Autumn has officially begun and brings with it a season of long nights, pumpkin spiced lattes, and tons of exciting Oscar contenders. And while the summer blockbuster season is now well and truly over, there’s still one big tentpole coming down the pipeline. Its name? Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Just like The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi before it, the ninth and final installment in the Skywalker saga will be sticking to the festive period as it looks to tie a bow on one of cinema’s all-time great stories. The director in charge of that tall task is J.J. Abrams, who’s back in that galaxy far, far away following TFA and soon, we’ll be able to see the fruits of his labor.
But with great anticipation also comes a good amount of speculation, with fans furiously trying to work out the plot of the film and discover as many spoilers as they can. Because some people just can’t wait until December. And if you find yourself in that camp, we’ve got something pretty interesting for you today as we’ve been informed by our sources – the same ones who told us Ewan McGregor was returning as Obi-Wan back in May, and that Rey and Palpatine share a special connection, which the always reliable Making Star Wars later confirmed – that The Rise of Skywalker will feature a few major deaths, and we now know who they are.
From what we’ve been told, Leia, Kylo and Palpatine will meet their end in the upcoming film. And though details on how exactly they’ll go out haven’t been made entirely clear, we’re told that Leia will seemingly die of natural causes while Kylo is killed by the Emperor in a big battle near the climax of the film. And as for Palpatine, well, that’s pretty obvious – the heroes finish him off and it’s said that Force Ghost Luke and Leia help out with that in that aforementioned big battle.
That’s all we know for now, and while we have no reason to doubt our sources given their excellent track record – remember, they also told us Tom Welling was returning for “Crisis on Infinite Earths” months before it was confirmed – we’ll find out very soon if this is all true, as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker takes flight on December 20th. And aside from The Mandalorian, this is the last Star Wars adventure we’ll likely see for some time. At least, on the big screen.