Monday night during ESPN’s broadcast of a professional football team being spanked like children, Disney released the final trailer for the upcoming finale to the Star Wars ‘Skywalker’ saga, “The Rise of Skywalker.” Tickets immediately began selling out and hype for the movie’s December release is going to begin to hit fever pitch. Let’s see if we can become one with the force and break down this last trailer.
Alright, there’s a lot going on in this trailer so let’s get right to it.
0:00-0:09- Almost ten seconds of just a sparkling Lucasfilm logo? That’s it I’m sold.
0:09-0:10- At a glance, definitely thought that was a head and not just a helmet. There’s no way Disney would ever let Star Wars go that intense in a movie, let alone the trailer, but man, that’d be cool.
0:11-0:20- I think it’s safe to assume Rey is going to be doing a lot of running and jumping throughout the movie. It’s got a listed runtime of 2 hours and 35 minutes but who knows how accurate that will prove to be. At least 7 of those minutes will be devoted to Rey training by running and jumping or fighting and running and jumping.
0:21-0:24- I don’t know what our boy Finn is looking at but I’m guessing it’s some type of fleet of First Order ships or some type of horrible debris/flaming wreckage.
0:25-0:27- Rey. Is. Still. Running. Let’s. Go.
0:28-0:34- A couple quick shots of all your favorite Star Wars characters in the Resistance base. All of your favorites. All of them.
0:35-0:40- A few more quick shots of massive looking ships including one coming out of the water. If there’s been a Star Destroyer just hiding in the galactic ocean all these years, I can’t lie I’ll be pretty hyped.
0:41-0:45- “People keep telling me they know me. No one does.”- Rey.
0:46-0:49- “But I do.” – Kylo Ren. It’s like someone watched the first two sequels and was like “Hey you know what would make Kylo even more deep and complicated? Let’s just drench Adam Driver in water.” Also, I’m getting major final fight scene from ‘Aquaman’ vibes that Rey and Kylo are going to fight on the ship.
0:50-0:53- Good things happen when Star Wars goes to planets covered in ice.
0:54-0:56- “Bah gawd, that’s Palpatine’s music!” Not much but a glimpse of his throne and a VO of him saying “Long have I waited.” Has he just been chilling this whole time waiting and scheming like that demon from ‘Insidious’ Darth Maul or are we getting a Force Ghost vision/possession type of scenario here? Either way, I’m here for it.
0:57-1:00- Wow yeah, we got Imperial Star Destroyer coming out of the ocean vibes in full effect.
1:01-1:06- More Palpatine VO along with shots of the Falcon (!) with Rey and Chewbacca at the controls with Finn, Poe and C-3PO joining them in the cockpit as well as what looks like every spaceship Star Wars has ever made. If this is the last Skywalker Star Wars movie, they’re going out selling as many toys as humanly possible.
1:07-1:09- Oh yeah, it’s the final fight from ‘Aquaman’ but with lightsabers. Also, a ship exploding. Could be good, could be bad. No context explosions are always a tough call.
1:10-1:12- “And now, you’re coming together…is your undoing.” The rest of Palpatine’s voice-over from the last few shots along with a shot of a water ship flying towards the Star Destroyer. It really wouldn’t be Star Wars without sinister overtones in the trailer that’s going to keep fans arguing from now until December.
1:13-1:15- C-3PO getting something worked on in his head. Yeah, I don’t know on this one. I’m sure there’s some crazy implications for this but for now, your guess is as good as mine.
1:16- I really had to wait until 1:16 into the trailer to see my guy BB-8? This trailer could’ve just been BB-8 watching and reacting to everything without us seeing anything but him and it still would be great. Protect BB-8 at all costs.
1:17-1:27- What? If J.J. Abrams decides that a great way to end Star Wars is by wiping C-3PO’s memory of everything he’s ever seen or sacrificing himself in some way, I have no shame in admitting that’ll hit me in the feelings. Did I think my life would find me in my late 20’s openly acknowledging that I may cry in the theater if I have to watch another piece of my childhood be killed off? No but here we are.
1:28-1:31- That music. You could put anything to that music and it will instantly feel cooler and far more epic in scope. Try it in the car next time you hit traffic or change lanes or hit cruise control going 85mph.
1:32-1:36- “Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi.”- Luke Skywalker force ghost. I’m really interested to see how Abrams and everyone involved handle Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. That the trailer debuted on what would’ve been her birthday lends a sweet, somber tone to seeing her and Rey embrace of Luke’s VO.
1:37-1:41- We got space ships. We’ve got colored dust explosions. But most importantly: We got Billy Dee ‘Colt 45’ Williams himself back in the Falcon’s cockpit where he belongs. Presumably so J.J. Abrams can continue the sequel trilogy’s trend of killing old characters off but hopefully not. Maybe this movie will involve ‘Avengers: Endgame’ style time travel and we can get a Billy Dee Williams/Donald Glover scene. Nah, that’s probably less likely than Rey going dark side and killing everyone.
1:42-1:44- More like “The Saga Will Be Spun-off Into More Prequels, Origin Stories and One-Shots” right? Get ready for “Ackbar: A Star Wars Story”
1:45-1:49- Are those space horses?!?!
1:50-1:52- So Finn will end up in the middle of ‘Aquaman’ spaceship fight scene and then at some point Kylo and Rey will decide to destroy something together again. Also, wow, so many cuts in this trailer.
1:53-1:59- Wow, I mean obviously it wouldn’t be Star Wars without a huge space fight scene but that looks massive.
2:00-2:02- That has to be Rey and Palpatine right? Even better; Palpatine getting his Modok on in a floating throne.
2:03-2:07- “The force will be with you. Always.”- Luke and Leia together. If there’s one thing to regret most about these sequels, it’s the lack of interaction between Luke and Leia. Hopefully there is something more in this movie though it will be tough with Carrie Fisher’s scenes being mostly unused footage from the previous films.
2:08-2:21- ‘Star Wars: The Emptying of My Wallet.’ But for real, tickets on sale now? I’ll buy some for opening day and then maybe a few more for the screening right after.
While it’s safe to say there’s a lot going on in that trailer, the quick cuts and shots make it tough to learn too much about specific details (except potential C-3PO death which we’ve established would be decidedly uncool). Get all your theories and predictions in now, December 20th is just a few months away.
Dustin Brewer is a freelance writer and co-editor of HefferBrew. Follow him on Twitter here and be sure to stay tuned to HefferBrew for all the latest on ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’
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