USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Star Wars’ offers hints at galactic history
This is some galactic history decades in the making, folks: The final trailer for the final movie in the 42- year Skywalker saga is here.
With less than two months before the release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” ( in theaters Dec. 20), fans got a look during ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” at what’s to come in the latest trilogy closer featuring Daisy Ridley’s heroic lightsaber jockey Rey, John Boyega’s Stormtrooper- turnedrebel Finn, Oscar Isaac’s Resistance flyboy Poe Dameron and the late Carrie Fisher’s General Leia in her last appearance. Oh, and don’t forget about the bad guys, including Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren, the evil First Order’s hotheaded new Supreme Leader.
A whole lot happens in that trailer we’re going to spend several weeks unpacking, and here are the five things that promise one heck of an epic ending.
Get ready for a seriously massive star war
I mean, it’s right there in the title. And this franchise has given us some crazy battles before, but it looks like director J. J. Abrams might be saving the best for last. “The Last Jedi” left the Resistance scrappy yet small in number, though it looks like they’ve been on the recruitment trail getting ready to take on the First Order. “We’re not alone. Good people will fight if we lead them,” Poe says.
The trailer gives us some amazing glimpses at what’s to come, from a fleet of First Order TIE fighters to a humongous battalion of good- guy ships led by the Millennium Falcon. And don’t forget about the space horses! Poe, new warrior Jannah ( Naomi Ackie) and others saddle up on some interesting creatures to take on Stormtroopers for a more grounded assault.
But are they playing into the Emperor’s hands?
The first “Rise of Skywalker” trailer teased the return of long- thought- dead Empire leader Palpatine ( Ian McDiarmid) from the original “Star Wars” trilogy. We get more of him here, with the rise of a large Star Destroyer from the depths as the Emperor darkly intones, “Long have I waited. And now your coming together is your undoing.”
That doesn’t bode well. And while we wonder if he’s been behind the First Order this whole time, just as he built the original Empire, we’ll have to worry about that one scene where it looks like he might be confronting an awaiting Rey.
Rey vs. Kylo Ren, probably for the final time
They’ve already faced off multiple times, teamed up for a few minutes, shared some intimate Force thoughts and spawned the “Reylo” shipping name for those who think they’re destined to be together. Kylo might agree with them: “People keep telling me they know me. No one does,” Rey says, and Kylo seems to respond, “But I do.”
Still, it looks like they’re going to have one hellacious final round sopping wet on some sort of wreckage. But who knows what’s about to happen with these crazy kids since they look like they’re damaging something together in the trailer and there’s some serious Luke Skywalker/ Darth Vader vibes when Rey and Kylo are seen in the ruins of the old Death Star showdown from “Return of the Jedi.”
Um, is C- 3PO going to be OK?
One scene is going to leave oldschool “Star Wars” fans really emotional. A little alien dude is working on the circuits of loyal droid C- 3PO ( Anthony Daniels), who’s been appearing in movies with pal R2- D2 since George Lucas’ 1977 original movie. But when Poe asks him what he’s doing, Threepio responds, “Taking one last look, sir. At my friends.”
That sounds kind of final, like he’s about to embark on some sort of heroic sacrifice. We’ve already seen some death ( RIP, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker) and are bound to see more in this final chapter, but a possible farewell to our favorite mouthy protocol droid is a lot to handle.
A lot of social media also was shaken by the Threepio moment, like entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” regular Chris Sacca: “I am a 44- year- old man who is by no means emotionally prepared for the death of C- 3PO,” he tweeted. And All Elite Wrestling star Cody Rhodes simply wrote, “Magic,” in reference to the droid’s emotional line.
The Force seems as strong as it ever was
That mystical thing that connects everything in the “Star Wars” galaxy, with different sides harnessed by good and evil alike, looks to play a major role in the saga finale – which is to be expected. You get a sense of it in the final shot, with Rey’s eyes lit up next to her lightsaber, with Luke saying, “The Force will be with you,” and Leia adding, “Always.”
Powerful stuff, for sure, but how might Finn fit into all that? It’s his voice we hear at first (“It’s an instinct. A feeling. The Force brought us together”), in which he seems to be referring to him and Rey finding each other in “The Force Awakens” and kicking off this latest trilogy. And he’s seen in the same torrential scene with Rey and Kylo. There are a lot of mysteries still to be had, and with Finn’s First Order backstory so shadowed ( he and we don’t even know his real name), the dude who jokingly called himself “Big Deal” might just prove worthy of the name before it’s all over.