August 23rd through 26th, 2019 marked Disney's bi-annual D23 Expo, a celebration of all things Disney. The weekend was full of major updates about one of Disney's most significant properties, Star Wars—and the biggest Star Wars announcement of all was the release of a new trailer for J.J. Abrams' Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker. The previous trailer was released April 12th.
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The trailer which debuted Monday at D23 opens with iconic footage from both the original trilogy and prequel films. This montage is underscored by a voiceover from now-deceased Luke (Mark Hamill) intoning "We've passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now. But this is your fight." As the previous trailer made clear, The Rise of Skywalker, as the final movie in the three Skywalker trilogies, will feature its protagonists facing the legacies left to them by previous generations of Jedi—and contending with both their inner and outer inherited demons.
Watch the exciting new trailer below!
The most shocking shot from the trailer is the brief glimpse of Rey (Daisy Ridley) wielding a red dual-bladed lightsaber. Sith Lord Darth Maul also famously wielded a dual-bladed lightsaber in The Phantom Menace, a shot of which is shown in the montage at the beginning of this latest trailer. Does that mean Rey will go to the Dark Side in Rise of Skywalker? It's more likely that the final film will continue to explore the moral gray areas she faces, much as The Last Jedi did, and that the dual lightsaber shot is from a vision sequence in the upcoming film. Still, the compelling footage left fans guessing.
Although D23 introduced new questions about Rise of Skywalker, it also answered one—fans wondering whether the ominous laughter at the end of the first trailer for Episode 9 was Emperor Palpatine had their questions answered with the release of a new poster featuring the Emperor glowering over Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).
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Other major Star Wars updates from D23 included the official announcement of an Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor. The first trailer for The Mandalorian, another Star Wars spinoff TV series, also debuted. Jon Favreau's upcoming series stars Pedro Pascal as a bounty hunter descendant of Boba and Jango Fett. Check out the intriguing first trailer for the new series below.
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The Mandalorian premieres November 12th, 2019 on Disney's exclusive streaming service Disney+. The Rise of Skywalker premieres in theaters December 20th, 2019.
Featured still from "The Rise of Skywalker" via Lucasfilm
