From what footage we’ve seen of the movie so far, Rey looks to have come even further in her Jedi training in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker since we last saw her in The Last Jedi. Obviously, Daisy Ridley’s heroine has always had a lot of innate power, but this is still surprising considering she lost her mentor, Luke, when he died at the end of Rian Johnson’s film. But who will be training Rey this time around?
Well, according to what we’ve heard, the role will stay in the family, as Leia will be Rey’s new trainer in The Rise of Skywalker. That’s according to our sources – the same ones who told us Ewan McGregor was returning as Obi-Wan back in May – who’ve said Leia will take over from her late brother in nurturing Rey’s Force abilities in the movie.
Of course, there are a couple of interesting points this raises. For one, it indicates that Leia has a major part in the narrative, even though Carrie Fisher sadly passed away back in 2016. We know that Rise will utilize unused footage from The Force Awakens though and they can do pretty much anything with digital imagery these days, so perhaps these scenes have been augmented to reframe them as Leia training Rey?
Secondly, that Leia is a master Jedi herself enough to train her own apprentice is a big revelation. TLJ was our first indication in the movies that Fisher’s character has some Force capability. It’s been said, though, that a flashback in Rise will unveil that Luke trained his sister himself after the events of Return of the Jedi. Now, it seems like the purpose of this sequence is to explain how Leia can mentor Rey later on in the movie.
In any case, all of the film’s secrets will finally be revealed when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives on December 20th.