The Rise of Skywalker Trailer Reaction
The Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker trailer is out! We watched it as soon as we could (YouTube link)… which was within seconds of being able to access it online. And then watched it again, over and over. But even that’s not enough, as there is so much action, and new material – the screen-cap gallery over on SWNZ, Star Wars New Zealand breaks the trailer down into individual scenes so we can look delve into all the background detail as well as the key heroic action.
Matt: There is so much going in this trailer, that it’s hard to know where to start. The take home message, I think, is that it totally has me amped, with fully piqued curiosity, to see how Ep9 unfolds, where it takes us, and how it wraps up.
We live in an unusual time – although we’ve experienced the “final Star Wars film” scenario before, there is something about the abundance of Star Wars material these days that has us expecting a permanent Star Wars presence for the rest of our lives now, so it feels significant that this is the finale for the Skywalker arc. At least we’ll have lots of call-backs to movie material in the upcoming streaming series.
I have a number of favourite scenes from the trailer. All the new material is interesting (new characters such as Zorii and Jannah) for sure, but I particularly like the touches that imply a lot of references to other eras and plot lines will be drawn together. The blockade runner at a dramatically low altitude over the jungle, the densely-packed ensemble Rebel fleet, the Emperor’s throne room, and so forth. There are strong implications that there will be more of a single central plot thread, with Poe, Rey, and Finn travelling together for a lot of what we’ve seen so far. We haven’t seen a lot of the First Order side of the movie just yet (nothing of the Sith Troopers, or Richard E. Grant’s FO Officer character), so there is undoubtedly lots that remains to be discovered when we see film. 56 days to go, at the time of writing… I can’t wait.
Anaria: I wasn’t sure how many new scenes this trailer would show, but I was pleasantly surprised! It is interesting that we mostly see the Resistance forces in this trailer – besides Kylo Ren, we also see a few Stormtroopers but that’s basically it. Nothing of Hux or Richard E. Grant’s character, or the recently revealed Sith Troopers.
I am so happy that General Leia made an appearance, especially that this trailer was released on Carrie Fisher’s birthday. I know she won’t be in the film as much as I would hope, or as the filmmakers originally intended, but I’m happy that we will be able to see scenes like this. It is heartwarming to see that Carrie Fisher is given first billing on the poster. I know that seeing her on screen again, and for the last time, will be hugely emotional.
I am excited by the number of shots that leave me asking so many questions. For this last trailer, I was expecting that we wouldn’t see much new material – but now I have even more questions! I haven’t been following any spoilers, so I am really intrigued by this shot of Rey and Kylo smashing a dark object, and what appears to be an ancient sith throne?! It has an Old Republic feel, like something we’d see in SWTOR.
I knew that this final trailer for Episode 9 would be emotional, but the scene that really pulled my heartstrings came from an unexpected moment in the trailer – a line of dialogue from C-3PO –
Taking one last look, at my friends.
Of course we know that this is the final film of the Skywalker Saga, but C-3PO’s line just makes it really hit home that this is the last time we will see our favourite characters on screen. While characters like Rey, Poe, Finn, and Kylo are all fairly new additions to the Star Wars franchise, it will be hard to say goodbye to them. Saying a final farewell to Leia and Luke, the characters who started it all, is going to be tough.
We have our tickets booked for the midnight release, and this trailer has us even more excited! So many story threads to resolve, so many questions to answer – not too long to go until we’ll be watching the opening crawl at midnight. In the meantime, we’ll be watching the trailer quite a few more times!
Photos sourced from and belong to Disney/Lucasfilm.
