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“If this mission fails, it was all for nothing. What we’ve done. All this time.”

This may just be another inspirational line of dialogue from “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” but I couldn’t help thinking it defined the production of the film, too. After the divisive response to “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and the firing of original director Colin Trevorrow , J.J. Abrams swooped back in to make sure the “mission” of this franchise was for something. And you can feel that weight of history and obligation, especially in the first hour of “Skywalker,” as Abrams delivers a movie that practically lifts off directly from “Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens,” using that film’s combination of action and fan service as a storytelling template way more than the previous movie. However, the inherent rush that came in revisiting this world four years ago is naturally lessened, replaced by something closer to desperation. Whatever one thinks of “The Last Jedi,” if that film was trying to build a new house on familiar land, this one tears it down and goes back to an old blueprint. Some of the action is well-executed, there are strong performances throughout, and one almost has to admire the brazenness of the weaponized nostalgia for the original trilogy, but feelings like joy and wonder are smothered by a movie that so desperately wants to please a fractured fanbase that it doesn’t bother with an identity of its own.

“The dead speak!” This is the opening line of the crawl of the last “ Star Wars ” movie in the new trilogy, and such an appropriate overture to a film that relies on your knowledge of dead characters to appreciate it. The “dead” in this case is Emperor Palpatine ( Ian McDiarmid ), who is revealed in the prologue to still be alive, planning a return of the Sith and the Empire. He’s been underground on a distant, untrackable planet, where he reportedly created Snoke, waiting for the heir to his throne to lead the resurrection of the Sith in the form of something new called the Final Order. Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ) finds Palpatine, who instructs him to go find Rey ( Daisy Ridley ). A lot of “Rise of Skywalker” is about finding things or people, especially for the first half.

Rey is with the Resistance, still led by General Leia Organa ( Carrie Fisher ), and including Poe ( Oscar Isaac ), Finn ( John Boyega ), Rose ( Kelly Marie Tran ), Chewbacca ( Joonas Suotamo ), C-3PO ( Anthony Daniels ), and more, but their numbers and hopes are dwindling. The news that Palpatine is back and leading a fleet of ships strong enough to destroy planets means that they need to act quickly or risk total annihilation. Rey learns that she must find something called a Sith Wayfinder to get to Palpatine’s location, and the gang sets off on an adventure to find it.

The midsection of the movie is its most effective. After a clunky first act that’s filled with way too many scenes of people talking about who they are, where they need to go, and what they need to do when they get there, the film finally settles into a groove with an excellent chase scene that somehow both echoes “ Return of the Jedi ” and “ Mad Max: Fury Road .” There is a nice subplot with an old acquaintance of Poe’s named Zorii Bliss ( Keri Russell ), and a fantastic, water-soaked lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo. These scenes don’t have the weight of course-correcting that drags the first hour or the desperate need to please of the final half-hour. When “Rise of Skywalker” can just be its own fun, sci-fi adventure, it succeeds.

And, to be fair, the craft of “Skywalker” is incredibly high. Abrams knows how to design a major blockbuster like this one, and there are some remarkable set-pieces. He also is an underrated director when it comes to performers and gets the best one that Ridley has delivered to date. She’s the center of this film in many ways, and arguably the best thing about it. (Driver is very good too, for the record. Don't @ me, Kylo fans.) There are sequences and character beats in “Rise of the Skywalker” that truly work, especially when it doesn’t feel like it’s trying so hard to complete its “mission.” One just wishes they were embedded in a better film overall.

What’s telling about “The Rise of Skywalker” is how much I would have rather just learned more about Poe’s background, or the story behind Zorii, than experience the numbing overkill of the final act of this trilogy. For those who get a chill down their spine at a familiar John Williams composition in just the right place or even locations that this film returns to that you probably never thought you’d see again, “The Rise of Skywalker” offers just enough to make them happy. It’s not unlike a rollercoaster ride in that it has just enough thrills to satisfy fans, but you can also see exactly where the ride begins and ends before you strap in. Real movie magic comes with surprises and risk-taking, and those are undeniably absent here—I believe for the reason that people thought there was too much of both in the last film. I wanted more of Zorii because she’s one of the few characters or plot threads here that feels like it has potential to surprise. Almost everything else has been workshopped, focus-grouped, and even twitter hive-minded to a fine paste. It’s easy to digest, but not that filling or memorable.

Perhaps the best in-movie self-criticism is in the fact that Kylo Ren rebuilds his destroyed mask. Some fans of the series believe that “The Last Jedi” destroyed their favorite franchise, and here’s J.J. Abrams literally picking up the broken pieces and putting them back together. And yet, as he's told, you can still see the cracks, meant as a criticism of Kylo's uncertainty but reflective of the movie too. Sometimes you can’t just put things back together, and revisit history in a way that doesn’t feel craven and desperate. People will see the cracks.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker movie poster

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action.

141 minutes

Daisy Ridley as Rey

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren

John Boyega as Finn

Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron

Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker

Anthony Daniels as C-3PO

Naomi Ackie as Jannah

Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux

Richard E. Grant as Allegiant General Pryde

Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata

Keri Russell as Zorii Bliss

Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca

Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico

Ian McDiarmid as Darth Sidious / Palpatine

Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian

J.J. Abrams

Writer (based on characters created by)

George Lucas

Writer (story by)

Derek Connolly
Colin Trevorrow
Chris Terrio

Cinematographer

Maryann Brandon
Stefan Grube
John Williams

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

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Watch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with a subscription on Disney+, rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination, but concludes this beloved saga with fan-focused devotion.

For Star Wars fans unhappy with the previous sequel, Rise of Skywalker concludes this phase of the franchise on a relative high note.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

J.J. Abrams

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review

This one last look at our friends can't quite bring the skywalker saga to a fully satisfying conclusion..

There’s no way to end the Skywalker Saga and make all the fans happy – and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker certainly isn’t going to make all the fans happy. Those who loved The Last Jedi will surely be peeved by the jettisoning of what that divisive eighth installment introduced, while those irked by The Force Awakens ’ nostalgia-bait will likely be irritated by Episode IX’s recycling of familiar beats and plentiful fan service. The Rise of Skywalker labors incredibly hard to check all the boxes and fulfill its narrative obligations to the preceding entries, so much so that you can practically hear the gears of the creative machinery groaning under the strain like the Millennium Falcon trying to make the jump to hyperspace. It ultimately makes the film a clunky and convoluted conclusion to this beloved saga, entertaining and endearing as it may be.

The movie has lots of heart and energy and some very beautiful imagery of vivid new worlds throughout, particularly that watery lightsaber duel between Rey and Kylo Ren glimpsed in trailers. But The Rise of Skywalker’s overall execution is as erratic as it is enthusiastic, with a story full of plot holes large enough to fly a Star Destroyer through. It lacks nerve, relying instead on nostalgic fan service to try to make the ride as comfortable as possible for the masses, falling back on the most blatant but successful tool of all -- Big Emotions -- to score its most crowd-pleasing points.

There are emotional payoffs to this trilogy’s most debated subplots, some more effective than others. Big questions are answered and other matters are definitively settled. There are bittersweet callbacks to the prior films designed to bring a tear to many a fan’s eye, rousing battles on land and in the sky that get the adrenaline pumping, and enough humor to generate more than a few guffaws. Yet the movie also uses its epic scale and breathless speed in the hopes that you’ll just move along, move along, without dwelling on the details of its convoluted storytelling and awkward ret-conning.

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The first half is exposition-heavy and laden with multiple MacGuffins – a prolonged clue hunt before the film finds surer footing. The story only gains traction once it settles into the main physical and spiritual battle between Rey (Daisy Ridley in her most confident appearance in the trilogy) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, giving a very effective less-is-more performance). They are the only characters who truly matter here outside of Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher in her final screen appearance, but more on that later) and the returning Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid, still chewing scenery after all these years). Several new characters are cool-looking but ultimately don’t really have much impact on the events of the film, but that leaves room for legacy players C-3P0 (a poignant Anthony Daniels), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), and Lando Calrissian (a slower but still smooth Billy Dee Williams) to ably serve their plot functions with heart and humor.

While John Boyega’s Finn and Oscar Isaac’s Poe act as the film’s heroic men of action (Poe, in particular, gets his most screen time and Isaac his best moments to shine yet in the trilogy), the pair basically replay the same ideas in every scene, just in different locations. That’s not the fault of the actors, but the story, which strains to establish Rey, Finn, and Poe as a close-knit trio on par with Luke, Han, and Leia when the reality is the characters have spent more time apart before this than together. Thus, much of the development of their relationship has happened off-screen between the end of The Last Jedi and the beginning of this film, so the stakes between them here aren’t especially well-earned.

Every Star Wars Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic Review Score

The Rise of Skywalker's Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores have been revealed, and the Force is not in the final movie in the Skywalker Saga's favor. Here's how they compare to the other Star Wars movies, including the prequels.

For all its many flaws, and somewhat by necessity, at least George Lucas’ prequel trilogy had a clear idea of what it wanted to be and where it was going (and I’m conceding that as someone who didn’t much like them). This new trilogy just seemed to make things up as it went along – and while that was certainly true of the original trilogy to some extent, there’s a reason it’s generally considered wise to have an endgame in mind. To that end, The Rise of Skywalker chooses to marginalize and sideline characters and themes The Last Jedi established in order to pivot to its new destination, choices that will surely be viewed as a vital course correction by some and fearful pandering by others.

The Rise of Skywalker runs the gamut, with sequences ranging from scary to saccharine, from very cool to very corny. It’s just a whole lot of movie packed into a two-hour and 22-minute runtime (10 minutes shorter than The Last Jedi) but more doesn’t always mean better. The final act comes perilously close to playing like the finale of a lesser superhero movie or YA fantasy adaptation due to its reliance on overwhelming visual effects that do their best to drown out the more ham-fisted moments. The creative choices made in Act Three – the most clumsily executed section of the film – will undoubtedly prove divisive and the subject of hot debate for years to come. Nostalgia and poignancy ultimately help the film cross the finish line but not without a lot of rough spots along the way.

Finally, while there had been much speculation about how The Rise of Skywalker would handle the inclusion of Leia given Fisher’s death in 2016, the movie manages to make the best of a bad situation. Keen observers will likely deduce where Fisher’s rejiggered takes originated from but – as with Brandon Lee in The Crow and Oliver Reed in Gladiator, two actors who died during filming those respective movies – Fisher’s scenes work as well as was likely possible under the tragic circumstances. Leia’s arc requires a suspension of disbelief since it's well known to fans that Fisher didn't film any new footage for this final film, but for general audiences unaware of the solution Abrams came up with here, Leia's subplot should prove more effective than distracting.

There is a lot to process walking out of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a film engineered to hit the viewer on multiple levels while struggling to settle 42 years’ worth of story elements – probably too much for any one film to handle. For as much love, passion, and nostalgia is evident in this movie, it’s also a film very palpably made from a place driven by fear of disappointing the audience, and that anxiety fuels a lot of the story’s curious creative choices and unwieldy execution. The film’s heartstring-tugging moments, technical impressiveness, and relentless action will likely be enough for those fans who just want to keep the visor down on their blast shield helmets and let the Force flow through them. But for those who need some consistency and logic to the story in this elaborately detailed fictional galaxy, there will likely be the bittersweet pang of accepting that this long-running saga couldn’t quite stick the landing. But even at its most divisive and imperfect, the Star Wars franchise has offered much to embrace and celebrate. This finale to the Skywalker Saga is, if nothing else, a tribute to that legacy.

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‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’: Film Review

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Rey (Daisy Ridley) in STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER.

In “ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ,” there’s a lightsaber duel that’s pretty fantastic — not because of any unprecedented whirling-action whoa! factor (we have, after all, been through one or two of these my-sword-of-electric-fire-is-mightier-than-your-sword-of-electric-fire duels in our “Star Wars” lifetimes), but because of the emotions it channels. Visually, it’s a splendid fight. Rey ( Daisy Ridley ), the Jedi Knight who’s in the midst of trying to figure out, you know, who she is , and Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ), the First Order commander who’s certain that he’s figured out the Dark Side badass he is, face off outdoors, standing atop the ruins of the Death Star, a wasteland of corroded metal that looks like the aftermath of some intergalactic 9/11.

As stormy black ocean waves crash and churn around them, like something out of “Wuthering Heights,” Ren uses his red Sith lightsaber, with the cross-handle that makes it look like a pulsating version of Excalibur; Rey uses her trusty blue Jedi lightsaber. After much fateful combat, a saber is plunged, and there’s a clear victor — but then something quite unexpected happens. It’s game-changing, it’s powerful and moving, and at that moment it’s everything you want from a “Star Wars” film.

Reviewed at SVA Theater, New York, Dec. 17, 2019. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 142 MIN.

Production: A Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures release of a Bad Robot, Lucasfilm Ltd. production. Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, Michelle Rejwan. Executive producers: Tommy Gormley, Callum Greene, Jason D. McGatlin.
Crew: Director: J.J. Abrams. Screenplay: Chris Terrio, J.J. Abrams. Camera (color, widescreen): Dan Mindel. Editors: Maryann Brandon, Stefan Grube. Music: John Williams.
With: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams , Ian McDiarmid, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Anthony Daniels, Jimmy Vee, David Chapman, Brian Herring, Joonas Suotamo, Domhnall Gleason, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong’o, Naomi Ackie, Kelly Marie Tran, Keri Russell.

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Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Review

19 Dec 2019

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker

For the third time in many adults' lifetimes, a conclusion of the Skywalker saga. Once again, a trilogy has built to this finale; once again, the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance. This one features no Sarlaac pit, nor is it as much of a step up from its predecessor as Revenge Of The Sith . But it does feel like a conclusion to the story that director JJ Abrams began in The Force Awakens , for better and sometimes for worse.

Although The Last Jedi split fan opinion, it unquestionably caused the biggest shake up in Star Wars lore since that revelation in The Empire Strikes Back . That opened up the story’s universe to exciting new possibilities: to characters beyond the small Skywalker group and to injustices and shortcomings in the Resistance as well as the Empire. Yet Abrams almost entirely ignores the doors it opened and goes back to his first instinct, sticking close to elements established in The Force Awakens . So abandoned ideas like the Knights of Ren are back, and the conversation about Rey's parentage that Johnson seemed to lay to rest is reborn like the Emperor. Perhaps it should feel like a relief after Last Jedi ’s shocks, but instead the effect is to make this story feel like a step backwards at times rather than a great leap forward, and to make the whole trilogy feel disjointed instead of just one film in it.

Still, some elements are wonderful. Daisy Ridley 's Rey is training now under Leia ( Carrie Fisher ) and has become more confident in her power, if not in her capacity to resist the Dark Side. She is still linked, bound even, to Adam Driver 's Kylo Ren, and their clashes gives the film most of its best emotional scenes. Their strange connection has outlasted Snoke and grown stronger; they can duel no matter where they are in the galaxy, and taunt each other with visions of the future that support their own beliefs. And Ridley’s terrific, tormented by the idea that it is her destiny to go to the Dark Side and afraid of her own power.

She and Kylo are therefore strangely well matched. Rey is passionately invested in her friendships and her cause; he is passionately cynical and suspicious of everyone. Rey is convinced by Finn that she doesn’t have to do everything alone here; Kylo still has terrible impulse control and flits off after her instead of Supreme Lead-ing the First Order whenever possible. But don’t worry, he leaves Domnhall Gleeson 's Hux and Richard E. Grant 's Allegiant General Pryde in charge, both sneering competitively and delightfully at, well, the entire universe but neither seeming entirely reliable.

The story more or less ends up in the right place, despite the threads left hanging.

Meanwhile Finn ( John Boyega ) now travels with Poe ( Oscar Isaac ) and Chewie (Jonas Suotamo) harvesting information from spies for Leia. Poe – in full Indiana Jones mode – is loads of fun here, though these capers bear little relation to his learning curve last time. Boyega is strangely underserved: he gets more screentime than before but less forward motion. While Finn’s bond with Rey is repeatedly said to be important to both, they get no room to actually develop it. He's too busy being introduced to new rebel Jannah ( Naomi Ackie ), a charismatic actress without much to do. It might have been more economical storytelling to just let Finn shack up with Poe – or to give Rose Tico ( Kelly Marie Tran ) more than a few lines. Keri Russell 's Zorii Bliss is another interesting figure who’s ultimately mostly there to flirt with Poe. Does he really need another love interest when he can generate heat with literally anyone? Alongside other newcomers like Babu Frik (Shirley Henderson) and droid D-0, and the glorious return of Lando ( Billy Dee Williams ) and others, there’s a whole lot of distraction on our heroes’ journey. Sometimes it’s fan service, but too often it feels more like pandering.

That journey, too, is more complicated than normal. To defeat the Emperor, our heroes face a quest straight from high fantasy or average gaming: find the thing that points to the other thing to do the next thing, with a couple of bonus rescues along the way. The trail leads to the storm-battered remnants of the second Death Star, the "Forbidden Desert of Pasaana" and the snow-flecked world of Kijimi. The level of craft and design in these films remains extraordinary; visually they’re all gorgeous, particularly the towering waves of that world in the Endor system.

As they search, destiny keeps calling. Rey and Kylo must face one another again; the Emperor must be defeated without the victor simply taking his place on the Sith Throne. And Emperor Palpatine is back, terribly changed but still potent, more machine now than man. Whether that is a good thing for Star Wars storytelling is less clear.

That’s because, for all the visual panache, pleasing cameos and interesting newcomers here, for all that Ridley and Driver pour into their stand-offs, the Emperor's presence shows a disturbing lack of faith at the heart of Rise Of Skywalker . The fan backlash last time has been taken on-board too well; the storytelling here sputters whenever it approaches any similar chance to turn away from narrative convention and do something truly unexpected. You wish that this galaxy didn't feel so small and scared of stepping away from George Lucas ' shadow.

Maybe it won’t matter to fans. There are effective emotional punches before the end, as we say a final goodbye to Carrie Fisher and her generation of stars and as Kylo and Rey face their demons. Arguably the story more or less ends up in the right place, despite the threads left hanging. When it focuses on Rey and Kylo, this film usually works. Whatever the Dark Side says, we can make our own destiny, and we change the universe when we do.

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User reviews

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Keri Russell, J.J. Abrams, Lynn Robertson Bruce, Hassan Taj, Oscar Isaac, Brian Herring, Jimmy Vee, Dave Chapman, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Robin Guiver, Daisy Ridley, Lee Towersey, Joonas Suotamo, and Naomi Ackie in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again in the conclusion of the Skywalker saga. The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again in the conclusion of the Skywalker saga. The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again in the conclusion of the Skywalker saga.

J.J. Abrams
Chris Terrio
Derek Connolly
Daisy Ridley
John Boyega
Oscar Isaac
7.8K User reviews
542 Critic reviews
53 Metascore
21 wins & 55 nominations total

Poe Dameron

Leia Organa
(archive footage)

Luke Skywalker
(as Patrick Williams)

General Hux

General Pryde

Zorii Bliss

Emperor Palpatine

Lando Calrissian

Snap Wexley

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'Star Wars' Cast Reveal Their 'Skywalker' Challenges

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Trivia Unused footage of Carrie Fisher shot for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) was incorporated by digitally removing the background and superimposing it elsewhere. Visual effects were used to change her wardrobe and add gray to her hair so the footage would match her appearance in Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) .
Goofs On Kef Bir, the Millennium Falcon is landed by sideways ramming it into a hill, leaving a trail of destruction, due to the landing gear being defective. The Falcon however always had vertical take-off and landing capabilities, so this harsh landing is unnecessary.

Obi Wan Kenobi : These are you final steps, Rey. Rise and take them.

Anakin Skywalker : Rey.

Ahsoka Tano : Rey.

Kanan Jarrus : Rey.

Anakin Skywalker : Bring back the balance, Rey, as I did.

Luminara Unduli : In the night, find the light, Rey.

Mace Windu : You're not alone, Rey.

Yoda : Alone, never have you been.

Qui-Gon Jinn : Every Jedi who ever lived, lives in you.

Anakin Skywalker : The force surrounds you, Rey.

Aayla Secura : Let it guide you.

Ahsoka Tano : As it guided us.

Mace Windu : Feel the force feeling through you, Rey.

Anakin Skywalker : Let it lift you.

Adi Gallia : Rise, Rey.

Qui-Gon Jinn : We stand behind you, Rey.

Connections Edited into Randy Loves Movies!!1!: THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT FULL BREAKDOWN! EASTER EGGS! THINGS YOU MISSED! (2022)
Soundtracks Lido Hey Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and J.J. Abrams Produced and Performed by Shag F. Kava

User reviews 7.8K

balazs-gergely-szilagyi
Dec 21, 2019
How long is Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker? Powered by Alexa
How did Palpatine build thousands and thousands of giant battleships, and recruit millions of soldiers without a single person knowing?
How can the team fall through quicksand and end up falling into a cave? Shouldn't the sand fall through the cave as well?
How can Rey suddenly learn how to force heal while Darth Vader, being strong in the force and with many years of training, can't do it?
December 20, 2019 (United States)
United States
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Wadi Rum Desert, Jordan (planet Pasaana)
Walt Disney Pictures
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$275,000,000 (estimated)
$515,202,542
$177,383,864
Dec 22, 2019
$1,077,022,372

Technical specs

Runtime 2 hours 21 minutes
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Digital
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'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Review: Epic Conclusion That's Strongest in the Smaller Moments

Although it lacks the more cohesive, streamlined storylines of its predecessors, Episode IX is buoyed by always-dazzling visuals, satisfying emotional beats and solid performances

SPOILER WARNING: This review contains very mild spoilers for Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a jam-packed tribute to George Lucas’ legacy and the millions of dedicated fans who’ve kept the franchise alive and well for decades. And while it lacks the more cohesive, streamlined storylines of its predecessors The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), Skywalker is buoyed by always-dazzling visuals, satisfying emotional beats and solid performances.

The Rise of Skywalker, aka Episode IX, takes place not long after the action in The Last Jedi . When audiences last saw General Leia Organa ( Carrie Fisher ), Rey ( Daisy Ridley ), Finn ( John Boyega ), Poe ( Oscar Isaac ), Rose ( Kelly Marie Tran ) and Droid friends BB-8, R2-D2 and C-3PO, the rebel forces fighting for good (the Resistance) were decimated by the evil First Order. Rey was trying to master her power, while also managing a powerful Force bond with presumed rival Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ).

Episode IX opens with a look at the opposite forces that fuel the universe — the light and the dark. New First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren is furiously trying to find the mysterious Emperor and squash the remaining members of the Resistance, while Rey is continuing her Jedi training under close watch by General Organa. When both sides receive separate intel about how to potentially destroy the other, this sets off a complicated series of action, space travel, and treasure hunting, ahead of the eventual epic end-all battle of the light vs. the dark, good vs. evil.

Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), BB-8 and C-3P0 set out to find and destroy the source of the First Order’s power. Meanwhile Kylo Ren, who happens upon damaging information about Rey’s past, is hot on their trail and seeking to convince Rey to embrace the dark side before he’s forced to destroy her altogether.

Directed by J.J. Abrams ( The Force Awakens ), Skywalker is a love letter to Star Wars itself, though a crowded one. In addition to a lot of story told over the course of the film’s nearly two and a half-hour run time, there are Easter eggs upon Easter eggs, and major set pieces that have become touchstones of the franchise. While thrilling to see, there’s a blink-and-you-miss-it feel to all the action, because of all the ground the film covers.

One major highlight is the touching sendoff to Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia. Using extra footage from the beloved actress’ final performance before her death in 2016, Skywalker gives the star and her character several key shining moments — including one with her daughter, actress Billie Lourd . The return of Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian also makes for a fun addition, along with several other cameos to look out for.

Newcomers to the Star Wars universe include Jannah, (Naomi Ackie), Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell), a figure from Poe’s past and Allegiant General Pryde (Richard E. Grant), a First Order officer, each of whom have memorable character moments that make a difference in the story. However, it’s Ridley’s Rey and Driver’s Kylo Ren that anchor it all and deliver the most emotionally-charged performances.

Episode IX provides definitive conclusions to several plot points laid out in both Force Awakens and The Last Jedi , but also raises several surprising questions as it does so. And although the franchise is built upon crowd-pleasing action sequences and space travel and the legacy of The Force, etc., this film is strongest in the smaller moments and emotional connections between beloved characters, which can always use further exploration and attention.

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters Dec. 20.

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DVD & Streaming

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Action/Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

December 20, 2019
Daisy Ridley as Rey; Adam Driver as Kylo Ren; John Boyega as Finn; Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron; Anthony Daniels as C-3PO; Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca; Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian; Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico; Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine; Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa

Home Release Date

March 17, 2020
J.J. Abrams

Distributor

Movie review.

Death Stars are so lame.

Oh, the Galactic Empire gave the concept a go—twice, actually. Both literally blew up in their faces. The upstart First Order figured they’d improved on the concept by getting back to the basics: What’s the point in building a whole new Death Star when you can just stick a gigantic laser cannon in a planet? As we saw in The Force Awakens , that didn’t go so hot, either.

So (spoiler warning, though you learn about this next point in both the trailers and the second sentence of the movie’s opening crawl) Emperor Palpatine—recently dead but, through the miracles of galactic science and evil, still capable of a nefarious plot or two—has hatched a shiny new plan. And both First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and wanna-be Jedi Rey figure prominently in it. The first will be Palpatine’s younger, more mobile avatar in the galaxy, the Emperor hopes; his spiritual son, if you will. The second will be—if all goes well—dead.

But as we’ve seen, Kylo Ren tends to have somewhat violent relationships with his would-be father figures. And honestly, Kylo’s not quite sure he wants Rey dead. She could be a powerful ally, he believes, if Rey could somehow be turned to the Dark Side. Together, they’d be unstoppable.

But Rey has no intention of joining the Dark Side. She’s got other things on her mind: finishing her Jedi training, protecting her friends and, oh yeah, saving the galaxy, too.

Death Stars may be a little passe in this new galactic era. But the Jedi … well, despite always seemingly on the edge of extinction, the old order still has life in it yet.

Positive Elements

For most of the movie, Rey stands as a worthy inheritor of the Jedi order’s lofty, altruistic goals. She’s the film’s primary hero, doing all manner of heroic things and risking her life in all manner of ways. She’s willing to sacrifice herself for her friends and for the galaxy, of course, but that’s old news: The ultimate sacrifice for her involves something a little more complex, and she shows a willingness to make it if she must.

But perhaps the thing most resonant about Rey’s story is that she’s more than just a warrior here: She’s a healer , and her kindness and willingness to help even threats pays dividends.

Of course, all of Rey’s associates—Poe and Finn and Leia and Chewbacca and many, many others—show off their own forms of heroism and sacrifice. Indeed, even droids sacrifice for their cause, and in strangely poignant ways.

Spiritual Elements

The Force is still (ahem) a force in Rise of Skywalker . Though Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace offered a naturalistic explanation for it (midichlorians, as you recall), it acts and feels much more spiritual, and leaning heavily into an Eastern understanding of spirituality—a near-Taoist yin-yang sense of the cosmos. The Light and Dark sides of the Force are locked in eternal conflict, and we hear at least one reference to the Force needing to be brought “in balance.” (In practice, of course, the Light Side Jedi have always seemed pretty interested in conquering the Dark Side, which leads to a certain spiritual dissonance in worldview messaging, but we move on.)

That Force gives its users, both Light and Dark, a variety of impressive powers: The ability to levitate objects, fire off lightning bolts and, for the first time that I’m aware of, the ability to magically heal others. When those who are strong in the Force die, their corporeal selves sometimes vanish peacefully. They also have the power to return in a more ghostly form, offering advice and such.

We see Rey levitating with her legs crossed while meditating.

[ Spoiler Warning ] The Rise of Skywalker offers one more new twist here, however: We learn that all the Jedi (and all the Sith over on the Dark Side) who’ve previously lived and died somehow live within their still-living representatives. While meditating, Rey seeks to establish a connection with deceased Jedi in two scenes, repeating the phrase “Be with me.” She subsequently hears the encouraging Jedi voices of some who’ve gone before her from within her psyche—an idea that this film plays out in ways that previous installments have not.

Sexual Content

Two primary characters share a kiss. Poe Dameron renews acquaintences which someone who appears to be an old flame; at one point, he looks at her and flicks his head toward a more secluded spot—a silent invitation, the movie suggests, to engage in a more intimate encounter. The old flame shakes her head no. One female character wears a low-cut top.

Back-to-back scenes during a crowded celebratory sequence show a gay female couple kiss and hold hands.

Violent Content

If you count up all the planets and Death Stars destroyed, the Star Wars movies have always had an obscenely high body count. Rise of Skywalker has that, too, but the violence here can feel more intimate and visceral than we’ve seen before. We see a couple of people (and creatures) sport some bloody wounds. In the aftermath of one battle in which Kylo Ren slays many opponents, we see bodies and a dismembered arm lying next to a corpse.

Kylo shows little hesitation in killing aliens and people alike—in the opening moments hacking through dozens of non-humans in a harsh battle sequence. He performs a Darth Vader-esque chokehold on one of his underlings—more violently than we’ve seen Vader do, though not necessarily as lethal. Countless storm troopers, rebels and extras fall to light saber slashes, blaster fire, magic lightning, crashes and explosions.

People fall, or nearly fall, from some pretty lofty heights. Characters get sucked into a quicksand-like trap. The life force is sucked out of a few folks, one way or another. The head of a sentient alien being is tossed on a table.

We see lots and lots of firefights and saber battles. Someone expresses a longing to see Poe’s “brains in the snow.” Our main characters encounter a pile of bones. “Never a good sign,” says C-3PO.

Crude or Profane Language

Three uses of the word “h—,” two of “d–n” and one of “a–.” We hear bit of name-calling here and there as well.

Drug and Alcohol Content

We hear that Poe was once a “spice runner.” Though the movie doesn’t explain exactly what “spice” is, the extended Star Wars canon makes it clear that it’s an illegal substance that forms the foundation of a recreational drug. (It’s perhaps a nod to the addictive spice found in another seminal sci-fi series, Dune . )

Palpatine’s cadaverous new life seems augmented by a phalanx of chemical components, and the guy’s body is attached to some sort of technological tether that, presumably, pumps him full of whatever he needs to keep his constitution in order.

Other Negative Elements

Characters bicker a bit, and they engage the help of a couple of shady characters at times. They use subterfuge to gain access to a First Order ship as well.

It’s the end. Only not really.

The Star Wars universe will continue well past Rise of Skywalker —on TV, in video games, in fan fiction, in toys, in shiny new movies. But certainly, this episode— Episode IX —closes the book on the core Skywalker saga that launched the whole universe and has been running for, oh, 42 years now.

I need not reiterate, really, that the franchise has been perhaps the most influential pop-culture force in the last half-century. The original movie redefined what it meant to be a “blockbuster,” and it’s largely responsible for the cinematic world we live in today: Sprawling, multi-movie storylines; special-effects spectacles; obscenely passionate fans. Without Star Wars, it seems unlikely we’d have the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the Harry Potter saga or much of anything that routinely lands on the top of the box-office charts. Star Wars , in many respects, changed the world, and so this film truly marks the end of an era.

So does it end that era well ?

The final trilogy— The Force Awakens , The Last Jedi and now The Rise of Skywalker —seem as though it’s become progressively more problematic. The violence, while largely bloodless, can feel more visceral and even grisly than it did in some earlier segments (though, admittedly, even the earliest allowed our heroes to spill the ropelike guts of a tauntaun in The Empire Strikes Back ).

While the original Star Wars movie featured only a single swear word—and some, I think, steered clear of profanity altogether— The Rise of Skywalker peppers the dialogue with about a half-dozen profanities. In a first for the Star Wars cinematic universe, we very briefly see a same-sex couple onscreen. It’s a content concern that families have not been forced to address in this franchise, but one that will now require intentional thought if younger eyes notice this brief scene.

And, of course, parents will have to navigate with the issue they’ve always had to deal with in this franchise: the ever-present, all-powerful Force.

Aesthetically, there’s plenty to pick at, too. This movie requires even a greater level of suspended disbelief than in the past.

But for fans of this franchise, The Rise of Skywalker works: not necessarily logically, but emotionally. And it works well.

Rey, Kylo, Finn and Poe have never been more engaging. Some of the action sequences might make you want to jump out of your seat and cheer. The film ties up the saga powerfully and sometimes beautifully, if not cogently. And for those inclined to learn and teach some lessons through the magic of film, this one has plenty to choose from: how love triumphs over hatred. How courage trumps fear. How our choices, not our backgrounds or lot in life, define who we are. How it’s worth fighting for what’s good and right, even when the odds against triumph seem so very long.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker —and really, all the Star Wars movies—have always leaned into emotion. These are movies you feel , and that you don’t necessarily want to think about too much.

But on some level, that’s unfair to these movies. They do want us to think, to think about the heroism, sacrifice and friendship we see. Those are thoughts worth having here. And these themes—heroism, sacrifice, friendship and love—are why (along with some cool light saber battles) I embraced the series from the very beginning, when I was 7 years old. And why, even today, hearing the opening orchestral fanfare makes me grin like I’m 7 again.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Review: ‘rise of skywalker’ is the worst ‘star wars’ movie ever.

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The Rise of Skywalker is a bad movie and a miserable finale that serves no purpose other than to reassure adult fans of the original Star Wars that they are still the “chosen ones” of the pop culture galaxy.

'Star Wars The Rise Of Skywalker' banner

Spoiler warning: I do mention specific details about the first few scenes, but otherwise there are no spoilers save for “read between the lines” notes about the film’s overall construction. Reader discretion is advised.

Given the loud and SEO-friendly backlash to Star Wars: The Last Jedi , I half-expected The Rise of Skywalker to be something of a walk-back in terms of tone, plot and exposition. After all, The Empire Strikes Back was itself a dramatic departure from Star Wars , and it was followed by a threequel ( Return of the Jedi ) that was closer in spirit to the first movie. What I was expecting, at worst, was a well-made and character-driven action fantasy that perhaps contained plot threads or story beats for which I didn’t care. You can enjoy both Batman Returns and Batman Forever.

Alas, J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a genuinely bad movie, one that repeats the fatal mistakes of the likes of Spectre, Spider-Man 3 and The Crimes of Grindelwald to end the Skywalker Saga on an all-time low.

The problem with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker isn’t just that it absolutely walks back a number of potent reveals and plot threads from the last movie, but rather that the 142-minute movie spends almost its entire running time retconning its predecessor and adding painfully conventional “plot twists” and patronizing reversals in the name of mollifying the fans who merely want to be reminded of the first three movies. It inflicts additional damage to the legacy of the first six Star Wars movies. It undermines the previous two “episodes” in the name of giving (some but not all) original-trilogy Star Wars fans a reassuring pat on the head. It even shies away from The Force Awakens ’ darker real-world implications. It is so concerned with character reveals and “chase the MacGuffin” plotting that it finds no time for any real character work.

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Things start promisingly enough, with a grim and visually dazzling sequence (for the record, the whole movie looks great) in which Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, doing what he can to sell some awful dialogue and plotting) kills his way to the location of a still-living Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). The former Emperor promises command of countless newly created warships as long as Ren ends the Jedi order by killing Rey (Daisy Ridley). Okay, fine, the Emperor’s back, but at least that reveal is done right off the bat.

The next sequence, involving multiple jumps to light speed, plays out like the Star Tours ride. But once we find ourselves back in the new home of the fractured Resistance, well, you have huge chunks of plot that are written and edited around deleted scenes of the late Carrie Fisher. That’s when things start to implode.

With all due respect, Carrie Fisher’s performance in The Force Awakens was not her best work, and now we’re dealing with deleted scenes from that previous Star Wars movie being awkwardly inserted, not unlike Raymond Burr’s Godzilla footage, into this new movie. Everyone else is required to act around her, with the story dictated by what footage they had on hand, resulting in some genuinely goofy filmmaking (see: Leia and Rey pass a lightsaber back and forth because it’s probably two takes of the same deleted sequence!). The Resistance immediately gets word that Palpatine is alive and has raised a world-killing army of super-ships, news that everyone takes pretty well. I guess it’s only slightly disconcerting that (metaphorically speaking) Hitler is still alive 35 years after World War II and is planning on teaming up with the USSR to try to enslave the world again.

We then jump into a “go to the place and find the thing” adventure, and the filmmakers seem to think that the mere idea of Rey, Finn, Poe and Chewbacca on a journey together is in itself incredibly compelling. Alas, absent memorable dialogue and much in the way of honest interaction, plus two extraneous new characters seemingly meant to “no homo” Finn and Poe, the journey becomes about the destination. That destination is merely more arbitrary plot reveals. Did you love how the last Fantastic Beasts movie spent most of the movie hinting at and eventually revealing irrelevant connections between characters? Did you love how Spectre tried to retroactively make Blofeld “the author of all your pain” in the three previous Daniel Craig 007 movies? Or how about how Spider-Man 3 revealed that the Sandman actually kinda-sorta killed Uncle Ben? You’re in for a treat.

It’s not just that Rise of Skywalker undoes Last Jedi ’s “it’s not your franchise anymore” metaphors—aimed at a generation that grew up loving Star Wars and then allowed two Palpatine-ish leaders (George W. Bush and Trump) to come into power—for generic “don’t worry, Star Wars is still the best!” fan bait. It’s that this is the only real reason this movie exists. It is focused on plot over character and is written with the “we got to stop that laser!” intelligence of a bad Saturday morning cartoon. When there already exists some very good kid-targeted Star Wars toons ( Rebels, Clone War , etc.), one cannot escape the fact that Rise of Skywalker has turned this entire new Star Wars trilogy from a kids’ franchise into one aimed at nostalgic adults yearning for a time when they believed they were the most important generation.

Adam Driver does his best trying to sell this nonsense, and there’s a momentary glance when he unexpectedly finds himself with a weapon that has more charm and character than any number of “applause now” introductions or fan-friendly callbacks. The film continually teases status-quo altering events and then immediately walks them back, offers generic action where even the seemingly emotional showdowns are interrupted by digressions and past-tense exposition, and gives Daisy Ridley essentially no real arc of her own. The screenplay never forces her to make any hard choices or live with the consequences of her mistakes. The plot is shockingly similar to Frozen II , but even that film, as random as its narrative seemed, prioritized character and emotional honesty over plot, which is why it resonated despite the story issues. Finn, Poe and Rey are mostly action figures moved into place as the plot demands.

The Rise of Skywalker is possibly worse than any prior Star Wars “episode.” It ends a legendary franchise with a thud while denying this new trilogy its artistic reason for existence. It represents the cultural theft of Star Wars from today’s kids by today’s arrested-development-stricken adults. Star Wars was a franchise first and foremost for children, and the kids who grew up with Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and the MCU have embraced harsh truths and challenging narratives. Lucasfilm and Disney’s The Rise of Skywalker feels explicitly crafted for the “Rian Johnson ruined Star Wars !” and “George Lucas ruined my childhood!” demographics, right down to its near erasure of Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico. It’s bad enough that adults no longer see grown-up movies in theaters, but now yesterday’s geeks who have taken over pop culture feel entitled to have the kid-friendly franchises aimed at them as well.

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Star wars: episode ix: the rise of skywalker, common sense media reviewers.

Action-packed end of iconic series falls short of greatness.

Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

As with whole Star Wars franchise, main tension he

Rey continues to be strong, capable, courageous, b

Tons of sci-fi action violence, both large-scale s

Two characters continue to have an intense, supern

Infrequent use of insults and words of exasperatio

Nothing in the movie, but off camera there's an en

Positive Messages

As with whole Star Wars franchise, main tension here is between good and evil, light and dark. Characters discover nuances of humanity and how people aren't generally all one thing or the other. Story underlines idea that everyone has a choice about which moral code to believe in, which mission to accept. Your family/background doesn't determine your destiny. Promotes transformative power of hope, and importance of friendship, courage, teamwork, loyalty, trust, listening to others, faith.

Positive Role Models

Rey continues to be strong, capable, courageous, but this time also deals with inner conflict. She must decide whether to follow the path of the Jedi or indulge in her newfound sense of anger and frustration. Other female characters -- including General Leia, Rose, and some new faces -- are well represented making tough decisions, leading bravely, and more. Finn and Poe learn to lead together and to put mission above personal conflicts. Their friendship and teamwork fittingly rallies the Republic around helping Rey. First Order is depicted as mostly male and largely white, while Resistance is notably diverse both in skin color and in various species, with women in leadership positions.

Violence & Scariness

Tons of sci-fi action violence, both large-scale space battles/explosions and one-on-one duels, shoot-outs, tense chases/crashes. A few explicit but not bloody deaths: A non-human severed head is unceremoniously presented to the First Order (some greenish goop, but no red blood), a traitor is summarily executed, an entire field of Resistance forces is shown dead, a character's skin and face crumble/melt away, Kylo Ren kills and maims many enemies with his lightsaber. One character's wound is shown close-up; a skeleton is seen. Both sides sustain lots of casualties. Spoiler alert: Several primary and supporting characters are killed, and nearly everyone is injured at one point. A couple of key characters are presumed captured or killed. A few deaths will be extra emotional for audiences. Many weapons are used in addition to lightsabers: blaster guns, planet-killer weapons, bombs, grenades, daggers, arrows, fighter planes. An officer orders an entire fleet destroyed. A leader orders an entire planet destroyed. Creepy villain, dark/scary locations, and a couple of large, scary worm-like monsters. Frequent peril and danger. Arguments.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Two characters continue to have an intense, supernatural bond that sometimes feels romantic. Poe comedically asks another character for a kiss two times. Several charged/longing looks. Embraces/brief kisses (both opposite-sex and, extremely briefly, same-sex).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Infrequent use of insults and words of exasperation including "ass," "damn it," "hell," "stupid," "shut up," etc.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Nothing in the movie, but off camera there's an entire universe of merchandise available, from branded/themed apparel, board games, video games, accessories, housewares, action figures, Lego sets, food, toys, and just about anything else you can consume that can be a tie-in.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is the ninth and final film in the four-decade-long Skywalker saga (and the third installment in the current trilogy). Following the events of Episode VIII: The Last Jedi , the film focuses on the battle between the villainous First Order, led by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ), and the virtuous Resistance fighters, embodied by the last Jedi, Rey ( Daisy Ridley ). Everything is on the line in this installment, which means the sci-fi action violence is ratcheted up a notch: You can expect even more major space battles, high-stakes destruction, tense chases/crashes, peril, injury, and fierce lightsaber duels (plus blasters, arrows, cannons, and other weapons). This movie feels a little more intense and darker than the previous two in this trilogy, with creepy villains and locations and a few explicit (but not bloody) deaths, including a beheading, a point-blank execution, and a body crumbling to bits. Spoiler alert: Several primary and supporting characters are killed, and a few of those deaths will be extra emotional for audiences. There are also some scenes with lots of flashing lights, which could be difficult for those with photosensitivity. While there's not a lot of romance, the film does include some longing looks, embraces, and a couple of kisses. Language isn't frequent, but you will hear "ass," "hell," and "damn." Women continue to hold strong positions in the Resistance, and there are strong messages of courage, teamwork, hope, and loyalty. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parents say (86)
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Based on 86 parent reviews

Pushing agendas

What's the story.

STAR WARS: EPISODE IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER starts off with the usual scrolling exposition: In a galaxy far, far away, what remains of the Resistance regroups after the devastating losses of The Last Jedi , while Rey ( Daisy Ridley ) trains with the Force and new Supreme Leader Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ) and the First Order look for a secret Sith lair that's broadcasting pro-Emperor Palpatine propaganda. Poe ( Oscar Isaac ), Finn ( John Boyega ), and Chewbacca continue on their mission to subvert the First Order and help Rey save the day. Kylo Ren attempts to lure Rey to the Dark Side, believing that their special supernatural Force connection means they're destined to share a throne and rule together. In battle after battle, the two forces fight for the future of the galaxy.

Is It Any Good?

Technically slick and impressively performed, this final installment is definitely entertaining, but the considerable fan service and nostalgic callbacks make it less epic than we might have hoped. Audiences will marvel at the elaborate set pieces, the plentiful Easter eggs, and the intricately choreographed battle sequences (the storyboarding must have been amazing). The talented stars are all back -- even the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa. Hopefully they were so bountifully compensated that they can now go on to long careers doing whatever film they want. It's telling, though, that of Driver's three big roles in 2019 (alongside Marriage Story and The Report ), this is his least extraordinary. That's because, despite the buddy-adventure humor of the Poe-and-Finn storyline, the fascinating plot revelations (no spoilers here!), and the Game of Thrones -style intrigue, the story and writing can occasionally become unwieldy as director J.J Abrams overstuffs the movie that signals the end of an era.

Speaking for those who don't possess encyclopedic knowledge of every character name and subplot of the three Skywalker trilogies, it's possible to enjoy this film without total recall of the earlier movies -- but those who do remember the meaning of particular characters, species, locations, and vehicles will feel extra rewarded. To spell those particulars out would be to spoil several applause-worthy moments, but if moviegoers have the time, they might re-watch The Empire Strikes Back , Revenge of the Sith , and The Last Jedi to maximize their understanding of the story in Episode IX . The best part of Rise of Skywalker might be the satisfying nostalgia, but it's ultimately about another central trio of friends with sketchy backgrounds (a former scavenger, a Stormtrooper, and a spice runner) who answered a higher calling for themselves, the Force, and the galaxy.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker . Do scenes of explosions and space battles affect you differently than those of close-up, one-on-one lightsaber duels and killings? Why do you think that is? What makes more of an impact: violence or loss? Why? How does this movie handle both topics?

Who are the movie's heroes? How are they role models ? Do they demonstrate character strengths such as courage and teamwork ?

How is diversity -- and a lack thereof -- used to indicate the values of the opposing sides of the conflict in the Star Wars series? Why is it notable that the First Order has very little diversity, while the Republic has a lot of it?

Talk about the themes from the previous movies that repeat themselves here. Why are issues of good vs. evil, mentorship, and so on so important to this series? How do they play out on-screen?

What are your thoughts on the way the Skywalker Saga ended? What do you think happens in the future for the characters, the Force, and the galaxy?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 20, 2019
On DVD or streaming : March 17, 2020
Cast : Daisy Ridley , Adam Driver , John Boyega , Oscar Isaac
Director : J.J. Abrams
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors, Latino actors
Studio : Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Genre : Science Fiction
Topics : Adventures , Friendship , Space and Aliens
Character Strengths : Courage , Teamwork
Run time : 141 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : sci-fi violence and action
Last updated : July 5, 2024

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Reviewed by: Raphael Vera CONTRIBUTOR


Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:
Genre:
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USA Release:

The continuing fight between good and evil in our world

Learn about SPIRITUAL DARKNESS versus spiritual LIGHT

What to do when people urge you to evil things

What is SIN AND WICKEDNESS? Answer

Why do evil people often try to demoralize good people by attempting to convince them that they’re all alone

Courage / bravery / self-sacrifice

Featuring	… Rey … Kylo Ren … Lieutenant Connix … Leia Organa (archive footage) … Luke Skywalker … Maz Kanata … Palpatine … Poe Dameron … Zorii Bliss … General Hux … Rose Tico … Lando Calrissian … Finn … Beaumont Kin—a Resistance trooper Joonas Suotamo … Chewbacca Anthony Daniels … C-3PO Richard E. Grant … Allegiant General Pryde Greg Grunberg … Snap Wexley Jimmy Vee … R2-D2 Richard Bremmer … First Order Officer Dave Chapman … BB-8 Simon Paisley Day … General Engell Brian Herring … BB-8 Nasser Memarzia … General
Director
Producer
Distributor

E mperor Palpatine ( Ian McDiarmid ), who was killed by Darth Vader in the finale of the original “Star Wars” trilogy “ Return of the Jedi ,” has let it be known that he has returned and The First Order’s Supreme Commander Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ) will stop at nothing to find and destroy this new threat to his empire. But when they finally meet, an unholy alliance is formed instead so that they may strengthen the empire under Ren while the Emperor pulls the strings.

Recognizing the threat a resurrected Emperor would pose to their crippled Rebel Alliance, Rey ( Daisy Ridley ) breaks off her Jedi training under Leia ( Carrie Fisher ) and together with Poe ( Oscar Isaac ) and Finn ( John Boyega ) set out to find the legendary Sith world to destroy Palpatine once and for all.

The Rebellion’s trio will visit worlds of desert and sea in order to find the one artifact capable of guiding them to the Sith world. New friends and alliances will be made along the way before Kylo Ren confronts Rey with his final offer to join him or be destroyed. Will Rey’s vision of both her and Ren ruling from the Dark throne come true or is there still one last hope for the galaxy?

Billed as the conclusion to the “Skywalker” saga, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” does just that, but not without some material—expected and surprising—that merits caution.

Objectionable Content

Violence: Moderate to Heavy. Many are killed by laser fire, explosions, fire or are thrown at high speeds to their death. Mostly bloodless, there are scenes showing arms and limbs being cut off by light saber and in several cases impaled to death. Brief but grisly imagery includes skeletal remains and disembodied clones floating in a solution. Kylo Ren chokes a general and slams him against the ceiling at the same time. Lastly, a planet is destroyed as seen from orbit.

Violence: Moderate to Heavy (PG-13 level, NOT PG)
Vulgar/Crude language: Mild
Occult: Mild
Profane language: None
Nudity: None
Drugs/Alcohol: None

Language: Mild. The Lord’s name is never taken in vain nor uttered in any context. Inappropriate words included: h*ll (3), da*n (2), a** (1) and “Shut up, scum” (1).

Sex/Nudity: Minor but blatant. No sex or nudity is shown, but a kiss between two female Resistance fighters takes place amidst a large celebration. Considering that in other “Star Wars” films only main character love interests are ever shown kissing, this indicates a clear choice by Disney and the Director. Poe flirts with an old friend and asks for a kiss, which she declines.

Much can be made about how the “Star Wars” films touch upon New Age concepts and covert occult-like symbolism, and I do not deny their existence. However, I believe that the themes that resonate most with people are those that touch upon undeniable truths, and the most powerful one addressed in the film is that of our ‘ sinful nature .’

When Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill ) encourages Rey that “some things are stronger than blood,” he is referring to the internal struggle Rey is having against her own flesh .

Conversely, Kylo Ren is her polar opposite, as he has already succumbed to the evil nature within him, and his internal struggle is instead with the spark of good within him as suggested in “The Force Awakens.”

Interestingly, the greatest spiritual victory shown does not come in the final act but before it, when a character must confront their natural tendencies and conclusively put them to death. The Word of God calls all of us to do the very same, and the reward will be great.

“So put to death the sinful , earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality , impurity, lust , and evil desires .” —Colossians 3:5

“Therefore if any man [be] in Christ , [he is] a new creature : old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” —2 Corinthians 5:17

The TRUE Force and Light vs. Darkness

Learn about SPIRITUAL DARKNESS versus SPIRITUAL LIGHT

Learn about The TRUE Force

What is repentance ?

What is regeneration —becoming a New Creation?

Although this victory is seen as achieved through ‘force’ of will alone, we must acknowledge that, as the Bible and human history have shown, mankind is incapable of wrestling successfully against sin without help from Almighty God.

“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” —Philippians 4:13 NLT

The Word of God likewise admonishes those who do not reflect the will of our Father in Heaven, but instead hear and listen to the myriad of voices Satan , the Prince of lies uses to speak to his own.

“Ye are of your father the devil , and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth , because there is no truth in him.” —John 8:44 KJV excerpt

The devil, as personified by the Emperor, is the Prince of lies who promises that if you do his bidding “you will ascend,” when in fact the reverse will come to pass exactly as our Lord Jesus said.

“‘Yes,’ he told them, ‘I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!’” —Luke 10:18 NLT

Fans of the series will appreciate the way the film honors both Leia and Han’s memories during their touching send-offs as this entry does mark the end of their journey along with that of Luke.

In my opinion, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is a definite improvement over “The Last Jedi” which seemed determined to put to death some aspects of the “Star Wars” universe as we know it. Rey and Kylo Ren are the central focal point for this movie, and the conclusion to their story arcs result in a mostly satisfying second half that features a strong emotional payoff to match.

Although the film feels a bit derivative and the threats feel recycled, the film does its best to restore the series from where the last film left off and mostly succeeds.

This cannot be recommended for children due to dark theme, suggested possession, and subtle political messaging.

As followers of Christ, please be aware that ungodly messaging will continue to be increasingly woven into our entertainment, and we must guard both the hearts of future generations and our own.

“…but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” —2 Timothy 4:3-4 NASB excerpt

“The Force” mysticism in the “Star Wars” movies presents a false view of reality in which…

No Personal Creator God exists.
Instead there is pantheism (all things composed of an all-encompassing power).
There is an impersonal living energy force permeating everything that can be used to gain god-like powers, including telekinesis, clairvoyance, precognition, mind control and communication with spirit guides — Force ghosts). (Remember when Satan claimed, “Your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods.”)
There is no Heaven or Hell after death.
There is a sort of Yin and Yang balance dualism (good and evil as two sides of the same coin).

The darkness of paganism is masquerading as light . The “Star Wars” franchise has helped greatly popularize these Godless fantasies and influenced people’s acceptance of dangerous false beliefs about reality.

Tom Chesko of Answers in Genesis (a Christian Answers Team Member ) reports that…

According to a 2011 census, “Jedi” is now the most popular faith in the “Other Religions” category in England and Wales, taking 7th place among all the major world religions. It is a church inspired by George Lucas ’s “Star Wars” films. The website of the Jedi Church states: “The Jedi church believes that there is one powerful force [energy field] that binds all things in the universe together. The Jedi religion is something innate inside every one of us, the Jedi Church believes that our sense of morality is innate. So quiet your mind and listen to the force within you.”

As the familiar saying goes, “buyer beware”—the Jedi religion is paganism pure and simple. The Jedi Church even warns its members to be cautious of the dark side of the force. It’s territory that no Jedi should dare to enter. But how is someone to know when he crosses over from the light side of the force to the dark side by simply listening to the voice within? By what standard can good and bad be judged in this pagan belief? It would be arbitrary to assert some absolute good or evil in a religion where no absolutes, like the claims of Jesus Christ, are tolerated! In truth, there is no such thing as a light side of paganism. It’s all darkness, and it is a consuming darkness, like voodoo, which originated in sub-Saharan Africa that claims to be used to heal or to harm.

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

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PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

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Every Star Wars movie and TV show, ranked

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Darth Vader reaching his hand out across a balcony in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

What makes a good Star Wars? Like many things, it’s a little bit different for everyone.

For some, it’s the science fiction details: aliens, droids, and lightsabers.

For others, it’s the aesthetic: a palpable sense of wonder, aided by one of the most iconic musical themes in the history of cinema and otherworldly locations.

For others still, it’s the characters: classic good-versus-evil battles with underdogs up against the odds.

Andor , our pick for the best TV show of 2022 , captured one of the elements that makes Star Wars special, focusing on political intrigue in the period leading up to the start of the Rebellion. And when we at Polygon put our heads together to rank all the canonical movie and television entries in the Star Wars universe, Andor ’s unique focus made it hold up even next to the triumphs of the origin Star Wars trilogy.

Our committee was made up of nine Polygon staffers, who each submitted their own personal ranking of the Star Wars movies and television they’ve seen. Their bottom choice got one point, their second-to-last pick got two points, and that scoring process continued all the way up. This way, people who had seen all 23 canonical movies and TV shows had a greater impact on the vote, as they had the most context.

Here is every canonical Star Wars movie and TV show, ranked from worst to best. And if you’re looking to catch up on them, we have the perfect Star Wars watch order for you.

The “well, at least it’s Star Wars” tier

23. the rise of skywalker.

Finn aiming his gun upward, Rey holding her blue lightsaber straight upward, and Poe aiming a gun and flashlight upward, with C-3PO standing behind them, in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The light side: A climactic moment where everyone worth a damn left living in the Star Wars universe — even the actor who played Wedge Antilles! — shows up to shoot up the fascist armada and/or cut it to pieces with a borrowed lightsaber.

The dark side: We’ve been here before . Looking back, we all know that Rey deserved better. This is not the ending that I expected when I showed up with the kids for The Force Awakens in 2015. I imagine it’s not what Disney expected either. — Charlie Hall

22. The Book of Boba Fett

An image of Boba Fett sitting on a throne from The Book of Boba Fett

The light side: Two or three episodes feel almost like The Mandalorian season 2.5, which is nice, and Temuera Morrison is great.

The dark side: Every non-Mando episode of the show is pretty bad and it’s largely very boring. — Austen Goslin

21. The Clone Wars movie

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have looked better than they do in the Clone Wars movie. Here, they look off-screen, with Republic troopers behind them, as Obi-Wan talks.

The light side: Ahsoka Tano. Heard of her?

The dark side: Pales in comparison to the TV show, both in the look of its animation and in its storytelling. — Pete Volk

20. Star Wars Resistance

Star Wars Resistance - pilot Kazuda ‘Kaz’ Xiono in cockpit

The light side: It’s the first (and to date, only) TV show to explore the sequel trilogy era, and with a gorgeous art style to boot.

The dark side: It’s lightweight even by Star Wars standards, and it ditches the all-ages appeal of most Star Wars to appeal directly to younger viewers. —Joshua Rivera

19. Obi-Wan Kenobi

Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan in the Disney Plus show

The light side: While no one thought we needed to know how Obi-Wan became Ben, Ewan McGregor’s performance goes a long way to bridging and deepening his prequel performance. What Obi-Wan Kenobi manages to do, despite the odds, is make the perfunctory, between-trilogy showdown between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader feel emotionally thrilling and earned.

The dark side: Obi-Wan Kenobi suffers from the same frustrating defect of a lot of Star Wars stuff: a villain story that gets caught somewhere between thoughtful and half-assed. And at six episodes with a lot of action elsewhere, there’s just not a ton of time to iron out all the kinks. — Zosha Millman

18. Attack of the Clones

Obi-Wan and Anakin shoot each other a glance in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

The light side: Less terrible comedy and childish kid-adventure than its predecessor, The Phantom Menace , and more meaningful action and forward plot movement. The revelations about what’s going on on Kamino are genuinely unsettling. And then there’s getting to see Yoda kick ass.

The dark side: So much terrible Anakin Skywalker material, from the belated “Oops, left my mom behind to be a slave for the last decade, should do something about that” subplot to the world’s most awkward and unconvincing romance, complete with a metaphorical speech about what’s wrong with sand. — Tasha Robinson

17. Tales of the Jedi

Ahsoka Tano, surrounded by fire and looking fierce, in Tales of the Jedi

The light side: In the animation style of The Clone Wars , Tales of the Jedi fills in the blanks on two people vital to the Star Wars universe: Ahsoka and Count Dooku. Across six very short episodes, their stories add more dimension to the good/evil binary of the Light and Dark sides of the Force.

The dark side: The episodes are very short, and mostly serve to fill in small grooves in the stories of two key characters in the franchise. It’s interesting enough, but it sort of lifts right out. — ZM

The “now we’re getting somewhere” tier

16. the acolyte.

Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in a still from The Acolyte

The light side: The Acolyte is packed with ideas that are at least halfway interesting . The Jedi as a semi-corrupt police precinct who abuse power in order to keep their monopoly on it, the delicate balance of the master/padawan relationship and how it often causes horrible strife and sets apprentices down the wrong path , and even the Darth Plagueis cameo . All of these feel like they’re on the verge of doing something interesting, and the action sequences are occasionally thrilling and add some new visual language to Star Wars’ lightsaber fights.

The dark side: By constantly pulling the series in all of these directions at once , it ends up feeling stuck firmly in place. Not a single one of the plot lines or themes ever really coheres into anything meaningful. It’s a thousand ideas without a strong central story to keep them together. The show never fully commits to being about any of its various characters, which leaves the end of the first season feeling muddy, incomplete, and inert.

15. The Bad Batch

Characters from Star Wars: The Bad Batch wear their military uniforms and have serious faces

The light side: A closer look at how the iconography of the old prequel trilogy faded away into the original one with a ragtag group of former clone troopers as our guides, The Bad Batch digs into what happens when you realize the war you’ve been fighting is no longer just.

The dark side: The show hasn’t made a strong enough case for itself to stand apart from its predecessor, The Clone Wars . — JR

14. Solo: A Star Wars Story

Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, training his hand over his blaster in a showdown.

The light side: Solo has a large cast filled with fun, familiar faces, and the mostly charming group end up in a variety of exciting heist-adjacent situations.

The dark side: The movie is pretty stark in its ugliness, filled with gray tones and poor lighting that take away from the exciting locations and sequences the movie wants to depict (the office of Paul Bettany’s Dryden Vos is a particularly strong example of this — it should be interesting because of the architecture, but the bizarre backlighting washes out anything compelling about the setting). The blandness on screen undercuts the thrilling adventure story. — PV

Ahsoka Tano lifts the hood off her cloak as she looks at the ruins around her in a scene from the Disney Plus series Ahsoka

The light side: Ahsoka is a victory lap for every nostalgic fan who stuck through Clone Wars and Rebels , seeing the fan favorite Ahsoka Tano given live-action respect — and even a major Hayden Christensen cameo to bring his Anakin back to screens.

The dark side: It’s exactly that presumption of familiarity — with two children’s cartoon shows, and with the upcoming Star Wars release calendar — that makes Ahsoka so challenging. The show never makes its own case for why its events are worth watching, and ultimately... maybe it’s not . —Susana Polo

12. Revenge of the Sith

Anakin Skywalker confronting Obi-Wan Kenobi on the lava fields of Mustafar.

The light side: Even after the twin disappointments of Episodes I and II , this one still manages to hurt as it depicts Anakin Skywalker’s descent to the Dark Side and the fall of the Jedi Order. If the prequel trilogy was an exercise in unmet expectations, at least it went out on a high note.

The dark side: The fundamental brokenness of the prequels is still present. Anakin’s corruption is more of an abrupt pivot than a tragic decline, and it all feels like too little, too late. — JR

11. The Force Awakens

Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) duel in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The light side: They really did it, you know? Even seven years later, The Force Awakens is remarkable in how it immediately struck a chord with a new cast of characters that made this galaxy far away feel worth returning to.

The dark side: The film is fundamentally incurious, and not particularly interested in expanding the boundaries of what Star Wars can be. You know, especially since the movie is just a retread of A New Hope . — JR

10. The Phantom Menace

Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi fight Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.

The light side: The kickoff to George Lucas’ notorious prequel trilogy was maligned by longtime fans for infantilizing Star Wars. But time and fresh eyes have been kind to Episode I : Approached as a historical epic, it’s a successful expansion of the vocabulary for the franchise. Without the immediate threats of the original trilogy, Lucas is free to meander through the galaxy and truly world-build. The triumph is in the casting of his tour guides: Liam Neeson as a wise, but overeager and clearly repressed Qui-Gon Jinn; Ewan McGregor as an inquisitive Obi-Wan successfully reverse-engineered from Alec Guinness’ Star Wars performance; Natalie Portman, piercing even while spouting Lucas’ patented Flower Dialogue; Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine, taking full advantage of what we all know; and Ray Park bouncing around as Darth Maul, whose design is a shock to the system. Even Anakin and Jar Jar have their place in this whimsical beginning, which brings balance to the forcefulness of future stories. Oh, also, podracing rules.

The dark side: This is where I admit that when I saw The Phantom Menace in theaters again during its 2012 3D rerelease run, I fell asleep. Probably around the scene when Qui-Gon introduces Anakin to the Jedi Council. In fairness, it was like a 10 p.m. showing, but yeah, Lucas’ script plods along. And Anakin’s whole “you’re an angel” bit, well, yeah, that always makes me hurl. The Phantom Menace is… not a perfect movie. — Matt Patches

9. The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian, Din Djarin, holding Grogu in his arms while flying with a jetpack.

The light side: The Mandalorian arrived at a pivotal moment: After the divisive Last Jedi and cultural slump of Solo , live-action Star Wars needed to move on from the Skywalker Saga and recapture the spirit of the original trilogy. And by god, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni did it; George Lucas might say The Mandalorian “echoes” in just the right way. Two seasons in, the adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu strummed along like a classic Western (thanks in large part to Ludwig Göransson’s musical innovation), zipping from locale to locale to let the two save the day and confront their own pasts. Season 2 saw a deeper intersection with the broader Star Wars universe, but the concentration on our helmeted hero never wavered. While longtime fans flock to Star Wars for lore and Visual Dictionary fodder — which the show still delivers — The Mandalorian ’s first two seasons nailed a piece of the franchise that had been missing for ages: an emotional core.

The dark side: Season 1 really filled the void of episodic TV adventures, done with the high bar of Star Wars spectacle, but we had to ding season 2 a little harder for slipping back into everything-is-connected fan-service tendencies. At the time, we were a little worried about where the show was headed, and those worries came to pass. In its third season, the Mandalorian himself became an afterthought in his own show, as the story seemingly became about everything it possibly could within its time period , from the rise of the First Order to Imperial officer rehabilitation to Bo Katan’s ascension. Frankly, we miss Mando ’s Lone Wolf and Cub era, before it started taking the weight of all of Star Wars continuity on its beskar-clad shoulders. — Matt Patches and Susana Polo

The “ah, that’s the good stuff” tier

A group of aliens and humans gather around a hologram image of two stormtroopers in Star Wars Rebels

The light side: Rebels knows how to play the hits. It’s all here: Vader, Maul, and even — to the shock of EU fans at the time — Grand Admiral Thrawn himself. Yet the abundant fan service was always at the behest of Rebels ’ real story about a new group of ragtag troublemakers doing what they can to stick it to the Empire.

The dark side: The fan service can make watching Rebels feel like it’s assigning you homework. — JR

7. The Last Jedi

A plane soars behind a group of AT-ATs on a sunlit planet, as Luke Skywalker stands in front of them in The Last Jedi.

The light side: It’s a gorgeous movie, with some of the most memorable visuals of the franchise as a whole, and attempts to unpack some of the thornier elements of the Jedis’ legacy.

The dark side: It unabashedly fails at being a sequel to The Force Awakens . It is up to you how much that matters — our voters were pretty split on that. — PV

6. Return of the Jedi

The light side: The biggest popcorn movie of the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi is simply a good time , with bombastic space dogfights, tiny murder bears, and a touch of romance. A great way for one of the most beloved trilogies of all time to go out.

The dark side: It doesn’t feel about as much, and its characterization of Vader and the Emperor in particular don’t hold up to the closer scrutiny the film brings them. As fun as it is, it’s also forgettable. — JR

5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The light side: For once, the story isn’t about the galaxy’s most dysfunctional family. Instead, Rogue One follows a group of nobodies who rise up and complete a suicide mission for the good of the Rebellion. There’s not so much Jedi stuff or expansion on the Force or whatever, but Rogue One shows off a side of the Star Wars universe that we had yet to see in the movies. It’s about hope in the face of defeat. It’s about the heroes usually forgotten in the Skywalker Saga. It’s about being doomed by the narrative before the story even starts, but still doing what is right, because someone has to do it.

The dark side: Do you remember anyone’s name besides Cassian Andor? — Petrana Radulovic

4. The Clone Wars show

Ahsoka tano holds out a green lightsaber in star wars: the clone wars

The light side: The Clone Wars almost singlehandedly redeemed the prequel trilogy, strip-mining the maligned films for every compelling idea and character it could get its hands on and spinning them out into multiple compelling story arcs, all while introducing a few great ideas of its own.

The dark side: It’s kind of a mess! An anthology-esque structure meant that you never knew who you’d be following in a given episode, and some of them are bound to be duds. — JR

The “top-shelf, best-of-the-best Star Wars” tier

3. a new hope.

The light side: The film that started it all. The magic is still there all these years later; just put it on and see for yourself.

The dark side: Star Wars is the kind of movie that everyone responds to differently — and knowing all of the other shows and films that will come from this relatively simple fantasy can warp it in hindsight. It’s possible to sour on it for presenting audiences with a universe of possibility, one that its stewards would only be willing to take so far. — JR

2. The Empire Strikes Back

The light side: The blueprint for a blockbuster sequel, Empire puts its heroes through the wringer, presenting them with loss after loss, in order to find compelling new shades in its predecessor’s broad strokes.

The dark side: Empire doesn’t really stand on its own — it begins in medias res and ends on a cliffhanger, raising questions that, depending on your view of its sequel, there may not be satisfying answers to. — JR

Diego Luna as Andor scowling in a grassy field

The light side: Andor is obsessed with a simple question: Why? Why does someone join the Rebellion, or the Empire, or get caught up in any of the dozens of conflicts in Star Wars? In doing so, it became one of the most complex and compelling Star Wars stories on screen, taking its time to take those eponymous wars and make them personal.

The dark side: The series is constantly on the move, introducing characters and shuttling them away at a moment’s notice in a way that can be disorienting, and its protagonist doesn’t feel terribly active — things just sort of happen to him. Such is life in the Star War. — JR

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All 15 star wars easter eggs in the acolyte finale.

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Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 2: Is It Happening? Everything We Know

The acolyte episode 8 director reveals yoda cameo was more difficult than you'd think, hints at future yoda plans, the acolyte star amandla stenberg reveals she figured out the finale's sith lord cameo.

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Acolyte episode 8

The Acolyte's finale is packed with Star Wars Easter eggs and references, including the on-screen debut of Darth Plagueis.
Sol's final showdown with Qimir and Osha's turn to the dark side highlights the episode's major moments and key Star Wars references such as kyber-bleeding.
The appearance of Grandmaster Yoda at the end hints at potential future storylines in upcoming seasons.

The Acolyte's finale features a wide collection of Easter eggs and major references to the greater Star Wars canon. Culminating the major Jedi mystery that's been surrounding a pair of twins extremely powerful in the Force, The Acolyte's first (and hopefully not only) season has come to an epic end. However, the final episode of the later Star Wars show had plenty of surprises, right up to its very last shot.

The Acolyte's finale features a final showdown between Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) and Qimir (Manny Jacinto). The last episode also features a reunion between Mae and Osha Aniseya, alongside major decisions they each make before the Jedi Order arrives in search of the one responsible for killing so many Jedi over the course of the Star Wars show. To that end, here are 15 of the biggest Easter eggs, references, and major cameos featured throughout The Acolyte's finale.

Will The Acolyte season 2 happen, and if it does then what's next for this ultimate Star Wars prequel? Here's everything we know to date!

15 Firebird Helmet

Symbol of the jedi and future rebellion.

After escaping Sol's custody in orbit around Brendok, Mae attempts to flee in an escape ship. Donning a helmet and climbing into the cockpit, the helmet itself bears a familiar firebird sigil . While this was an original symbol for the Jedi Order, it would later receive some design changes before becoming the official symbol of the Rebel Alliance decades later in the Star Wars timeline.

14 Sol's Targeting Computer

Mirrors original trilogy.

Pursuing Mae, Sol enters the rings of Brendok's moons while also using a targeting computer to lock on to her ship's position. The targeting visuals are notably the same as those that are prominently featured in A New Hope and the Rebellion's Death Star trench run from the original trilogy. Darth Vader himself used a targeting computer to lock onto enemy X-Wings before ripping them apart with a hail of laser fire from his TIE Advanced.

13 When A Jedi Snaps

Anakin skywalker foreshadowing.

Meeting with Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) , Senator Rayencourt (David Harewood) wishes to conduct an external review of the Jedi Order on behalf of the Republic Senate. This is because he fears the unchecked power at the Jedi's disposal, as well as their intensely controlled emotions:

"You project an image of goodness and restraint, but it's only a matter of time before one of you snaps. And when, not if, that happens, who will be strong enough to stop him?"

Rayencourt's comments certainly seem to serve as some key foreshadowing for the prequel trilogy, especially considering that Anakin Skywalker did indeed snap and was too powerful to be stopped.

12 Chancellor Drellik

An alien tarsunt.

References are made to Supreme Chancellor Dreillik, who eventually makes an appearance closer to the end of The Acolyte's finale. Drellik is a member of the alien Tarsunt species . Interestingly enough, a Tarsunt served as Chancellor during the New Republic Era as seen in The Force Awakens . There was also a Tarsunt youngling at the Jedi Temple as seen in The Acolyte's premiere.

11 Darth Plagueis

The acolyte's true sith master.

As Qimir and Osha leave Qimir's remote ocean world in search of Sol and Mae, a hooded figure is seen watching them from the shadows. Based on the long fingers, flat nose, and yellow eyes in line with the Sith, this appears to be none other than Darth Plagueis the Wise , the Muun Sith mater of Palpatine himself. However, it remains unclear if Plagueis is Qimir's master, has tracked him down and intends to kill him as a rival, or wants Osha due to her unique existence . Either way, the first-ever screen debut of Plagueis is a major moment in Star Wars franchise history.

10 Who Was Vernestra Contacting?

Master yoda is most likely.

Vernestra Sending Message Acolyte Finale

Urgently trying to get in contact with someone, it's unknown who Master Vernestra Rwoh was trying to meet with . However, it was established by the being on the other end that trying to reach out to this person was quite unorthodox. As such, a strong guess would be that Vernestra was trying to get in contact with Grandmaster Yoda who was often on meditative retreats during the High Republic Era . Naturally, the end of the episode certainly supports this idea as well.

9 Samurai Clash

Sol vs qimir.

Sol and Qimir Samurai Ending Acolyte Finale

At the end of their incredible duel in The Acolyte's finale, Sol and Qimir rush each other with lightsabers drawn, the ultimate victor initially being unknown. As such, this very much mirrors the classic samurai sword fighting trope known as a "single-stroke battle" or "passing strike". Eventually, it's revealed that Sol won the duel, having severed Qimir's lightsaber as he passed.

8 “Strike Him Down And Your Journey Will Be Complete"

Qimir line echoes palpatine.

Palpatine smiling under his hood in Return of the Jedi

After Mae takes Sol's lightsaber, Qimir instructs Mae to strike him down and complete her journey to the dark side . Naturally, this line echoes Palpatine who said the same to Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi . Wanting Luke to strike down Darth Vader, Empeor Palpatine knew that Luke's corruption to the dark would begin in earnest if he killed his father out of hate and anger, and Qimir knew the same would happen for Mae...and/or Osha.

7 "Very Few With This Power"

Who else can use the force to create life.

Upon revealing the truth that Mae and Osha are the same consciousness in the Force split by their mother into two beings, Sol claims that "very few" have the power to manipulate the Force to create new life . However, one has to wonder who exactly he's talking about. While Darth Plagueis would be one, he was unknown to the Jedi, so who else could wield this power whom the Jedi were aware of? It's certainly an interesting mystery with key ramifications for both the Jedi and the Sith.

6 Star Wars Finally Debuts On-Screen Kyber Bleeding

Corrupting kyber to the dark side.

Picking up Sol's lightsaber, the blue kyber within turns red in Osha's hands as she gives into her hate , having learned the truth about her master and his murder of her and Mae's mother. As such, this is the first on-screen depiction of kyber bleeding in Star Wars , a practice done by Sith apprentices which explains why they all wield red lightsabers. Pouring all their rage, hate, and pain into the kyber of a Jedi they'd slain, the living kyber bleeds. This is why Sol's lightsaber turns from blue to red, confirming Osha's embrace of the dark side.

5 Osha Kills A Jedi Without A Weapon

Force choke.

While Mae struggled to kill any Jedi without using a weapon in The Acolyte , Osha darkly succeeds where her sister failed . Using the force to choke Sol, Osha's murder of her master completed the second part of her dark side initiation, seeing how Sith apprentices typically bled the kyber belonging to a Jedi whom they'd slain. As such, Osha seems to have done both simultaneously in The Acolyte's finale.

4 Mae's Brendok Survival Mirrors Luke Skywalker

Sucked into a tunnel.

Leaving the witches' compound, Mae reveals to Osha that she survived her fall as a child by being sucked into a core tunnel. This is not unlike what happened to Luke Skywalker after his Cloud City duel with Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back . Humorously, even the tunnels look the same.

3 Traditional Jedi Funeral For Sol

Funeral pyre.

Ultimately, Sol becomes a scapegoat, with Vernestra using his death as part of a Jedi Order cover-up . However, the Jedi Master still gave him a proper Jedi funeral on Brendok all the same. Just like the many Jedi who came before and will come after, Master Sol's body was burned on a funeral pyre at the very end of The Acolyte's finale.

2 “A Pupil Of Mine Before He Turned To Evil”

Vernestra echoes obi-wan's line about darth vader.

Having a mind-wiped Mae in her custody, Vernestra tells her that she needs her help to find someone. When Mae asks who, she says "he was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil." This is a reference to Qimir, seeing as how they both reacted to each other's presence the moment Vernestra stepped foot on Brendok. However, Vern's line also echoes Obi-Wan Kenobi when he first tells Luke about Darth Vader in A New Hope .

1 An Appearance From Grandmaster Yoda

As a puppet, not cgi.

The final shot of The Acolyte's finale sees Vernestra meeting with none other than Grandmaster Yoda . This is most likely who she was trying to connect with earlier in the episode. To that end, this suggests that Yoda will be informed about the cover-up, and might even play a role in potential future seasons of The Acolyte . It's also exciting to see that Yoda looks to be a puppet in The Acolyte , rather than being computer-animated as he was depicted in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith .

All episodes of The Acolyte are streaming now on Disney+.

The Acolyte

The Acolyte is a television series set in the Star Wars universe at the end of the High Republic Era, where both the Jedi and the Galactic Empire were at the height of their influence. This sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reunite with her former Jedi Master as they investigate several crimes - all leading to darkness erupting from beneath the surface and preparing to bring about the end of the High Republic.

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The Glass-Half-Full View of the Disney ‘Star Wars’ Era

‘The Acolyte’ extended a ‘Star Wars’ streaming slump. But Disney’s dozen years of ownership have been pretty productive … from a certain point of view.

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When George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney in October 2012, I didn’t see a real downside for fans. Revenge of the Sith was seven years old, and no new movies were on the way. Star Wars: Underworld wasn’t happening. Aside from The Clone Wars , which was several seasons into its Cartoon Network run, on-screen, scripted Star Wars was stagnant. Even the video games had gone cold .

The franchise had lain fallow even longer between the original and prequel trilogies, but with Lucas nearing 70 and already declaring his retirement from making blockbusters, this post-prequels slowdown seemed like it could become indefinite. Then Disney dropped its press release , announced a new movie for 2015, and promised more films to follow every two to three years. The galaxy far, far away was going to get repopulated.

Maybe, I figured, removing a one-man bottleneck and bringing in new blood and deep pockets was just what Star Wars needed. What was the worst that could happen? The new stuff would be bantha poodoo? So what: Fans wouldn’t be worse off, as long as Disney didn’t tamper with treasured existing films (like Lucas himself had ). And if it was good? Well, that would be bonus Star Wars we weren’t otherwise going to get. That sounded to me like a solid deal. Frankly, like the citizens of Coruscant who toppled Emperor Palpatine’s statue after he fell down the Death Star’s reactor shaft, never somehow to return, I was ready to tell Lucas, “ We’ll always have Tatooine ,” and let him move on.

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That was then; this is now. Almost 12 years later, on the heels of the latest in a string of lackluster live-action Star Wars streaming series, with the franchise’s future on the big screen uncertain, and with fan unrest over Disney’s reign rising, I … feel mostly the same as I did back then.

Did I have you fooled for a second? Did it sound like I was joining the reactionary ranks of Star Wars watchers and/or culture warriors who’ve declared Disney dead to them—or, perhaps, pronounced Star Wars dead and charged Mickey Mouse with the murder, listing Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy as an accomplice? Well, good: I was going for a misdirect. But I’ve searched my feelings , and I know it to be true: For all of the company’s foibles and more deeply disappointing decisions in steering the Star Wars ship, I’m still glad Disney bought Star Wars . On balance, Star Wars under Disney has been better than before.

I know that might take some explaining, considering current tensions and Acolyte -related recency effects. It’s understandable that Star Wars audiences would be weary after the weak one-two-three punch of The Mandalorian Season 3 and the first seasons of Ahsoka and The Acolyte . I’m demoralized myself! After all, I can’t escape from the crappier releases; I’ve written thousands of words about every episode, good or bad, of every live-action Star Wars series to date—which, when I say it that way, makes me want to go home and rethink my life . (A reference that reminds me of “ Elan Sleazebaggano ,” a name only Lucas could love .)

I’d prefer to be delighted, not discouraged, but I try to take each release as it comes. I think it was Polonius in Hamlet who said , “Neither a hater nor a fanboy be.” I look on the bright side, but only if there is one. I have repeatedly taken the franchise to task for relying on nostalgia, retreads, and tie-ins to preexisting stories instead of forging new paths that don’t inevitably lead to a legacy character. I have warned about the risk of oversaturation. I have lamented the lack of a plan for the sequel trilogy; or for any future films; or for not messily, publicly burning bridges with creators. I have implored the makers of the most prominent Star Wars series to hire a writers room. I am keenly aware that much of Disney’s Star Wars output could have, and should have, been better.

Yet a good deal of it does work. When Lucas sold to Disney, a gigantic company that would want to make back its $4.05 billion investment—which it soon did , and then some —I knew there would probably be more mediocre Star Wars on the way. But anything good would be a gift, and more than a few of those gifts have been given.

Your mileage may—and, on the specifics, almost certainly does—vary, but personally, I love ( Rogue One , The Last Jedi ) or like ( The Force Awakens , Solo — yes, Solo ) four of the five Disney Star Wars films. (The fifth one makes me wish Manny Jacinto’s Stranger would wipe it from my memory.) I love the last three seasons of Rebels , the last season of The Clone Wars , the first two seasons of The Mandalorian , and the first season of Andor . (And hopefully, soon, the second.) I like the first season of Rebels , three seasons of The Bad Batch , two seasons of Visions , and Tales of the Jedi . Even the series that struggled or squandered some of their promise had their high points—weeks when they got their acts together. Ahsoka was more up my alley on paper than in practice, but it had a lot of lovely moments, especially in Episode 5 . The parts of The Book of Boba Fett that were about Boba were bad, but Episodes 5 and 6 were special . Obi-Wan Kenobi was mostly meh and sometimes maddening, but I liked the third episode . The Acolyte was as uneven and frustrating as any Star Wars series, but Episode 5 was a treat. The penultimate episode of The Mandalorian ’s third season briefly made it feel like Season 2 again.

Given that there was next to nothing on the docket when Lucas left, four good to great movies, three largely great new shows, and a smattering of solid supporting acts ain’t a terrible record in a little less than 12 years. And even though an Electronic Arts exclusivity deal diminished the number of new Star Wars games on the market, we can throw in a handful of heavy hitters: Battlefront II , Jedi: Fallen Order , Squadrons , Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga , and Jedi: Survivor (with Outlaws angling to join that list next month). And hey, we haven’t mentioned the multitude of interconnected books and comics that compose The High Republic, the largest publishing initiative in Star Wars history. What would we compare all of that output to, in the history of Star Wars ? What other stretch of a similar length sets a higher standard for both quality and quantity?

Matching Disney’s dozen-year output in both of those measures would be a tall order. But one could go back to the beginning: that magical, lucrative six-year span of the original trilogy, when Star Wars was an inescapable sensation. On-screen, the franchise hadn’t yet become a commodity good. Despite that (or, more likely, because of it), those three movies left a lasting mark on multiple generations—an attachment that continues to push people toward new Star Wars projects, almost 50 years later, but also one that makes the latter-day releases suffer by comparison.

Thus, one problem Star Wars still faces is that the original trilogy set the bar too high, in terms of quality and popularity, for most of its distant successors to clear. Starting that strong was both the best and the worst thing for the franchise long-term. (This is one reason why Andor felt refreshing: It seemed to be telling a different sort of Star Wars story than the original films and thus mostly escaped from their shadow, even as most other Star Wars series try to fashion themselves after the films.) What other franchise is blessed and saddled with a legacy like that to live up to? Star Trek started on TV, where the lengthy broadcast seasons of the ’60s, ’80s, and ’90s always meant you could expect some clunkers. As for Star Trek movies, tradition tells us that only every other one is good. There are plenty of bad James Bond movies; one more wouldn’t cause a crisis. (Though the producers should probably pick an actor sometime soon.) Similarly, the second MCU movie was The Incredible Hulk . Yet the second Star Wars movie was The Empire Strikes Back . Beat that!

However, many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view —and on our selective memory. The disastrous Star Wars Holiday Special came out before Empire did. The forgettable Ewoks TV movies made it to air not long after Return of the Jedi wrapped up the original trilogy, and the uninspiring Ewoks and Droids series soon followed. No wonder not much else did, until several more years had passed . It may seem as if Star Wars could do no wrong initially. In reality, though, there’s been bad Star Wars for almost as long as there’s been Star Wars at all.

My experience of Star Wars has always been one of wildly fluctuating quality. Not very good video games intermingled with all - time classics . (And sometimes, great and terrible levels inside the same game .) Novels and comics that thrilled me, and those that … did not . A good show and bad movie with the same name; that’s the way The Clone Wars crumbles. (Not to mention Clone Wars , the cartoon without the article.) This is what happens when many people play in the same sandbox: Some of them make a mess.

Of course, in this case, the original creator made a mess of sorts himself , before he handed over the keys. I know nostalgia has given the prequels a glow-up in many minds , and Phantom Menace memories may no longer haunt those of us who saw the movie at an impressionable age. But remember Attack of the Clones ? I don’t care that the internet loves Hayden Christensen now; that movie mostly still stinks. It would be one thing if Star Wars had sported a spotless record before Disney defiled it with its recent spate of subpar series. But Lucas did that himself before he cleared out.

To be kyber-crystal clear: I’m not suggesting that Star Wars should be graded on a curve. Quite the contrary: I’ve argued that sci-fi and fantasy stories deserve clear-eyed criticism and scrutiny just as much as any others; it’s a sign of interest, affection, and respect. But the vicissitudes of streaming series sometimes make us prisoners of the moment, basing our perceptions of a franchise’s past or projections of its future on what are, in effect, small samples. Feel free not to watch the shows you don’t like! But something else you care for more could come along soon.

(By the way, as I noted at the top, one of my reasons for being bullish on the Lucasfilm takeover in 2012 was that the new ownership couldn’t do anything to hurt my perception of past films. That may not have been 100 percent true, but the only thing that’s come close to a retroactive tarnishing for me is Darth Sidious’s survival into the sequel trilogy, which saps some of the triumph from the end of Return of the Jedi . But only if I let it! For now, I’m mostly succeeding in compartmentalizing The Rise of Skywalker in such a way that I can act as if nothing in that movie matters. Maybe this self-mind-tricking tactic will work for those of you who—unlike me!—think Rian Johnson took too many liberties with Luke.)

I’m not sure when the next hit will quiet the Disney doomsaying and lift this latest pall over Star Wars cast by a streaming slump. Skeleton Crew , the next live-action show on the docket, is slated for release later this year, but it’s still something of a cipher, and oriented toward kids. Maybe we won’t hear cries of “ Star Wars is so back” until Andor returns next year, or Ahsoka after that, or The Mandalorian & Grogu in theaters in May 2026 (supposedly), or concrete details on the movies from Taika Waititi, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, and more .

Only a Pollyanna-ish partisan (and, I suppose, a Sith ) would default to saying, “ My franchise, right or wrong !” when things aren’t going great. Disney does need to change whatever workflow is causing its recent rut. But “My franchise, wrong!” isn’t accurate either. Because as frequently as Disney and Lucasfilm seem to step in it, they’ve often done right by the franchise as custodians and stewards. Think of the droids . The duels (in The Acolyte , especially). The diversity. (Sorry, review bombers, but Star Wars is a place where everyone can play.) The idea (if not always the execution) of cross-pollinating the franchise’s live-action and animated universes. Galactic Sta —OK, no, not Galactic Starcruiser .

Thinking back to my 2012 reaction to Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, I can’t exactly claim now that “ everything is proceeding as I have foreseen .” But I think the basic calculus of whether the franchise’s transfer from an entity that wasn’t making enough Star Wars to one that, if anything, might be making too much has benefited fans overall. Some Star Wars fans are wondering what Lucasfilm and Disney have done for them lately. It’s a valid question. But the answer might be different, and much more encouraging, if we expand the scope of “lately” to a wider swath of years.

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‘The Acolyte’: The Mysterious Figure in the Finale and What This Means for the Show

The inaugural season of The Acolyte has come to a close, and with it, an enormous bombshell may have just been dropped on the audience – albeit with only a short shot and a suspicious musical cue. Here’s what to make of it.

Unmarked spoilers ahead.

Alright, still here? Good. Let’s not beat around the bush, dear readers. Before the big showdown on Brendok, The Acolyte featured a brief scene of a dark figure in the unknown world where the Stranger has been seen with Mae, and later, Osha. You know, this fellow:

Mysterious figure who might be Darth Plageuis in The Acolyte

Now, his name isn’t stated in The Acolyte (not even in the credits), and he’s hard to see in those shadows without adjusting the lighting a bit – but a certain musical cue gives away who this character is. As hinted at by a similar guttural chorale to the one present in the theme “Palpatine’s Teachings” from the opera scene in Revenge of the Sith , this is none other than Darth Plagueis The Wise. (The species, a male Muun, also matches the one from Star Wars Legends . More on this later.)

It seems that the implication is that we are, at some point, going to hear – or rather, see – “The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise” finally play out (or at least part of it), now that we’ve seen the character in live-action. For now, though, what we have is the first live-action depiction of the character, 19 years after the character was first conversed about in a fable that Palpatine told Anakin in Revenge of the Sith . So that’s as good a place to start as any. (Be patient, we’ll get to The Acolyte in a little while – we have a lot of ground to cover here.)

Did you ever hear…?

While Palpatine is beginning to seduce Anakin toward evil just before the halfway point of Revenge of the Sith , he plays off of Anakin’s insecurities by telling a story about a Force user being capable of manipulating Midi-Chlorians to create life or saved loved ones from dying. Anakin puts it together that Palpatine’s fable wasn’t exactly something that he made up on the spot, and that his story about using the Force to prevent death is something that was achievable.

Palpatine being a notorious liar and an untrustworthy source of information also led to fan speculation that Plagueis didn’t actually exist, but later materials indicated that he was, in fact, real. While it isn’t directly stated, it’s pretty clearly indicated that the story that Palpatine told Anakin was a sugarcoated version of his own backstory as the apprentice of this new Sith Master, revealing Palpatine’s intent to seek eternal life on top of absolute power. This story element was only really paid off with Dark Empire in Legends and The Rise of Skywalker (and several other stories released afterward) in the canon timeline.

Darth Plagueis by James Luceno ( Star Wars Legends )

For a long while, pretty much any and all knowledge of Darth Plagueis was confined to that one conversation in Revenge of the Sith and the occasional vague allusion elsewhere. That is, until Star Wars novelist James Luceno got a greenlight to expand upon the Sith Master’s rise and fall. Going off of George Lucas’s suggestion to use a Muun as the basis of the design, Luceno’s narrative is told in three parts, and which we’ll be breaking down below (see Wookieepedia’s full story breakdown here ):

The rise of Darth Plagueis, from apprentice to Sith Master by night and businessman by day, recruiting Darth Sidious in the process.
Plagueis’s machinations to continue to develop the Grand Plan to defeat the Jedi and install a Sith Empire.
Plagueis’s designs coming into fruition as Darth Sidious maneuvers himself into the center of the Republic’s government.

Spoilers for the novel ahead.

Darth Plagueis begins its story about 35 years before the events of The Phantom Menace . The title character is with his master, Darth Tenebrous, searching for the rare lightsaber-nullifying metal cortosis. He takes advantage of an explosive accident to off his master, taking over as the new Sith Master.

Returning to Muunilinst, Plagueis acts in his public persona of Hego Damask, CEO of Damask Industries. While deepening his knowledge of the Sith, he works with others to organize a web of political corruption and organized crime, ultimately taking an interest in Naboo for its plasma mining industry. Plagueis also encounters Darth Venamis, Tenebrous’s secret apprentice, and defeats him. Venamis is placed in stasis so Plagueis can use him for his medical experiments to better understand Midi-Chlorians.

Soon enough, Plagueis learns of Sheev Palpatine and uses his political ambitions to his advantage while supporting his own interests in the Dark Side of the Force. Palpatine’s father discovers Plagueis’s manipulations and seeks to separate the two, which prompts a rampage from young Sheev that kills all of his family members. Impressed, Plagueis dubs Palpatine Darth Sidious and takes him on as an apprentice.

11 to 13 years later, Sidious has learned much from his master as he also climbs the political ladder on Naboo. Plagueis continues his experiments with Midi-Chlorians in pursuit of immortality, taking an interest in the cloning industry on Kamino. After being attacked by assassins, Plagueis is critically wounded. He then pivots his personal designs away from galactic conquest and more toward pursuing immortality while his apprentice gets more entrenched in that world. Plagueis gains a greater mastery over death, killing and resurrecting Venamis multiple times until his organs give out and he’s finally freed from his diminished state of existence.

The third act of the story takes place concurrently with The Phantom Menace , revealing that Darth Plagueis was still around during Darth Maul’s confrontation with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. He even manipulates events so that Padmé is placed upon the throne of Naboo. The two Sith are soon horrified to discover that, in retaliation for Plagueis’s experiments to create life and cheat death, the Force itself has struck back against their plans by creating a Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker, to counteract their designs.

Sidious, now on the verge of becoming Supreme Chancellor, promises Plagueis a political position in the new government, luring his master into a false sense of security as he takes a rest. Sidious kills his master in this state, gloating that he planted many ideas of the Grand Plan into his head and that he was the true heir to the Sith.

Of course, this being a Legends novel, none of it is canonical in theory. But, with that in mind, elements of this are still available to adapt in the future, as is true for multiple Legends stories – and none other than the author of the book has actually exploited this.

Darth Plagueis in Canon (before The Acolyte finale)

For a while, the importance of exploring Darth Plagueis’s backstory near the end of Star Wars Legends led to a number of fans speculating that elements of the novel were going to factor into Disney’s storytelling. After all, Luceno was called back to write Tarkin , which was conceived as a canon novel, and it has a few asides concerning Palpatine where Plagueis is name-dropped, along with other references to his novel.

Despite this, the importance of the Darth Plagueis character and the reluctance to delve into his backstory led to rampant fan speculation that he was the one pulling the strings behind the First Order, now using “Snoke” as an alias. When one fan asked questions about Darth Plagueis at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. J. J. Abrams respectfully tried to dissuade speculation away from Palpatine’s master having any relevance to his story (because it didn’t).

The novelization for The Rise of Skywalker actually features a few scant details about Darth Plagueis by indicating that he did not act fast enough to prevent his own death, and that Palpatine’s cloning method was indeed based on his research and methodology. In a retcon, it is revealed that the prophecized Dyad in the Force was something that the Sith had sought to achieve all along. The Rule of Two was meant to serve as an imitation of it – and Plagueis and Sidious were indeed part of this bond.

Alright, so now that we have all of that out of the way… Here’s why Darth Plagueis showing up at the end of The Acolyte Season 1 is so significant.

What does The Acolyte mean for Darth Plagueis?

We’re introduced to this mystery figure shockingly early in the closing episode of The Acolyte Season 1, as he’s seen spying on Qimir and Mae’s ship as they fly off to Brendok. We’re not really given a lot in the realm of context about this character, other than that his appearance – from what little we can see of it – is a bit more haggard and disheveled than the Muun of wealth and taste that has previously been described. Whether or not this indicates a significant deviation in the character’s backstory remains to be seen.

But before the big reveal, there was actually a pretty significant hint that the character was somehow involved in the larger narrative of The Acolyte . We were introduced to the material cortosis in the fifth episode, and in Episode 6, a sizable ore of Cortosis was seen in the Stranger’s abode, with emphasis placed upon Mae looking at it.

In the Darth Plagueis novel, cortosis is of special interest to Darth Tenebrous and Darth Plagueis, but it’s especially rare. Deposits were unusually common in one Bal’demnic, where significant trials and tribulations happen for the Sith Lord and Sith Apprentice at the beginning of the novel. As such, fans speculated that this mystery world is Bal’demnic – and those fans were effectively tipped off about where the story was headed well before the reveal of a Muun peering from the shadows.

Darth Plagueis’s appearance suggests that the timeline of events tied to his rise and fall are going to be adjusted for the sake of the series. The most likely outcome is that several key events in the canonical version of Plagueis’s story actually happened earlier in the timeline than they did in Legends , presuming that they happen at all. It also raises questions about the role of Tenebrous in canon, since he died in BBY 67 in the Legends timeline. So either Tenebrous is still alive and conveniently offscreen, or (more likely) Plagueis offed his master a few decades earlier than he did in Legends .

Less ambiguous is how Osha and Mae factor into the story. With the end in mind, a new possibility seems to have formed as a result of Plagueis’s involvement in the narrative of the series now being clear. Mae and Osha exist as the result of the manipulation of a vergence in the Force. But what if the coven was not solely responsible for their creation, and instead they had outside assistance? In other words, Mae and Ohsha may have been part of the life that Sidious alleges that Plagueis created when talking to the future Darth Vader, instead of Plagueis learning the secret to create life from the coven, as some had assumed.

If we stick to Luceno’s explanation in Tarkin , which was derived from his own narrative, the Force “struck back” against Darth Plagueis by creating a far more powerful Chosen One to counteract his experiments. Anakin, in a roundabout way, led to the definitive defeat of Palpatine. It seems as though Mae and Osha are part of a larger plot necessitating Anakin’s creation, and that could very well bridge the era of The High Republic and The Acolyte into the framework of The Skywalker Saga.

What we still don’t know is what Darth Plagueis’s relationship with Qimir is. Is Qimir a student who has aspirations to overthrow his Sith Master? Is he someone completely unrelated to the line of the Sith that began with Darth Bane? Is the detail of Darth Plagueis not caring much about the Rule of Two carrying over from the novel into canon, thus making “the power of many” a priority over “the power of two” or even “the power of one”? We can’t say at this time, but given that the first season of The Acolyte ends in the mystery world, with Qimir taking Osha as his new apprentice, we are bound to get answers in a potential second season.

All episodes of The Acolyte Season 1 are streaming on Disney Plus right now. Season 2 of the series has been planned out, but is not yet greenlit.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net . He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema) https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/author/pomojema Updated: Shawn Levy Confirms Jonathan Tropper Is Writing His 'Star Wars' Movie
Grant Davis (Pomojema) https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/author/pomojema 'Star Wars: Bounty Hunter' Remaster Headed to Modern Consoles, With Boba Fett Unlockable as a Playable Character
Grant Davis (Pomojema) https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/author/pomojema Rumor: Ben Mendelsohn Returning as Orson Krennic Alongside Other 'Rogue One' Characters in 'Andor' Season 2
Grant Davis (Pomojema) https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/author/pomojema 'Star Wars: The Acolyte' Volume 1 of Soundtrack Arrives June 21
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How to get LEGO's Star Wars Dark Millennium Falcon set

It's out soon!

preview for Lee Jung-jae, Dafne Keen, Manny Jacinto and The Acolyte cast breakdown the new Star Wars series

The new set is now available for preorder in both the UK and US ahead of its release on August 1. It includes a buildable replica of the vehicle from the upcoming Disney+ show, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy , which is due to premiere in September.

There are also six figurines included, with fans being able to include Darth Jar Jar, Bounty Hunter C-3PO, Darth Dev, Darth Rey, Beach Luke and Jedi Vader in their ship, as well as some lightsabers.

Related: LEGO's epic Razor Crest set is now over £100 off at John Lewis

The 1,579-piece set, which measures over 12cm (5 inches) high, 43cm (17 inches) long and 32cm (12.5 inches) wide, costs £159.99 ( $179.99) and will “enable kids and adult Star Wars fans to recreate classic scenes, create their own adventures or simply display the buildable models.”

“Turn the LEGO® Star Wars ™ universe upside down with The Dark Falcon buildable toy vehicle set for kids (75389), which features a dark version of the Millennium Falcon, as seen in the LEGO Star Wars : Rebuild the Galaxy Disney+ special,” reads the product description.

“A thrilling birthday gift for boys, girls and any fans aged 10 and over, this LEGO Star Wars brick-built starship toy has flip-up panels for easy access to the detailed interior, including Darth Jar Jar’s throne, the command centre, hyperdrive, entertainment area and jail cell. Spring-loaded shooters, rotating cannons and a removable gunner post add to the action-play possibilities.”

Related: Best streaming services UK 2024

While fans will have to wait to get their hands on The Dark Millennium Falcon, there has been plenty of Star Wars action to feast on with the recent release of the spinoff show The Acolyte on Disney+.

The eight-part series follows former Padawan Osha ( Amandla Stenberg ) as she reunites with her old teacher and Jedi Master, Sol (Lee Jung-jae). The duo team up to solve a deadly investigation that threatens the safety of the galaxy.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the entire Skywalker Saga are streaming on Disney+ and also available to buy on DVD , Blu-ray and 4K .

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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.

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Adam burn released unused lightsaber concept art, they match the elegance of the era's books, the reasons for simpler designs says a lot.

Adam Burn, a concept artist for Star Wars: The Acolyte , released some of the unused design concepts for the Jedi and Sith lightsabers.
Considering the High Republic era's elegant wardrobe designs and book art, these lightsaber designs also reflect that, as well as the chaotic danger of a Sith threat.
There are some reasons why less ornate designs may have been chosen for this period of the High Republic involving the need to preserve resources effectively.

Lightsabers were described by Obi-Wan Kenobi as "An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age." Their glowing blades and humming sounds have enchanted audiences since 1977, and their designs have been a big point of excitement for fans and prop makers for generations. When it comes to Anakin and Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, the main component used in its construction has caused some pain in the antique photography world, as cosplayers and prop makers scrounge the internet to buy a particular flash handle that made the bulk of its shell. This enthusiasm by Star Wars fans has caused a scarcity of that piece. It only goes to show how important and inspiring lightsaber designs are to the fandom, and how they leave a legacy in their wake.

The concept artists for the Star Wars franchise have their fair share of rejected concepts that never make it to the screen, yet the designs are always important to the Director and Showrunner's process to see the limitless possibilities and help them visually understand what they want and don't need in the stories they are telling. In George Lucas' time, he would go to every concept design department with a stamp to select the pieces he wanted to stick with and meld together, amid a myriad of options. Rejected pieces are far from bad, and they are never truly scrapped, but often archived for future projects to potentially use. In the case of Adam Burn's recently released designs from The Acolyte , many fans are hoping for the latter.

The Jedi line up to fight, and the Master draws his red lightsaber in The Acolyte

The Acolyte Cast Talks About 'Force Meetings' and Constantly Playing with Lightsabers

Charlie Barnett and Dafne Keen discuss what it was like using lightsabers on the set of The Acolyte and talking about the Force with co-stars.

Previously unused concept designs have often made their way onto the screen in more recent years. Much of Ralph MacQuarrie's costume and set designs that were archived were revived in the sequel trilogy as well as used in Star Wars: Rebels .
All unused or de-canonized works are kept in a very secure archive as a resource for artists, directors, and producers of the Star Wars franchise, giving them a nearly unlimited stockpile of inspiration to work from to make new and exciting stories.

Adam Burn is a concept artist for The Acolyte and recently released some of his concept art for lightsabers and other weapons and props on his ArtStation profile. These were quickly posted by the fandom on Reddit and gained a lot of praise and traction. These designs showed an incredible range of inspiration from designs inspired by bygone eras not yet explored in film and television, to more classic mixing of the prequels , sequels, and the original trilogies.

Some of the most striking designs are the more artisanal Jedi lightsabers and very dark and aggressive Sith lightsabers. Some of the Jedi lightsabers involve multiple emitters to create a sort of "blade-catching" weapon or wider blade, whereas others on the Sith side emulate spinal cords or kyber crystals clamped inside a dragon-like maw that blasts forth the blade like fire breath. It's clear Adam Burn's vision and ideas for lightsabers have a beautifully limitless quality to them, with intricate details and filigree as well as bold statements.

The Jedi and the Starlight beacon of Phase I of The High Republic

Star Wars Reveals Luke Skywalker's Most Incredible Lightsaber Feat

Marvel Comics has just given Luke Skywalker what might be his greatest accomplishment, even compared to his most iconic Star Wars scenes.

The High Republic books and comics brought forth the larger Nihil Conflict, which would tighten the grip of the Republic's need for Jedi defenders.
When the Nihil Conflict reached its height, the Guardian Protocols were put into place, accelerating training practices and the turnaround for increasing Jedi forces.

The newer High Republic book series and comics have brought the earlier era of The Acolyte 's period to life in their artwork and designs. It's clear much of The Acolyte 's set and costume design still reflects this. However, when it comes to lightsaber design, there seems to be quite a gap in context. This gap is not because of any issues with the plot or writing but is rather a subtle message about the direction the Jedi are headed by the time the events of The Acolyte come into play.

The earlier High Republic Era as shown in the book and comic art is clearly some of the inspiration for Adam Burn's designs, especially with the Jedi designs involving the crossguards and white-and-gold detailing. There was a time when lightsaber building for the Jedi was not just a test of skill and a cornerstone of training, but an art as well. This use of artistic and elegant designs and materials was seen in earlier eras of the Jedi Order, but as they become more synonymous with aiding in the Republic's intergalactic authority, the art seems to be slowly lost in the gears of bureaucracy.

What Asajj Ventress' New Lightsaber Color Means for Her in the Bad Batch

Asajj Ventress is coming back to Star Wars, and her new lightsaber color may indicate big changes for her in The Bad Batch.

The events of Shadows of Starlight take place in 229 BBY.
The Acolyte is set roughly 100 years after the events of Shadows of Starlight and 100 years before the rise of the Empire. This leaves it right at the apex of the shift in the culture of the Jedi's diminishing identity.

It's very clear from the response to the Adam Burn designs that fans wished these ideas would have been realized in the show, and for good reason. The designs themselves convey such a personality and individualism to the Jedi wielding them, telling a story in their design as much as the performances of the actors themselves. That being said, this active choice to have a more minimalistic design is not without its reasons. Considering that The Acolyte takes place 100 years before the rise of the Empire, the generational divide between the High Republic and the Skywalker Saga's period is quite close. Although a century leaves plenty of time to let creators stretch and enjoy creating new stories, it also allows the introduction of new and foreboding design clues that show the end of certain ideas, cultures, customs, or more specifically, the Jedi Order itself. Earlier in the High Republic, as featured in the comic Shadows of Starlight , the Nihil Conflict triggered the Jedi into enacting The Guardian Protocols which would help in defending the Republic through accelerated Jedi training.

Of course, these protocols are only used during times of crisis, and during the time of The Acolyte, they are not in place. However, during this period, we see that the galaxy associates the Jedi largely as an arm of the law of the Republic, likely because of such emergency powers enacted in their recent past. As those times ebb and flow, certain arts and customs fall by the wayside. By the time the films reach the prequels, the lightsabers continue to be more simplistic and utilitarian in design as the Jedi become synonymous with The Republic as generals in The Clone Wars. The Acolyte's lightsaber designs are a sort of foreboding first echo of this in the timeline, where artistry and expression of their meditative ways are downplayed into utilitarian efficiency as a reflection of focusing on a more aggressive stance they are pressed into playing during desperate times, which slowly but surely, dilutes their identity. It could be possible that shows or films taking place further back in the timeline may re-purpose Adam Burn's lightsaber designs in the future.

The Acolyte

A Star Wars series that takes viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.

COMMENTS

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