Today’s the first day of fall, so you know what that means? We’re getting ever closer to the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. And you can tell because Lucasfilm has just dropped the first TV spot for the long-awaited Episode IX. The short 45-second promo doesn’t feature any new footage, taking the form of an edited version of the second full-length trailer instead, but it does mark a shift upwards in the marketing for the movie.
As per the original trailer, the TV spot features many of the major players of Rise. There’s the main gang – Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac), Chewie (Joonas Suotamo) and Threepio (Anthony Daniels) – who are known to be sticking together for the most part in the film, while there’s also a glimpse at the much-missed Carrie Fisher’s Leia. Plus, we even get a tease of two new characters: Jannah (Naomi Ackerman) and DO, BB-8’s even smaller droid pal.
Of course, it all culminates in that instantly iconic shot of “Dark Rey,” with our heroine dressed in Sith-like black robes and wielding a double-sided lightsaber that Darth Maul would be jealous of. The use of Ian McDiarmid’s ominous narration beforehand is deliberately trying to make us think the resurrected Emperor Palpatine succeeds in corrupting Rey much as he did Anakin Skywalker before her. But things may not be as they seem.
The so-called conclusion to the Skywalker saga has a lot of hype to live up, not to mention the pressure of having to close a story that’s been unfolding for the past 40 years. But the trailers have definitely impressed so far, so fingers crossed the movie manages to stick the landing when it arrives in just a few months’ time.
Can J.J. Abrams bring the Sequel Trilogy home in style? We’ll find out when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker finally arrives in cinemas on December 20th.