Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker
1 PALPATINE’S PLAN
James Dyer: If there’s a primary aspect of The Rise Of Skywalker that doesn’t bear scrutiny, it’s undoubtedly Palpatine’s master plan. The Sith Lord, having survived death thanks to a trick learned from former master Darth Plagueis, is whisked away to the Unknown Regions by the Sith Eternal (a Sith cult whose members form Palpatine’s audience — think Slipknot gig — at the film’s climax and are clearly numerous enough to build and crew hundreds of Star Destroyers), and spends three decades chilling on Exegol.
Ian Freer: It has been Star Wars lore that there can be only two Sith: a master and an apprentice. Yet The Rise Of Skywalker introduces a new tenet — every apprentice kills their master and absorbs their mentor’s spirit. Hence Palpatine embodies all the thousands of generations of Sith that have gone before and passes that onto Rey, as the high Empress of the dark side. The plan is possible because of another seemingly new rule — if Rey kills him in a rage he can take control of her presence — that has its roots in Palpatine’s taunting of Luke at the end of Jedi: the “if you strike me down” gambit.
James Dyer: During that time he creates The First Order via a Snoke clone proxy, uses that to train Kylo Ren and try to kill Rey, fails, forms a Force dyad between them but doesn’t seem to understand what it does, summons Kylo Ren, tells him to kill Rey, then reveals that his plan is actually to get Rey to kill him. Clear? Then, at the last moment, he realises the aforementioned dyad can be used to rejuvenate him and decides to kill everyone himself.
Strategic shitshow or tactical brilliance beyond our mortal ken? You decide.
2 NEW FORCE POWERS
James Dyer: The Force gains a few fun new features in The Rise Of Skywalker. Supercharged Force lightning that can detonate transport ships and immobilise an entire armada is one, and the Force dyad that linked Rey and Kylo Ren and eventually rejuvenated the Emperor is another. More problematic, though, is the introduction of Force healing. While this was technically pioneered by Baby Yoda in
The Mandalorian (aired the day before the movie’s release) and has been explored elsewhere in the expanded universe, it does raise questions. For example, if wounds can be undone with judicious Force application, can we assume that Obi-wan Kenobi was a lot less fond of Qui-gon Jinn than we’d been led to believe?
3 THE SITH DAGGER/ WAYFINDER
Nick de Semlyen: How do you find your way to a secret Sith base with slightly inexplicable stadium seating? Well, you hunt down a mystical dagger bearing language you can only get decoded on a certain planet that you need a specific coin to leave, then use your new information — and a protractorlike protuberance on the dagger — to find a wayfinder device. Clear? Some have griped that the movie’s plot has been akin to a “fetch quest” video game, revolving around characters collecting items. And they have a point. But there’s a certain sense of pulpy fun to these shenanigans which is true to Star Wars’ serial-adventure roots — and, after all, the same accusation could be laid at the feet of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, which has a kind of wayfarer of its own. At least, unlike Harry Potter with Voldemort’s horcruxes, they only have to find two trinkets and not seven.
4 REY & KYLO
Ben Travis: If Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams wholeheartedly embraced any one idea from The Last Jedi, it’s the Forceconnection between Rey and Kylo Ren. It evolves fascinatingly here — now bringing objects from their physical environment crashing across the galaxy through the rift as they spar physically and verbally. It’s a trippy trick, boldly executed — a connection that means neither character can hide, materially or emotionally. The push and pull between Rey and Kylo Ren has always been the Sequel Trilogy’s greatest source of dramatic tension — right from that first confrontation on Starkiller Base, the two have tested each other, tempted each other, fought psychologically. Here they push each other physically, too — as they face off on Pasaana, trying to take control of the First Order transport (seemingly) holding Chewbacca, their Force-battle awakens Rey’s latent Force-lightning. There’s pathos in the fact that the two are clearly stronger working together — but being pulled towards opposite sides of the Force means they’re forced to be adversaries. By the time Rey and Ben are fighting side by side in the final act, their Force bond gives us the film’s coolest moment
— Rey Force-passing (is that what we’re calling it?) the Skywalker lightsaber to Ben on Exegol, drawing it back behind her head to seemingly strike Palpatine down, before revealing herself to be empty-handed. Gotcha!
5 THE CHEWIE FAKE-OUT
Nick de Semlyen: Rrrrrrr-ghghghghgh! That’s the noise Chewbacca made when Han Solo was killed by his son. And it’s the noise we made when it appeared that Chewie himself had been dispatched, blown into thousands of tiny, furry chunks, along with the rest of the space shuttle torn apart during Rey’s Force-tussle with Kylo Ren. Of course, it turned out to be one big old red herring, reversed only a few scenes on — something that is unusual for a Star Wars film and which has infuriated certain sections of the fanbase (not least as it’s not the only fake-out death scene in the movie). It may be a bit of a cheap move, but we’re still happy the fuzzball lives.
7 THE LAST JEDI REVERSALS
James Dyer: Regardless of your feelings about either The Last Jedi or The Rise Of Skywalker, it’s hard to deny that the latter takes great steps to undo the more drastic plot developments in the former. The side-lined Knights Of Ren (Vicrul, Cardo, Ushar, Trudgen, Kuruk and Ap’lek, in case you were wondering) are returned to the fray right at the beginning, Snoke’s death is effectively and immediately undone by the reintroduction of Palpatine, and the question of Rey’s parentage, clearly put to bed in the last film, is back once more. The narrative whiplash of the last one is perhaps the trickiest to swallow (see below), completely reversing The Last Jedi’s message that anyone could be called to greatness, no matter how humble their origins.
8 REY’S PARENTAGE
Ian Freer: Did anyone in the Rey Parents Sweepstake have Villanelle? Yet Jodie Comer and Billy Howle’s (Dunkirk) fleeting appearance as Rey’s parents is not the most surprising reveal. Having learned the truth from Palpatine on Exegol, Kylo Ren tells Rey that while her parents were nobodies because they chose to be, her real blood line is Palpatine, with the Emperor being her grandfather. While the idea of a Mrs Palpatine was never addressed in the sequels, and we don’t find out why Rey’s father fell out with his old man, Kylo Ren outlines that Rey’s parents abandoned her so she wouldn’t have contact with her gramps, who ultimately kills them so they can’t return for her.
While this twist might make the galaxy far, far away feel much smaller, it does chime into a key Star Wars through-line: just as Luke and Leia rejected Vader’s evil impulses, so Rey refuses Palpatine’s hateful instincts. In Star Wars, destiny is always more than a matter of bloodline.
9 JANNAH
James Dyer: From Klaud, to Boolio and Dominic Monaghan’s Beaumont Kin, it feels we barely got to know Rise’s new additions. The biggest losses, however, were the missing backstories for Naomi Ackie’s Jannah and Keri Russell’s Zorii Bliss. The latter’s teenage years spent with Poe Dameron as young spice runners received short shrift, denying us the story of how they fled pirates during the Llanic Spice Run. As for Jannah, a scene with Lando at the film’s conclusion feels odd, but hints at the story of Lando’s missing daughter, abducted in infancy by the First Order. Could Jannah be Calrissian Jr, after all?
11 FINN’S SECRET POWERS
Ben Travis: So, what was Finn going to tell Rey? The answer seems to come as Finn meets Jannah on Kef Bir. As they both reveal a stormtrooper past, conscripted as kids and indoctrinated by the First Order, each says “a feeling” helped them defect: the Force. As Rogue One’s Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) showed, you don’t have to be a Force user to be Force-sensitive. If The Last Jedi’s Broom Kid idea is largely swerved in Rise, Finn’s realisation does nod towards more ‘ordinary’ people feeling the Force.
12 BEN SOLO
Ben Travis: Considering how Kylo Ren ploughed further into the dark side across both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, it would have been fascinating to see him embrace villainy. But this is Star Wars, and redemption is the whole point. If it had to go this way, there’s beauty in Leia being the one to reach out and turn Ben’s heart, her final act bringing her son back to the light. It’s consistent too with The Last Jedi — when Ren faced down Leia in his TIE silencer, he chose not to shoot, teasing an even deeper, more conflicted relationship with his mother than the father he sacrificed. It’s the combined force of Leia and Rey that kills Kylo Ren and heals Ben Solo — literally, in that Rey’s Force-healing also patches up the facial scar she gave him back on Starkiller Base.
13 THE SIDELINING OF ROSE
By one estimate, Resistance
John Nugent: mechanic Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) is given just 76 seconds on screen, J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio struggling to find a meaningful role for her in a crowded ensemble. Screen time does not equal value, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that Rose was considered expendable.
14 REY ON AHCH-TO
Ben Travis: We all knew Luke Skywalker would pop up somehow — not least as Mark Hamill was listed in the cast when production began. In her most conflicted moment — having killed Kylo and revived Ben — Rey returns to Ahch-to (yay, Porgs!) and is confronted by Luke’s Force ghost. For some, his rebuke to our heroine (“A Jedi’s weapon deserves more respect!”) is a dig at The Last Jedi’s divisive opening ’saber toss. But really, the scene doubles down on Luke’s arc in Episode VIII: from Jedi-sceptic recluse to returning hero, having opened himself back up to the Force. Rey reminded Luke that the destiny of a Jedi is to face down fear. Here, Luke gives her the hope she needs to confront Palpatine — and to choose her own path.
15 LEIA
Ian Freer: It was perhaps the biggest challenge facing the film: how to keep Leia’s presence alive and vital in the Resistance fight without Carrie Fisher. Abrams’ solution, to use outtakes from The Force Awakens, with CGI being used to augment her body rather than her face, mostly works due to the deft touch of editor Maryann Brandon and the skill of Daisy Ridley in bringing the footage to life — moments of interaction like Leia handing Rey a lightsaber with a, “Nothing’s impossible,” help sell the idea. More bothersome is a flashback to Luke and Leia undertaking Jedi training while wearing helmets, then lifting visors to reveal digitally altered faces.
The intention is admirable: to locate Leia in the Jedi Order, delivering on the promise of, “There is another,” from Jedi, but the execution falls short, recalling the uncanny valley disjunct of Rogue One. Leia’s role in the narrative is equally troubling, seemingly only there to provide agency and literal life force in Ben Solo’s story. Still, any Carrie Fisher is better than no Carrie Fisher, and it’s a hard heart that doesn’t warm to her scenes with Billie Lourd (Connix).
16 C-3PO
Nick de Semlyen: C-3PO has long been the least cool Star Wars character, the action figure you didn’t want to get for Christmas. Happily, Abrams’ film does much to rehabilitate him, giving Ol’ Goldenrod an actual purpose and his juiciest arc to date. It does this by making the protocol droid an essential part of the team, rather than a babbling sidekick, wiping his memory so that he can translate a forbidden Sith language. Amnesia is usually a hackneyed device used by the lamest of soap operas, but some of Threepio’s moments, such as when he tells R2-D2 he’d remember having a best friend, bring a tear to the eye. Oh my!
17 HUX HAS SECRETS
Ian Freer: If the sequel trilogy has mostly under-served Domhnall Gleeson’s Armitage Hux, Episode IX gives him a fitting twist. After failing to become Supreme Leader following the death of Snoke at the end of The Last Jedi, Hux turns spy for the Resistance, leaking Poe and co information about Snoke’s whereabouts. When his double agent status is revealed, Hux explains that he doesn’t want to aid the good guys, he just wants his rival, Kylo Ren, to lose. It’s the perfect manoeuvre for Hux, a snotty act of petulance from a middlemanagement imperial promoted beyond his years. His death at the hands of Allegiant Pryde (Richard E. Grant, who could have done with Krennic’s cape to flamboyantly swish) was what the snivelling turncoat deserved.
18 THE KNIGHTS OF REN
Nick de Semlyen: Teased in The Force Awakens, but ignored in The Last Jedi, at last the Knights Of Ren, those sinister buddies of Kylo Ren who have been hyped as the galaxy’s biggest badasses, get their moment to shine. Unfortunately, it’s not much of a moment. We get to see them glaring menacingly at Kylo’s helmet as it’s reforged, but their confrontation with Chewbacca happens off-screen and their fight with the gone-good Ben sees all six of them trounced by a single bloke in a T-shirt. Bereft enthusiasts can at least consult The Rise Of Skywalker — The Visual Dictionary, which reveals that one of the knights, Ushar, wields a “vibromachete” in an inverted sheath. Now you know.
19 THE RESISTANCE FLEET
Ian Freer: Given that this was the last episode in the Skywalker saga, it seems fitting that the Resistance fleet is comprised of ships from all eras of the Star Wars saga. Flying alongside Lando in the Falcon, keep ’em peeled for the Eravana (Han Solo’s makeshift frigate from The Force Awakens), The Last Jedi’s Resistance bombers, the Ghost and Shadow Caster from Star Wars Rebels and the Colossus from Star Wars Resistance. There are even Prequel-era vessels fighting the fight, from the Consular-class cruisers that ferried Jedi around to the doughnutstyled Droid Control ships from Episode I. In fact, the only ship MIA is the USS Enterprise.
20 CHEWIE’S MEDAL
Lando! Ewoks! Wedge! Rise abounds
Ian Freer: with fan service. None is more blatant than Maz handing Chewie his long-awol medal, a gift from Leia. Yet a fan theory has suggested this is actually Han’s medal, an acknowledgement that a Life Debt has been paid. Which makes much more sense.
21 THE VOICES REY HEARS
Nick de Semlyen: The new trilogy has been relatively Jedi-light. But that all changes as we near the end of Rise, when Rey, knocked down in front of Palpatine, hears a chorus of voices from Force-strong folks of movies past. Some of them are easily recognisable — there’s Yoda (by Frank Oz voiced again, he is), there’s Obi-wan (Ewan Mcgregor, with just a little Alec Guinness spliced in there), there’s Anakin (Hayden Christensen), there’s Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), there’s Qui-gonn Jinn (Liam Neeson). As for the others, you’ll need to be up on your animated series — such names as
Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus have so far only been seen in 2D.
22 THE RESISTANCE FIGHTERS’ KISS
John Nugent: On the one hand, the kiss shared between two female Resistance fighters was historic: the first time any LGBTQ+ characters had been shown on screen in the franchise’s 42-year history. On the other hand, you’d be forgiven for missing it entirely. A blink-and-you’ll miss it moment between two unnamed characters — which was edited out in the version screened in homophobic countries — is, arguably, less of a step in the right direction and more of a tiptoe. Until a main character is given a gay romance (and there were plenty of fans hoping Finn and Poe might go down that road), Star Wars still has a way to go to be truly representative of everyone in the galaxy.
23 REY ON TATOOINE
Ben Travis: The Rise Of Skywalker ends where the family saga began — in the Lars homestead on Tatooine, Luke’s childhood home where he dreamed of the galactic adventures awaiting him. If it’s a metatextual homecoming, it’s also a fitting conclusion for Rey’s arc. At the end of three films about her discovering her identity, she ultimately chooses her own. She’s no-one, she’s a Palpatine, she’s a Skywalker — she’s whoever she wants to be. And, as she sledges down the sand dunes and fires up her new golden lightsaber with a hilt crafted from her staff, she’s still the scavenger we met back on
Jakku in The Force Awakens. Cue the binary sunset.