Thousands of Star Wars fans brought their Stormtrooper outfits, plastic lightsabers and disposable incomes to Chicago’s massive McCormick Place Convention Center to be first in the galaxy to glimpse the last of the Skywalker Saga, and learn its name: The Rise of Skywalker. While this film, the ninth episode of the main storyline, is just one rivet in Disney’s sci fi/fantasy Death Star (truly, there shall never be star peace), theatrically-released Star Wars movies will soon be taking a hiatus.
There were so many questions that needed answering. What will the repurposed, never-seen Carrie Fisher footage look like? Will JJ Abrams walk back The Last Jedi’s revelation that Rey is not of noble (or even notable) birth? Will Chewie ever taste spit-roasted porg?
The Rise of Skywalker panel kept everything annoyingly close to the vest, but a few facts were gleaned without need of a Jedi mind trick. The new film, according to Abrams, does not pick up immediately after the last one, and it is “an adventure the group goes on together.” Additionally, the production continues to rebuke the CG-heavy Lucas prequels by shooting on actual sets, including on location in Jordan.
R2-D2 and BB-8 bleeped and blurted, John Boyega looked fantastic in an almost psychedelic sweater, the crowd gave a standing ovation to Kelly Marie Tran (who has been the unfortunate recipient of some social media bullying) and Billy Dee Williams said “sweet” a lot.
When the teaser started, two distinct voices were heard. The spirit of Luke Skywalker, reminding us that “no one is ever really gone,” and, much more surprisingly, the sinister laugh of Emperor Palpatine. (Ian McDiarmid came out on stage to mutter “roll it again” to flabbergasted fans.)
But pictures are more valuable than words, or at least they take up more computer rendering time. To that end, these were the images that sent our midichlorians into hyperdrive.
Wadi Rumming start
During the chat, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and director JJ Abrams discussed shooting in Jordan, in some of the same spots as Lawrence of Arabia. Kennedy even called out “Wadi Rum!” like Anthony Quinn’s character, Auda abu Tayi. To that end, it’s no surprise that Abrams pays homage to David Lean’s classic, with a long shot of something emerging from the haze of the desert. But whereas TE Lawrence only had a sack of well water, Daisy Ridley’s Rey has the Skywalker lightsaber.
Clothesline Ren
Who is Kylo Ren fighting in The Rise of Skywalker? We don’t know. All we know is it’s lit like the section of Amsterdam you don’t go with your parents on holidays. Importantly, the son-of-Solo seems to have learned some new brawling moves, and this particular body slam seems borrowed from professional wrestling.
Sidekick to a sidekick
There must be a clause in the Lucasfilm contract that states if you pass a threshold of toys sold, you get your own assistant. With that, meet DE-0, buddy to Poe Dameron’s buddy BB-8. Not much is known about his abilities, other than he looks like the Pixar lamp got run over by a unicycle. But for younger readers who perhaps don’t remember the glory days of 1980s heavy metal, let’s hope the new droid’s popularity brings some attention to the back catalogue of Dio the band.
The deal’s getting better all the time
With Han Solo and Luke Skywalker out of the picture (short of Force Ghost projections) The Rise of Skywalker wisely brings back some fan favourites. Chief among them, Lando Calrissian, recently made even cooler by Donald Glover in last year’s middling Solo: A Star Wars Story. But it’s Billy Dee Williams, the original cape-wearing, cards-losing space rogue in the Millennium Falcon cockpit. With Chewie! And while he doesn’t have any lines in the teaser, that old familiar mid-chase “heh heeeeeh,” an echo from Return of the Jedi, is just as iconic as any written dialogue.
A General embrace
The final chapter in this trilogy (or nonology, if that’s even a word) will certainly be emotional for fans, but maybe even for normal humans, too, considering its inclusion of the late Carrie Fisher. While we’re unlikely to ever know exactly what General Leia’s role would have been had she lived to shoot The Rise of Skywalker, to see her revived and holding our hero Rey is a fitting tribute to her legacy.
Now, is Rey really her secret daughter? Grand-niece? Clone? Clone-niece? Naturally, we’re still as much in the dark after this two minute teaser as we were before.
