wrapping up the multi-generational Skywalker Saga.
4. A potential Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker Return
So far, there is no confirmation that Darth Vader will be in The Rise of Skywalker. The closest thing we have is his iconic breathing heard right before we were blessed with Rey activating her double-bladed red lightsaber.
I previously suggested his breathing could hint at Darth Rey could be a vision like Vader on Dagobah. However, it’s hard to believe that Vader won’t make an appearance in some way.
J.J. Abrams has said Episode IX will include parts of the prequel and original trilogies. How could he say something like this without including the main character of Star Wars? Especially when Abrams sought guidance from George Lucas, who has said Star Wars is essentially the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker?
It’s far more likely than not that either Anakin nor Vader (or maybe both, as some theories and previous concept art suggest) will show up in The Rise of Skywalker and we surely hope they do.
3. Imperial Destroyers
I can’t have been the only one who thought the image of the hundreds of what looked like imperial destroyers was totally absurd, right? I mean, where did they come from? Why are there so many? Are we going to see a huge space battle that features a seemingly endless number of these things?
The shot of the destroyers in the trailer is one of the most interesting. People have suggested the image of the destroyers is a flashback from the time of the Galactic Empire and others believe that they’re a contingency plan of Palpatine’s creation in case he ever returned from the dead.
Either way, whichever scene they are featured in will surely be jaw-dropping.
Personally, I think they’ll appear in the present and not in a flashback. Around the 1-minute, 23-second mark in the trailer, immediately after the destroyers appear, we see Finn and Noami Ackie’s character, Jannah, in a ship engaged in a space battle, as seen by the lasers flying by the ship’s window.
Their faces are filled with what looks like shock and distress. Perhaps they are seeing the massive fleet of destroyers for the first time and are reacting accordingly. We won’t have confirmation on the ships’ involvement in the film until we’re sitting in the theater, but there sure are a lot of questions to be raised now.
Either way, whichever scene the destroyers show up is sure to be breathtaking.
2. Rey and Kylo’s End
Rey and Kylo have a connection. A strong connection.
They sensed it in The Force Awakens and they acknowledged and embraced it in The Last Jedi, actively speaking to each other through the Force (with help from Snoke) and teaming up to defeat Snoke and his guards in an awesome fight scene.
In the first trailer, we saw a TIE fighter, likely belonging to Kylo, speed after Rey, who clears it in one fell swoop. But since the fighter isn’t shooting at Rey, it might suggest that the two are training together, with Kylo teaching Rey, which he has desired to do previously.
In the D23 footage, we see Rey and Kylo fight on top of wreckage of the Death Star suspended in rough waters. In a recently revealed poster, Kylo and Rey look as if they are engaged in battle with Palpatine in the background, potentially suggesting his meddling in their relationship. There’s a lot going on between the two and we really have no way of knowing which way Episode IX will take their relationship.
Their connection is both conflicting and oddly endearing. Each have attempted to pull the other to their side without avail, yet I would argue that neither considers the other their true enemy.
For Rey, it was Snoke, and for Kylo, both Luke and Snoke. Now that both are gone, will Rey and Kylo turn on each other? Will they switch places, with Kylo going to the light and Rey falling to the dark? Will they team up and lead the galaxy into peace or into chaos?
No matter what happens, Rey actress Daisy Ridley has said that Rey and Kylo’s (or Rylo, for some fans) ending will be “satisfying,” so fans should be excited for whatever comes our way.
1. Darth Rey
This one was pretty obvious, no? When I first saw Rey awesomely reveal her double-bladed lightsaber like Darth Maul, I leapt out of my seat.
More from Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
- How many Oscars has Star Wars won?
- Looking back at 10 years of Star Wars: The films
- Domhnall Gleeson up for returning as General Hux
- Star Wars fan’s epic poster is The Rise of Skywalker ending reimagined
- Star Wars 25 features the first post-Rise of Skywalker canon story
Undoubtedly the coolest moment of the D23 trailer, I cannot wait to see how dark side Rey is revealed in the story. I think that she is a mirage, while some think that Rey will actually fall to the dark and others swear that the Rey we know is just a clone and that Darth Rey is another clone potentially created by Palpatine himself.
No matter what becomes of Rey, I can already hear the collective gasps in the theater when she first appears.
An awesome fight scene with Rey the Dark Lord is almost certain at this point, and we can’t wait for it. Rey’s impressive athleticism, unexplained skills in lightsaber combat combined with the versatility of a double-bladed lightsaber against another skilled opponent, whether it be normal Rey, Kylo, or a teamup of Rey and Kylo would be a lightsaber duel for the ages.
It’s certainly going to be one of the best scenes of The Rise of Skywalker and has the potential to be one of the best lightsaber fights in the entire saga.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20.