“We’ve passed on all we know,” Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) says in a voice-over line. “A thousand generations live in you now. But this is your fight.” Since Skywalker died (or was absorbed into the living Force) at the end of The Last Jedi, it’s unclear whether he delivers this line as a Force Ghost, or perhaps in a letter or holographic projection left for Rey.
The first shot from The Rise of Skywalker depicts Finn (John Boyega), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), Rey (Daisy Ridley), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) on a desert planet. What looks like the prow of the Millennium Falcon can be seen behind them. Then we see where they’re looking: a colorful desert bazaar clogged with kites and colored smoke.
The next shot takes us to a very different location, a jungle planet, for a brief glimpse of General Leia (Carrie Fisher). The D23 footage then reveals the two opposing sides. On one is the ragtag remnants of the Resistance, with its paltry fleet of fighters and blockade runners. On the other is an entire fleet of Star Destroyers — possibly equipped with Death Star lasers — though it’s unclear if they’re being led by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) or a resurrected Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). We see a reaction shot, seemingly to the immense New Order fleet, from Finn and new character Jannah (Naomi Ackie), followed by one of the strangest images from the new Rise of Skywalker trailer: C-3PO with glowing red eyes. Something is very amiss.
The rest of the D23 “Special Look” trailer shows a montage of images from throughout the upcoming Star Wars. A red laser smashes into a planet surface — it seems we are definitely not done with planet-killing weaponry. Rey practices with her lightsaber in a forest with the help of a “training remote” droid, like the one Luke practices against in the 1977 original. We also get glimpses of a Rey and Kylo lightsaber duel, seemingly in the wreckage of the second Death Star from Return of the Jedi.
“Your journey nears its end,” Palpatine says in voiceover, which is followed by Darth Vader’s characteristic mechanical breathing. The final image of the trailer suggests a dark possible fate for Rey: wearing a dark Sith cloak, her face expressionless, Rey unfurls a two-bladed red lightsaber, not unlike Darth Maul’s.
But will Rey really be turned to the Dark Side, as this trailer suggests? Or is this just a vision of one possible future? Either way, the moment suggests Rey is central to Emperor Palpatine’s new plans, which leaves us wondering whether Rey has always been part of the Emperor’s grand design. Perhaps it was the Emperor, after all, who ensured Rey was stranded on Jakku and forgotten by the Galaxy until the time of his return.
Many theories have been proposed for Rey’s true identity, even if the mystery was largely deflated in The Last Jedi, when Kylo Ren revealed to her that her parents were nothing more than junk traders, dead in some pauper’s grave. Nevertheless, people have continued to believe her Jedi connections will be revealed in The Rise of Skywalker. Is she a daughter of Obi Wan Kenobi? Or somehow related to Luke Skywalker?
Or does Dark Rey in the D23 trailer suggest a darker possibility, that Rey is a creation of the Emperor? One popular fan theory holds that Rey is either the daughter or a clone of Darth Vader, which would explain her incredible power and her many talents, which overlap with those of the child prodigy, Anakin Skywalker.
All will be revealed on December 20, when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comes out in theaters.
