Though 2017’s The Last Jedi famously let the past die, this year’s Star Wars: Episode IX sees the notoriously nostalgic J.J. Abrams return to the helm. And while we’ve yet to see a single second of footage from the Force Awakens helmsman’s upcoming trilogy-closer, it seems that at least one callback to the Original Trilogy has already been more or less confirmed.
Earlier this week, a preview for Episode IX screened during the Walt Disney Company’s 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Though it’s unlikely that the general public will be seeing this footage anytime soon, Twitter user Scott Ladewig (who’s proven very helpful this week for major franchise intel) has offered a few details on what he saw, and among the imagery recalled was a scene of Kylo Ren in a white room looking at Darth Vader’s helmet.
Indeed, it’s been a rumor for some time now that the familiar prop will be making a return, and it’s nice to know that this was one of those rare instances for Star Wars hearsay where the phrase, “there’s no smoke without fire,” wasn’t proven wrong.
With Abrams back on board, we can surely expect a few more nods to The Force Awakens, if only to grant the Sequel Trilogy a fitting sense of symmetry. While it’s been a consistently popular rumor that the Knights of Ren will be making a comeback, another prediction that’s been gaining traction lately is that the movie will see a return to Rey’s home planet of Jakku.
It’s unlikely that we’ll receive confirmation on either of these claims at least until the first teaser drops, but either way, you can expect Lucasfilm to save its biggest reveals for when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.