After a couple of days of over-speculation from D23’s leaked Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Disney finally released the full ‘special look’ at the last film in the 40-year saga. Compared to the first trailer, there isn’t a lot of new footage, but obviously, this trailer isn’t about the new. It’s about everything we’ve seen in the saga over the last four decades, and what it’s amounting to. There’s even some Attack of the Clones footage in there. It’s an excellent tactic to induce nostalgia in old fans, as well as newer ones, but that’s not what this article is about. The minute of a few quick scenes goes by fast, so you might not have picked everything important out. So here are five things you (probably) didn’t notice in D23’s Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker trailer.
Old Star Wars Footage, Or CGI?
This footage of Leia Organa looks strikingly real. And as a two-second clip, it would seem so to the untrained eye. But with Carrie Fisher’s untimely death in late 2016, and considering filming for Episode Nine didn’t begin until July of 2018, it can’t be real. Not only was Fisher’s death greatly saddening to fans but was also a great cause of concern for screenwriters and the directors behind Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. With Leia playing such a key role in the last third of the saga, it’s obvious that the character couldn’t just have disappeared off the screen without a trace. This shot, therefore, must be old footage or CGI. But which one?
Having stared for an unnamed amount of time, it seems to be more likely it’s CGI. Though I may be over-analyzing it, Leia’s face isn’t quite right. The lighting seems to be slightly off, and there’s a slight animated feel to her expression. So could something this real be CGI? Much like Star Wars: Rogue One, Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin was recreated to almost live like standards despite Cushing being dead for 22 years. Given the fact, this technology has progressed by three years, its entirely possible that this scene is a CGI face, based on old footage of Carrie Fisher. Though it could just also be old footage that looks slightly weird, it seems like and would make sense to be CGI.
That’s Definitely No Moon
So we all know it’s Kylo and Rey fighting on some kind of metal ship, a bit like how Anakin fought Obi-Wan on Mustafar in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. That kind of set up would be an amazing climactic fight to the saga, echoing the old and the new. Pretty cool, but there’s more. If you look closely into the background, there are jagged-edged structures. Unlike the metal like a ship that the two characters are on, these look a lot more like ruins… Remember the first trailer where we got to see the death stars ruins in an ocean (most likely on) Endor? Well, its quite possible that they’re fighting among these same death star ruins.
This scene is likely Rey and Kylo fighting at the Emperors will. And with the death star in the background, it makes this speculative theory pretty possible.
The Dark Side Clouds All…
Obviously, this shot is basically the main and most speculative scene in the trailer. And maybe the Star Wars trilogy to date. Questions have arisen such as, will Rey turn to the dark side? Is it a vision? Or could it be a dark side clone? Well, firstly, we’ve got to discuss what we already know. Which annoying, when it comes to Rey, isn’t very much. First of all, we need to talk about Rey’s origin, of which we basically know nothing. But based on what Kylo has said, ‘you’re no one,’ and the scene where she see’s multiple clones of herself, its quite could give us some guidance to what this scene actually is.
Also, the fact she has Anakin’s lightsaber is an important motif in this new Star Wars trilogy. Anakin had no proper parents. And with Rey similarly having no (known) parents, as well as her vision emphasizing this and having the lightsaber of a Jedi had purely made up of midi-chlorians, it points to the fact that Rey was conceived much like Anakin. By the Emperor’s hand, that is. And who’s to say he couldn’t have mass-produced Rey’s, creating many clones of her.
So this image probably isn’t Rey. Or a vision. But is a dark side clone created by the Emperor for his own means. If you look closely at the image, the background seems like its some sort of metal throne room… Maybe in the Death Star. A vision wouldn’t be this clear, as Rey’s blurry and confusing vision in Star Wars: The Last Jedi shows. So with the metallic, presumably Death Star background, its quite likely that this is a Rey clone that the Emperor created as an apprentice, appearing out of where the Emperor has been hiding. It may even be the Emperor’s conscience in this Rey clone, or even in Rey herself. Though, for sure this isn’t a vision (probably) but is surely somewhere in the death star remains.
Time to Train… Finally
Here we got a pretty cool shot of Rey throwing her lightsaber and cutting a tree (probably on Endor) in half. A bit mean, but still – it shows she is finally training. This is backed up by the little training droid (or a flying, bodyless BB8) that you can barely see in the right of the shot. She also has a red bandana wrapped around her hand, which presumably is a blindfold for training with the training droid (which could be the same one Luke trained with, as it could have been left on the Millennium Falcon). So I guess Endor seems like a critical location for the plot of the new Star Wars film. And it’s nice to see Rey training, which she’s done barely any of throughout the last trilogy.
Star Wars’ Darth C-P3O?
In this second long clip, we see C-P3O rising up rather suddenly. It’s always nice to see our favorite Star Wars droid, but this times something is wrong. The droid’s eyes are glaring red! This could be because the First Order got hold of him, the Emperor’s conscience has entered him, or the whole host of other strange ideas. This scene is highly ambiguous and unexpected, as the droid has been a side character for this trilogy. I really have no idea what’s going on here, but it looks very cool. Could C-3PO be the real Sith Lord of the Star Wars Universe?
There Are More?
There are probably a fair few more minor details within this minute of new content. So if you see any more, feel free to let us know! But those are five things you might not have picked out of D23’s special look at Star Wars Episode Nine. Although we can’t be sure of all of these, we do know one thing for definite. Jar Jar Binks will return as the Sith Lord we’ve been waiting for. For more on Star Wars, make sure to check out our other articles on TheNerdStash.
