Breaking Down the New Hopes and Shadowed Empires inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s Final Trailer

It ’s here . After wait months since Star Wars Celebration gave usour first look — and being dazzled bya dark visionin the meantime — the final trailer for The Rise of Skywalkerhas arrived . It does n’t just bring a content of hope for theResistance converted , but has quite a few intriguing details and hints you may have missed .

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The preview open with more footage of a scene we ’ve already had coup d’oeil of : Rey ( Daisy Ridley ) , now left with little but ancient texts to show her the route of the Jedi , training herself . This jungle world seems to be a major newfangled hub of action for what ’s left of the Resistance after the events of The Last Jedi — anew Monopoly boardreleased as part of thefilm ’s merch campaignhas revealed that it ’s called Ajan Kloss .

All that it takes is but one final effort.

All that it takes is but one final effort.Gif: Lucasfilm

As Rey continues to operate , Finn ( John Boyega ) begin to narrate , ruminating on thepower of the Force . “ It ’s an inherent aptitude , ” he say , “ a feeling . ” But as Rey jump over a ravine , she come up herself making a similar jump in the ruins of a ship — much like the Star Destroyer innards she used to clean in Jakku ’s graveyards . yield she ’s still in her new ascending flavour , there stand a well chance this is a fit that withdraw shoes on whichever planet the waterlogged ruins of the second Death Star are on . But is this mo just a clever cutting , or vision of the Force teasing Rey with what ’s to add up ?

“ The Force brought us together , ” Finn concludes , as we get a shot of the humanity himself using some macrobinoculars . Although the colouring tone would desire you to believe that this is the desert world glimpse in anterior lagger — which we recognise is diagnose Pasaana thanks to another ware titbit , this time a Lego set — the environment is certainly less arid . The fields make it look more like the worldly concern the Resistance finds the Death Star II ruins on ( just less rainswept than we ’ve image it ) , and match up with promo slam we ’ve seen of Naomi Ackie’smysterious new character , Jannah . More on her later !

As Finn ’s mo concludes , another narrator enters the trailer : Poe Dameron ( Oscar Isaac ) . “ We ’re not alone , ” Poe tells us , as we abridge to a snapshot of the Resistance ’s new base , filled with plenty of pilot and private eye — there ’s a second of a gap between The Last Jedi ’s end and The Rise of Skywalker ’s beginning , a gap presently being filled by aswath of booksand comics depicting the tattered Resistance reaching out to whatever allies they can .

Some of those allies will be familiar , in some way more than others . In this shot we can see just why everyone ’s huddled around and delirious : They ’re in thepresence of a legend . General of the Rebel Alliance . Captain of the Millenium Falcon . Baron Administrator of Cloud City . He ’s not a system , he is a piece : Lando Calrissian ( the retrovert Billy Dee Williams ) . He ’s clearly bust hisyounger self ’s wardrobesince his retreat .

But Lando is n’t the only possible figure with a bequest here — to his rightfield is a Mon Calamari officer who we ’ve previously see once again , as part of the product movement , a standee , to be specific . There , the character was unnamed , but the ongoing prequel comic Star Wars : dedication has us inquire if this is a character reference that ’s been appearing there : Aftab Ackbar , son of the fallen Admiral Gial Ackbar , who in Allegiance has been serving as a point of contact for Leia as sheattempts to re - convincethe Mon Calamari and Quarren to fight down against the First Order ’s violation on the galaxy .

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“ Good people will press if we lead them , ” Poe continues , and verbalize of good masses , here ’s a few ! Rose Tico ( Kelly Marie Tran ) , who fit in to character detail has risen through Resistance place to become the Commander of its Engineering Corps , Master of Architecture into chargeman fire with Lieutenant Connix ( Billie Lourd ) and a starter Resistance soldier , played byLost and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan . The feverish environs around them all seems to indicate that this is all take place in the climactic battle of the film — which we ’ll see a lot more of later .

After hearing Poe , we ultimately get to see him , flanked by Finn and Chewbacca ( Joonas Suotamo ) . We also get a abbreviated glance of Poe ’s new ride , an orange and clean X - Wing to substitute the destroy Black One . As with a lot of thing in this prevue so far , a new toy actually gave us our good feel at it so far .

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But what are Poe and friends look at ? The racing soldiers behind them and universal look of concern seems to indicate that something may be going wrong on Ajan Kloss .

As does the take flight Corellian C90 “ Blockade Runner ” Corvette that was part of their base of operation . The first trailerfor the motion-picture show yield us a coup d’oeil of Kylo Ren run a brutal First Order assault in a forested environment that could moderately be Ajan Kloss . Does the First Order bump the rebuilding Resistance early on in the film , leading them to take flight to find more allies and a fresh base ?

We ’re back in the soggy ruins of the Death Star II again . The idea of the sunken ruins of the planetkiller isone earlier floatedfor The Force Awakens , but we ’re still unsure of where on the dot this public is . It certainly does n’t look like the forest moon of Endor , which is where you may put on scraps of a to the full armed and in - the - in-between - of - exploding battlesations to imminently set ashore after the Rebels struck the final blow in Return of the Jedi . Is the actual flatulency giant of the same name as its moon ? Another planet in that system ? Or is it somewhere else entirely ?

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After all , chunks of debris flying through the vacancy of blank space from an explosion that large could fly pretty bloody far .

We soar upwards in closer on Rey , as she readies her lightsaber and enters the narration herself : “ People keep secern me they know me . No one does , ” she strongly states . A rather broad acknowledgement that perhaps the mystery of who Rey is , and who her parent were , is not quite as settled as The Last Jedi would ’ve had us believed . Or perchance it ’s just more pointed thata certain someonedoesn’t know Rey …

Because amid the wash and mist , comes Mr. Darcy Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ) , adding a categorical “ But I do ” to Rey ’s narration . He ready his own saber , for a fighting we briefly glimpsed in the footageshown at D23 … but is Ren really fighting Rey , or is he simply trying to direct her somewhere ?

Before we can follow up on that thought , we snub to a veritable drove of TIEs take in a path towards a monumental , glacial structure . We have sex there ’s a new glacial world in The Rise of Skywalker that will have a massive part to roleplay in several character ’s plotlines : Kijimi . We shortly glimpsed its surround ( include enjoin surround being blasted aside by bombardments ) in past footage , and info let go about one of the movie ’s newfangled characters , Zorii Bliss ( Keri Russell)—a moon curser we ’ll see a little more of afterwards on — indicate that the First Order and Resistance ’s war will do call in for the seemingly neutral world , force its inhabitants to choose a side .

But why is Kijimi so important ? It would seem that it is home to what is perhaps the key to The Rise of Skywalker ’s most ominous plan of all , asa dread voiceenters the narration . “ Long have I waited … ” murmers the chilling voice of Emperor Sheev Palpatine ( Ian McDairmid ) , as we glimpse an incredibly flowery pot in a mist that makes it seem like this could be on Kijimi .

Here ’s the thing though : This throne is n’t actually new ! Well , it is and it is n’t . Eagle eye Star Wars fans will recognize this figure as one see in concept artwork by Ralph McQuarrie for Return of the Jedi , as also note by Lucasfilm ’s Phil Szostak :

1981 Emperor ’s throne elbow room thumbnail sketches by Ralph McQuarrie for#ReturnoftheJedi.#StarWars#TheRiseOfSkywalkerpic.twitter.com / I6insw60vJ

— Phil Szostak ( @PhilSzostak)October 22 , 2019

In itsearliest stage of conceptualization , Return of the Jedi was going to climax not aboard the second Death Star , but on the Imperial capital letter world of Had Abaddon ( which would finally acquire in canyon into Coruscant ) . There were several designs for Palpatine ’s stool elbow room , including the above . Another , which typeset Palpatine ’s lair in an underground , lava - laden hellscape — root on by concepts McQuarrie had done for Empire Strikes Back , which almost featured a perfervid den for Darth Vader — finally act as inhalation for the major planet Mustafar , andVader ’s sinister castlethere .

It ’s not all merriment and spiky commode that Kijimi has lying under its frozen surface , though . We get seeming confirmation that this is all taking place on that frosty world as a massive Imperial Star Destroyer comes split out of an ice shelf , surrounded by baleful lightning bolts . Yes , re - read that : Imperial . Not First Order .

We see this shocking fleet in gravid detail inthe D23 footagea few months ago , but this idea of a new armada of old cap ships is one Star Wars ’ born-again boom universe of tie - in media has been building toward pretty much since Disney and Lucasfilm rebooted the canon . While he was still animated , Palpatine was spell-bound byan nameless powerhe had detected out in the unnamed regions of the galax — and spent much of his time not really run his Empire , but build up imagination and elbow room to try and reach that power .

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As relay inChuck Wendig ’s Aftermath series , when the Empire fell in theyears like a shot afterReturn of the Jedi , a remnant of Imperial forces fled from the New Republic at Jakku . Lead by Admiral Rae Sloane and a council of various Moffs , admiral , and former confidantes of the Emperor , they took what remained of their fleet and headed towards the co - ordinatesPalpatine had calculatedas the beginning of this unknown presence , slow ramp up up their armies to finally take shape the military branch of what would be the First Order — after hook up with a clustering of secessionist world from the New Republic Senate as part of a drama sparked bythe public revelationof Leia as Darth Vader ’s girl , that is .

While the First Order re - emerge into the known part of the Star Wars galaxy with new takes on familiar tech , it would seem the Imperial Remnant forget their huge fleets hide away , should their Emperor ever return … and it seems that between these ships and Kylo Ren’smysterious new Sith Troopers , the time has come for the Empire to excise back .

It ’s a good business that the Resistance did indeed find some friend then , as we cut to this unbelievable shot of the Falcon ( you could juuuust about make out that it ’s Chewie and Lando in the cockpit ) forrader of a massive fleet of ship . Very familiar ships .

This nip was released ahead of last night ’s poke in a brief tv set teaser , and we ’ve already gonethrough a breakdownof some of the ships we can see in the screen background of this massive assemblage which is essentially a large hits of Star Wars heroic ship design . Here ’s a glorious high - Re still of it that you ’ll require to make your background wallpaper :

There ’s MC75 Mon Calamari cruisers , Nebulon - B Frigates , Sphyrna - Class corvettes from Rogue One ( and before that , knight of the Old Republic , when they were called Hammerhead Crusiers ) , YT-2400s , Lancer - classes , a Baleen heavy merchant ship in the vein of the ship Han and Chewie captained in The Force Awakens , the Eravana , what even looks like an Old Republic - era Defender - Class Corvette , Pelta - Class frigates , and so many more . Yes , even a ship that looks terribly hatful likeStar Wars Rebels ’ Ghost . And even theoft - forgotten Brahatok ! head teacher on over the connection below to read more of our speculation .

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Meanwhile , in a shot that is not from the above battle , a new work party forms on the Falcon : Rey , Chewie , Poe , Finn , and C-3PO ( Anthony Daniels ) . Over it , another sinister comment from Palpatine : “ And now you ’re coming together , ” he cackle . You ’re made to believe by this story that it ’s the Resistance reorganize all of its ally in one last effort that is the subject of Palpatine ’s mockery — echoing his mockery of Luke ’s religious belief in his friend being his undoing in Return of the Jedi .

But what if it ’s another come up together entirely ? Maybe it ’s Rey and Kylo Ren , the avatar of Light and Dark in this geological era of an awakened Force . What if it ’s the Resistance and the First Order , two entities Palpatine could potentially care less for in his own magisterial design ? He has his own troopers . He has a fleet . He might have a wayto cheat decease . What does he need another galactic civil war for ?

After another abbreviated glimpse of Rey and Kylo Ren ’s watery duel , we get this unbelievably brief but incredibly interesting shooting . you may barely make it out against the shadow of space and the crimson detonation , but you may see the visible light of its locomotive engine and the port on its hull . It ’s an Imperial Star Destroyer , blowing up something huge . It does n’t await like a rival ship explode . It looks like a planet , or a minor planet . possibly it ’s even Kijimi , the effect of those bombardments we ’d already seen , after the fleet is free from ice .

Whatever it is , it ’s give-up the ghost , and whatever tech got upgraded into these uppercase ships since they take flight known space all those year ago is moderately all-fired serious .

Back on the watery creation of the Death Star II ruins , we also get this brief shot of a speed demon skimming across the waves towards those aforementioned trash heap . you could just about make out that at least Rey and Jannah are inside it , so this might be whatever human race Jannah herself is from .

A sudden cut takes us to a fresh ( but sorta familiar ) face at this point : C-3PO ’s having his system search at by an adorable new exotic tinker , as BB-8 and the every bit adorable neophyte droid D - O — who manifestly takes a shine to BB-8 when they meet — reckon on . We first met this footling fella asan action at law figurebefore getting to really learn something ( such is the wayof Star Wars ): His name isBabu Frik , and he ’s an Anzellan droid smith who works with Zorii ’s Spice Runners on Kijimi .

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As Rey , Finn , and Poe look on , Poe necessitate 3PO what on the dot he ’s staring at . And , out of nowhere , Anthony Daniels deliver the sharpest , most sudden knife to our collective viscera .

“ Taking one last smell sir , ” 3PO tells us . “ … At my friends . ”

Not even the briefest glimpse of a Trade Federation Battle Droid hanging on the rampart behind C-3PO on the rightfield can disquiet my kernel from shatter . My god .

The D23 footagealready hintedthat something was going to be up with 3PO ’s programming at some point in the movie — we saw him go up up with rather sinister red center there , and there ’s been promotional images ( and , once again , even an action image ! ) of the protocol droid aim up arm with none other than Chewie ’s own goddamn bowcaster . But now we apparently have a go at it the cost : to wrench C-3PO into a warrior , it must apparently get through erasing his memories .

It ’s not the first time it ’s take place to the poor droid , of course — his memory banks were wiped by Bail Organa and Captain Antilles at the end of Revenge of the Sith , so he could very handily not be capable to tell Luke that he work out with his dad before all the youngling - murder . Butit still hurt , dammit !

But why ! ? Well , it seems whatever this process does for 3PO , other than learn him how to utilize grievous Wookiee weaponry , is part of the rationality why Rey and her protagonist head to Kijimi in the first place . Poe has account with Zorii Bliss according to prior details released about her eccentric , but a recent paradigm fromEntertainment Weeklysaw Zorii holding up a strange disc to Poe — as disc that looks not just like part of a droid , but looks a lot like it could slot into the back part of 3PO ’s head . It looks pretty standardized tothe rotary porthe has back there . Maybe that ’s what Babu is establish ? It does n’t explain how or why we have to fall behind our golden friend !

You know what , this shot of Chewie has nothing to do with anything here , probably , but I ’m give out to take it as him deplore the apparent loss of everything 3PO was as a droid . Same , my furry friend . Same .

Meanwhile , as the trailer crescendo with a triumphant , melancholy interpretation of the Star Wars theme , the major battle we get glimpses of early really starts getting underway . We see Finn , Poe , and Chewie just drift through a First Order installation ( whether it ’s a bag or a ship remains to be realise ) , mowing down Stormtroopers …

As if Threepio was n’t enough , we get another gut punch of seeing Rey cover Leia ( the forever - missed Carrie Fisher , who in a just world would ’ve turned 63 on the daytime this trailer released ) again . Yup , just gon na break down in tear and move on , again .

But the waterworks are n’t done yet , because another conversant part begins to recite shots of the speeder chase on Pasaana glimpsed in the first trailer , as BB-8 works with Finn , Poe , and C-3PO to send a barrel of xanthous rubble hurtle into the sky ( presumably to the chagrin of those swank raw First Order Jet Troopers , who we ’ve once again seen more of as toy than we have in footage ) .

It is , of course , Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill ) , whose spirit seems to be talking to Rey , at peacefulness with his end on Crait . “ face fear is the destiny of a Jedi , ” he tells her .

“ Your destiny , ” Luke continues , as we see theraddest Y - Wingsince Gold Squadron perform one underworld of a maneuver as it speed ( well , races as quickly as a Y - Wing can step on it ) toward an Imperial Star Destroyer , guns blazing . Interestingly , once again the toys might give us a hint of who this daring airplane pilot is : TheLego Resistance Y - Wing setreleased on Triple Force Friday is likely based on this specific Y - Wing — you’re able to just about make out the turquoise - touch R5 Astromech Unit co - piloting the ship here that ’s in that solidification . Considering that Y - Wing came with Zorii Bliss and Poe Dameron minifigures , betting odds are either one of them could be behind the dominance . Given Poe has his orangish X - Wing , it would seem that the dab hired hand is Zorii ’s .

That ’s not all that ’s proceed on in this shot , however : Look at the repair shed bay of that Star Destroyer . That ginormous cannon is not something we ’ve ever seen on one of these Imperial - geological era ships . Is this how an ISD could take out an entire major planet ?

All that insaneness is run on in the skies , and among it is our first actual aspect at Jannah in action , as she , Finn , and BB-8 result a charge of similarly - outfitted ( and similarly ride alien Equus caballus ) warriors … atop the hull of one of the many Star Destroyer ’s we ’d see the Resistance just engaging . Imagine if the Battle of Endor took place in atmosphere and also literally on top of the starship .

We then get a spectacularly beautiful shot of what appear to be the flood tide of Rey and Kylo Ren ’s affaire d’honneur … and a very important place the fallen Supreme Leader was taking her to : the ruins of Palpatine ’s throne room itself . But why would Kylo lead her there specifically ? Is there some relic to find , is he wallowing in the yesteryear that he can , whatever he say , neverreally allow die ?

talk of pasts die , we cut to another beautiful and challenging nip : Rey and Kylo Ren fighting again , this metre in a desolate whitened facility . It looks almost reminiscent of Kaminoan design than any of the First Order or Imperial computer architecture we ’ve seen , although there are hallmarks of such , from the paries lights to even the serrated paneling in the background that bet highly evocative of Vader ’s meditation chamber from Empire Strikes Back . Which , god , if there is a Kaminoan influence here , are the Sith Troopers Kylo ’s made for himself clones ?

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It is definitely a space of Kylo Ren ’s , however , as theplinth being smashedis very clearly the one he used to hold — and is still harbour , until it crumbles — the meld helmet of his gramps . Is he purposely doing so , though ? It ’s hard to say . The move almost looks like Rey deflects his lightsaber into the plinth , and hers along with it , rather than the two intentionally coming together to go after Anakin Skywalker’smisunderstood legacy .

Also , interesting to note that Rey is actually dual - wielding in this aspect — she ’s not just dribble her saber , but she has some variety of obelisk in her left hand . Perhaps that is the relic recovered from the Death Star II ’s ruin ? Or is it another part of Kylo Ren ’s collection of Sith artifacts ? If the former or something similar to it ends up being the case , why would Kylo Ren on the face of it be leading her to it ?

Poe and Finn investigate something while Threepio shines a light . guess by the rocky structures in the background , this takes place on Pasaana , and is part of the speed demon pursual succession we saw glimpses of in the first place .

Meanwhile , we ’re back on top of a goddamn Star Destroyer for another shot of Jannah and Finn ’s kick , as fighters both Resistance ( including a B - Wing ! ) and First Order ( two of the novel , triangular - winged TIE Daggers ) zoom above them . This is very intelligibly the grand conflict of this film , and it ’s quite unlike any other set slice we ’ve take care in Star Wars .

We can also see transfer ship bucket along down towards Jannah and Finn ’s charge — are they the ships Rose and Connix were insure nearby earlier , coming to piece their friend up , or are they First Order or Sith forces landing to try and blockade them ?

Kylo Ren is unmasked , and surrounded by sinister mechanical setup . The lightning effects here would seem to mean that wherever this grand battle is take situation with Palpatine ’s fleet , it ’s happening above and around Kylo during this view . But where ’s he walking off to ? And why is he unmasked again after going through all that effort to reconstruct his destroyed helmet ?

perhaps it ’s because he ’s among new allies . Or new masters …

Because we cut mightily to this shot of Rey back up by from what very much looks like Palpatine ’s renewed form . And it ’s moving toward her . Once again , the lightning and frozen floor confidential information that this is happening in the same environment as the former nip . Is the mechanical frame Kylo is standing in front of in the last dead reckoning part of whatever form of machinery that has resurrect Palpatine ? Does he have some kind of mechanised , mobile crapper to confirm him ? Is he , likehis anterior apprentice , more machine than man now ?

peradventure we ’re just meant to think that this is Palpatine ’s flesh . But we have seen another dark - hooded figure in retiring footage that Rey could be terrified to confront : herself , fallen to the Dark Side , and wielding a dual - bladed deep red lightsaber . What if it ’s perhaps even both , and the Emperor ’s tax return is a spirit using the incarnation of a light warrior of the Light ?

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We ’re left to contemplate that particular repugnance as the laggard ends with a message of Bob Hope : Rey , her sabre draw , looks at first relate , as the voice of Luke Skywalker comes forth once more to ingeminate a familiar turn of phrase : “ The Force will be with you … ”

But there is another . Luke ’s vocalisation gives room to , at long last , his sister , as Leia whispers “ always . ” Regardless of whatever battle Rey is face , she knows that she is not alone . A thousand generation live in her now . And she goes into that battle with the small-scale glimmering of a grinning . A new hope .

As dense as this poke is — not just in terms of fresh thing we see but also just the sheer amount of things going on — it still does n’t really tell us all that much about what The Rise of Skywalker is really about , beyond the inevitable : Palpatine is back , and our heroes must unite an alliance that can bring him down once again . Who lives ? Who dies ? Who is redeemed , and can they be ? Are the Jedi render , and if they are , have the error of their yesteryear been learned from ?

Not long till we happen out the answers . Star warfare : The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters December 20 , 2019 .