‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Trailer Gets Fans Excited For ‘The Rise Of Skywalker’
Luke Skywalker may have appeared to die at the end of 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but he will live on in the title of this December’s climactic Star Wars movie.
Episode IX of the “Star Wars” saga will be titled Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Disney and Lucasfilm announced the title on Friday, at the Star Wars Celebration event in Chicago. In addition, a two-minute teaser was released for the new film.
In the teaser, which was also posted to the official Star Wars Twitter account, we see Rey (Daisy Ridley) on a desert planet that may be Tatooine, or possibly Jakku. We also see Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren laying waste to foes with his red lightsaber, and various trademark space battles. We also hear the voice of Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, and we see Carrie Fisher’s Leia, even though Fisher died in 2016.
We also hear what sounds like the long-dead character of Emperor Palpatine laughing, and are treated to the appearance of Billy Dee Williams as original trilogy character Lando Calrissian.
This year’s film, which is being directed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, is the third and final movie in the “sequel” trilogy, which also included The Last Jedi. While there had been no “Star Wars” movies for some time since the end of the prequel trilogy in 2005, the series was revived when Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012.
Prior to the Star Wars Celebration, Disney CEO Robert Iger announced that “Star Wars” films will take a break following the release of Episode IX, per Collider. However, “Star Wars” fans will get to enjoy The Mandalorian, the first-ever live action Star Wars television series, when it debuts this November on the new Disney+ streaming service.
"The lightsaber that Rey inherited from Luke Skywalker lives," says Daisy Ridley #StarWarsCelebration https://t.co/Oi3UPqnQMd
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) April 12, 2019
The reaction to the teaser was mostly positive.
“The trailer rules. I’m excited. They are very good at trailers,” movie podcaster Jeff D. Lowe said on Twitter. “I think the title is fine and I think Luke is more involved than we are led to believe.”
Every generation has a legend. Watch the brand-new teaser for Star Wars: #EpisodeIX. pic.twitter.com/fWMS13ekdZ
— Star Wars | #TheMandalorian is Now Streaming (@starwars) April 12, 2019
“Here’s my hottest Star Wars take: I am going to stay excited until I see it, not over-scrutinize and analyize the film’s potential quality based on purposefully misdirection-y clips from a 2-minute teaser, and still believe The Last Jedi was the best of the star wars,” writer Alicia Lutes remarked via Twitter.
While reaction to The Last Jedi was somewhat divided, the film was the highest-grossing release of 2017 — even though it was released two weeks before the end of the year.
