With just 115 days until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres, it’s time to start getting into Star Wars mode.
The ninth entry in the Skywalker saga will close out the 60-plus year (in Star Wars time) story that began with A New Hope in 1977 (or with The Phantom Menace if you’re going chronologically). In addition, the film is set to bring the ancient conflict between the Jedi and the Sith to its climax, thus bringing the Skywalker saga to a definitive end.
D23, the official fan club of The Walt Disney Company, held its annual Expo this past weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. The Expo was a place for new footage from The Rise of Skywalker to debut, along with a new teaser poster, and news about other Star Wars projects.
The new teaser poster for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, featuring a duel between Rey and Kylo Ren with The Emperor superimposed over them.
During a panel for The Rise of Skywalker, writer/director J.J. Abrams shared the footage. The new footage was preceded by a montage of the previous entries in the Skywalker saga, with the narration from Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) from the teaser released in April playing over the latter part of the montage:
“We’ve passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now. But this is your fight.”
We are then treated to the new footage from The Rise of Skywalker, including a shot of Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) with Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) following them. There is a brief shot of Leia (Carrie Fisher) in what appears to be a forest setting. We are then treated to shots of Resistance ships coming face-to-face with an endless battalion of Star Destroyers. There is Rey tossing her (and Anakin and Luke’s) lightsaber through a tree trunk.
There is a shot of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) igniting his lightsaber and preparing to duel Rey atop some sort of structure with a voice (that sounds like The Emperor) saying “Your journey.” Then, we hear that same voice say, “Yes, it’s him,” followed by the iconic sound of Darth Vader’s breathing.
The footage ends with a short shot of Rey wearing dark robes and holding a red double-bladed lightsaber. This was the most talked about part of the new footage, with many questioning if Rey will fall to the Dark Side during the film or whether it’s a mere vision of what she could become.
Though the new footage doesn’t say much in the way of plot, it certainly leaves fans hungry for more. And if history is any indicator, there will likely be a full trailer released sometime in October, as was the case with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
The Rise of Skywalker is set for release on December 20.
The Mandalorian gets a release date and trailer
Meanwhile, the first live action Star Wars TV series, The Mandalorian, finally got a trailer debut over the weekend.
Like the trailer for The Rise of Skywalker, the trailer for The Mandalorian doesn’t give too much away, but gives us a taste of what’s to come in the series. Because The Mandalorian’s armor is so similar to Jango and Boba Fett, it’s difficult to separate him from the two legendary bounty hunters during the trailer, but it will be interesting to see how he is different from two of the most iconic characters in the franchise.
The Mandalorian takes place five years after the fall of the Empire, approximately 10 years after the events of A New Hope. The series will debut on Disney’s streaming service Disney+ on November 12.
Hello there
Probably the most welcome news at the D23 Expo was the announcement that Ewan McGregor will return to portray Obi-Wan Kenobi in a currently untitled live action TV series.
Hello there! Just announced at #D23Expo: Ewan McGregor will reprise his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in a new original series, coming to #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/UfMXztiQ6b
— Star Wars (@starwars) August 24, 2019
McGregor played Obi-Wan in the prequel trilogy from 1999 to 2005. Young Obi-Wan was known for his quick one-liners, including the infamous, “Hello there” when confronting General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith.
No details were immediately announced about the series other than it will premiere on Disney+ at some point in the future.
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