With Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi now just over a month away, fan anticipation has built to a fever pitch. The tiniest morsel of a rumor, or a suggestion in a piece of supplemental material can give Star Wars diehards something to chew on for days, so we just know you’ll love this hot-off-the-presses TV spot that contains a small but significant bit of new footage.
Aside from being generally well put together, the obvious highlight here is a never before seen interaction between Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and Carrie Fisher’s General Leia Organa. Coming at a presumably tense and dangerous moment, a breathless Poe runs up to Leia and says, “Permission to jump in an X-Wing and blow something up?” Leia responds, “Permission granted.” Then we cut to Poe’s modified X-Wing doing some sick space stunts and, well, blowing something up.
It’s a great moment, made only slightly bittersweet by the knowledge that this scene is likely one of the final times we’ll see Carrie Fisher on screen. Her untimely and tragic death was always going to hang over this movie, but I suspect the true emotional impact will blindside even those anticipating it.
Of course, the original plan was for Leia to play a key role in Episode IX, but the fate of the character has now been rewritten in light of Fisher’s death. Current fan theories are that Kylo Ren is aiming for the double by killing off both parents, though for my part I hope the movies don’t go down that route.
If Leia has to be written out, I’d like to see her go out on her own terms in a powerfully heroic moment. There simply aren’t that many female Star Wars characters, so they better give the franchise’s most iconic one something really special for her final scenes.
We’ll find out whatever that might be on December 15th, when Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens big.