Credit: LucasfilmDaisy Ridley is returning as Rey, but what will she be doing?
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) wrapped up the entire Skywalker Saga, for better or worse. The First Order and the Final Order were destroyed on Exegol, along with Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid); the Resistance survived, being helmed now by Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and the Jedi Order was poised for a rebound with Rey (Ridley) now, an adopted Skywalker. Of course, despite a tidy wrap-up, there are always more questions left unanswered…
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But that was that! Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm had confirmed that the Skywalker Saga was over. After nine movies spanning over forty years, there would be other Star Wars stories to explore. To that end, fans have seen great offerings from the studio, like The Mandalorian, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Bad Batch, The Book of Boba Fett, and more on the way! Still, there had been no movies since 2019, and though many rumors abounded, nothing was confirmed.
Until now! Just last week, as part of the 2023 Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm announced three new Star Wars movies are already in the works, and one of them, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, is to be set in the post-Sequel Era world, featuring the newest hope for the Jedi Order: Rey Skywalker (Ridley). Though exciting, fans had to wonder: what would the film be about? Lucasfilm would be taking them, yet again, into unexplored territory!
Kathleen Kennedy has cleared a bit of that up in recent comments that, while giving some tantalizing detail, don’t spoil the upcoming film. ComicBookMovie reported on an interview given by the Lucasfilm president, in which she illustrated what the new movie is going to be about:
“Well we’re 15 years out from Rise of Skywalker, so we’re post-war, post-First Order, and the Jedi are in disarray,” Kennedy confirmed. “There’s a lot of discussion around, ‘Who are the Jedi? What are they doing? What’s the state of the galaxy?’ She’s attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order, based on the books, based on what she promised Luke, so that’s where we’re going.”
Kennedy also teased the possibility that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) may have an appearance in the film but did clarify that she wasn’t sure if that was the direction they were looking to go:
“I don’t know if we’ll spend a lot of time in flashbacks or [on] Force ghosts or things like that, but certainly, the spirit of what he represents to her is going to be significant.”
Fifteen years after the events of Rise of Skywalker gives a lot of potential for both storytelling and worldbuilding. Luke (Hamill), Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) are all gone, along with Ben Solo (Adam Driver). The Galaxy is being led by an entirely new generation, born from the Rebellion. There is no more Empire, no First Order, and only the remnants of the New Republic and Resistance. Will the Galaxy be looking to the Jedi for guidance once more?
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What’s more, who will the new Jedi Order be comprised of? Could this be the way that Star Wars introduces fans to a grown-up Grogu (himself)? There are certainly many Force Users in the Galaxy, as evidenced by the end of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017), and Rey (Ridley) is going to need all the help she can get navigating this new Galaxy by herself after spending most of her life in isolation. All in all, it has the makings of a fascinating movie already!
What do you think of these new details? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below!