Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Final Trailer Breakdown

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“The saga will end, the story lives on forever”

Every two years since the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm, the House of Mouse forces nerds everywhere to do the impossible, watch a football game. After weeks of anticipation and guessing what date the last trailer of the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga would drop, it’s here, it’s beautiful, and boy is there a lot to talk about!

So let’s get into it.

We start with the ambient sounds of the jungle world we saw Rey training with in the previous trailers, seeing more of than the brief glimpses that we’ve seen before. It’s just those sounds until, Rey runs into the frame, what appears to be a Rebel helmet dropping as she runs. We hear the big deal, Finn, chiming in saying “It’s an instinct, a feeling” as we see Rey continue her training, jumping ridiculous lengths and possibly a flashback to Jakku.

She looks to be jumping around and exploring the old wreckages of the Star Destroyers from the Battle of Jakku, although this could easily be a brand new environment that she’s yet to explore yet.

FN-2187 himself officially enters the trailer looking into a pair of binoculars and looking nervous his narration continues, “The Force brought us together” and we see epic sweeping shot of Rey running with her new forged lightsaber in hand.

Right away I really love a non-force user leaning into the idea of the Force, especially since he had such a naive perspective of it in The Force Awakens. This is how the Force works!

Next we see the Resistance, greatly expanded upon since we last saw them at the end of The Last Jedi, with some old friends from the Original Trilogy, and new friends from the Sequels. Poe Appears to be leading them and might be about to give a rousing speech to the merry band of Rebels. We hear Poe lead off with “We’re not alone, good people will fight if we lead them.” where we see a bunch of cuts.

First let’s talk about who’s in the Rebel powwow here, I see Snap Wexley, Lando, Finn, 3-PO, and the Mon Cala we’ve seen in some promotional art work. I’m hoping this Mon Cala turns out to be Admiral Akbar’s son, Aftab.

These cuts show our heroes in various states of distress, with Rose, Connix, and Dominic Monaghan on a Star Destroyer deck we see later in the trailer, and Finn, Poe, and Chewie in front of a new X-Wing. Finally we end our look at the Resistance forces with a blockade runner taking flight! Could this be the Tantive IV repaired and ready to help save the galaxy once again?

From here we go to Endor….maybe. We see the wreckage of the 2nd Death Star, where the big duel between Kylo and Rey takes place, and finally after seeing her train and her newfound strength in the Force, we hear “People keep telling me they know me, no one does.” as she looks onto the crashing waves. A drenched Ben Solo emerges from the waves replaying with “But I do.” with his lightsaber in hand. A response that surely sent Reylo’s everywhere into a tizzy, and rightfully so.

Time for some light speculation! I think this battle between Kylo and Rey takes place fairly early in the film because I think that we are actually going to get some variation on Rey and Kylo ending up together. Whether that’s just them teaming up to take on Palpatine or full on romance, I think it’s highly likely they are redeeming Ben Solo. I think it adds an interesting dynamic to the story overall and I think it helps the plot of the story and it just makes sense. I say that as someone who was against the idea before The Last Jedi, but the more and more I see and hear from this film, the more I’m convinced.

“Long have I waited” booms over the trailer as we see an almost Iron Throne-like chair that is surely connected to the Emperor and with rumors that Kylo has been exploring the dark side of the Force, it would make sense. After this throne we see the resurrection of an old Imperial Star Destroyer, maybe a secret armada tucked away by the Empire is being used by the First Order.

It’s here we get that wonderful shot of the Resistance ships and their allies in formation, with the Falcon front and center. It’s an Easter egg filled bonanza for Star Wars fans everywhere, where eagle-eyed viewers can spot some of their favorite ships from the animated shows. You can clearly see the Ghost from Star Wars: Rebels right behind the Falcon, and possibly the Colossus from Star Wars: Resistance as well.

Speaking of the Falcon, I’ve spent a lot of time freezing and zooming into the cockpit of the ship and it will leave a lot of fans of Return of the Jedi very happy, because Lando is definitely piloting the ship here with Chewie. It appears to be the Resistance and Leia’s friends who heard her call at the end of The Last Jedi and have come together just like Return of the Jedi before it.

Palpatine enters in again, “Your coming together, is your undoing.” with Kylo and Rey fighting again, as well as our heroes in the cockpit of the Falcon.

Finally the hero we’ve been waiting for, Babu Frick! Frick is working on 3-PO with a prequel era battle droid in the background when we get one of the more sweet and authentically touching scenes I can remember in a trailer in a long time. What starts out as a humorous scene where Poe is asking what’s going on with 3-PO quickly turns into a nostalgic and emotional gut-punch.

“Taking one last look sir, at my friends.”

It’s a beautiful line that is clearly meant for the audience watching it. While there will certainly be Star Wars films after The Rise of Skywalker, this is the end of this particular era. In short, we are “friends”.

We’ve grown up with and loved these characters and their stories; we’ve all been Luke Skywalker or Rey on the playground, looking into the sunset, yearning for more. This line is a wonderful way to convey that to the audience, and R2-D2 happily beeps in agreement, adding more emotional weight to the moment.

From here Chewie, Poe, and Finn are blasting their way through a First Order base, Stormtroopers falling left and right and then we see the same shot of Leia hugging Rey that we saw in the first trailer.

We hear the other Skywalker twin from beyond the grave giving some wizardly advice to Rey, “Confronting fear, it’s the destiny of a Jedi, with BB-8 exploding firework of some kind with the Resistance celebrating as it explodes. Luke in this moment sounds way more friendly and comforting to Rey then he ever did in The Last Jedi, sounds almost jolly as he says it.

The music swells as we get some incredible action sequences including Lando laughing as he pilots the Falcon and a Y-Wing doing a barrel roll towards an Imperial-era Star Destroyer.

Newcomer Jannah leads her forces, riding orbacks on top of a Star Destroyer as a battle rages on above them.

Rey and Kylo Ren confront each other in the Throne Room from the second Death Star. Is this a continuation of their fight from the surface, the start of it, or the beginning of a truce? Before we have time to think we see Finn screaming Rey’s name before we see Rey and Kylo destroying a stand of some kind. To me, this looks like the place where he left the ashes of his enemies in The Force Awakens and maybe Vader’s helmet on top of it.

Maybe this is a part of their journey together, destroying the past and making it their own, becoming what they were meant to be.

We see more of the battle previously, with all kinds of ships from the Resistance and the First Order flying everywhere, with Kylo Ren looking at something as the lightning strokes behind him. The shot leads to a floating hooded figure approaching Rey, a sinister laugh cackling as it inches closer to her, no doubt the Emperor somehow returned.

The trailer ends with a Skywalker voiceover. First you’ve got Luke saying “The Force will be with you” while Rey holds the Skywalker lightsaber, her eyes begin to swell as we then hear the voice of Leia finishing her brother’s sentiment, “always”.

Wow, there is a lot to take in there. I think the most striking thing to me is just how prevalent I think the Emperor is going to be in this film. I certainly thought he would play a big role, but just from his inclusion and exposure in this trailer alone I think his role is way more substantial than we previously realized.

As I said earlier, I definitely think this trailer is showing us a team up and redemption of Kylo Ren, they appear to be working together at one point when they are destroying that stand, I think it makes the most sense and if done right I think most fans are completely open to it. Plus I don’t think you end the saga on such a sour note, the whole story is about redemption after all.

Everything about this trailer screams epic to me, I got way more emotional than even I thought and 3-PO’s s “One last look” line really hit me, this is it guys. We should enjoy the ride while we can.

Overall I really loved this trailer a lot and I’m really intrigued to see what JJ has done here, from the look of it, we’re in for one hell of a final ride.

The saga will end, the story lives forever. Watch the final trailer for Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker in theaters December 20.

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