Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Trailer, Release Date, Cast And Theories

The first Episode IX trailer revealed that the film was titled The Rise of Skywalker, but that was just one of several big moments. The opening shot finds Rey facing down a TIE Fighter on a desert planet that is likely Pasaana, a new location revealed during Vanity Fair's set visit. Wielding her repaired lightsaber, Rey flips over the craft as it approaches, showcasing her ever-improving abilities. Finn and Poe Dameron also get in on the action, fleeing unknown assailants on some sort of sand skiff as C-3PO clings on for dear life. And speaking of droids, we also get a cheeky shot of newcomer D-O, who befriended BB-8 after the Battle of Crait.

One of the biggest talking points, however, arrives at the end of the trailer. Despite being thrown to what we thought was certain death by a remorseful Anakin Skywalker in 1983's Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine (a.k.a. Darth Sidious) is back. The Episode IX trailer comes to a close with a shot of some Death Star wreckage and Palpatine's unmistakable cackle, implying that our new generation of heroes will face off against the Dark Lord of the Sith in The Rise of Skywalker. Palpatine actor Ian McDiarmid appeared onstage at Star Wars Celebration 2019 during the big trailer reveal, essentially confirming his involvement.

You probably won't be surprised to learn that Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac are returning as Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron respectively — they're the heroes of the sequel trilogy, after all. There's a few new faces in The Rise of Skywalker, however, and some really familiar ones from the past, too.

For fans of the original trilogy, one of the biggest moments in the Episode IX trailer was seeing Lando Calrissian back in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Billy Dee Williams was reprising the role in July 2018, but details of Calrissian's part in The Rise of Skywalker were kept under wraps in the months that followed. Many now believe that Naomi Ackie (who is playing a new character named Jannah) will be revealed as Lando's daughter in The Rise of Skywalker. The up-and-coming British actress was asked about this at Star Wars Celebration 2019, and her noncommittal answer only served to fuel rumors that she's a Calrissian. "Lando is a very charming man, so he could have children all over the universe, that's all I'm saying," she quipped (via IGN).

Dominic Monaghan (Lost) and Greg Grunberg (Alias) are both in The Rise of Skywalker, and they aren't the only Abrams alumni appearing — Keri Russell is playing "the masked scoundrel Zorri Bliss." Vanity Fair released a still of Bliss in "the Thieves' Quarter of the snow-dusted world Kijimi," another new planet.

Disney decided to clean house in a big way ahead of The Force Awakens, declaring that all Expanded Universe materials were no longer considered Star Wars canon. The Mouse House then set about creating its own line of short stories, comics, and books to tie in with the new continuity, and one such release might just include a huge clue about a major Episode IX character. In Poe Dameron #27 (May 2018), a conversation Poe has with Rey and Finn seems to confirm that he's been unwittingly channeling the Force all this time.

Marvel's Poe Dameron comics overlap with J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens. #26 explained how Dameron survived that crash and filled us in on what he did between then and rescuing Rey and Finn from the First Order, but it was the following issue that really got readers talking. In it, Dameron admits that he's been able to tap into some kind of "energy" while flying, prompting both Rey and Leia to suggest he's been using the Force.

The seeds of this reveal were actually planted in the 2015 series Star Wars: Shattered Empire, according to CBR. It's in this prelude to The Force Awakens that we learn how Luke Skywalker gave remnants of The Great Tree (a natural conduit of the Force) to Dameron's parents, who used them to grow a new tree at home on Yavin 4. Dameron even mentions growing up around this tree, further foreshadowing a connection to the Force.

One of the craziest Episode IX rumors yet, the theory that Han Solo is alive is partly backed up by the novelization of The Force Awakens. The book was picked apart by Uproxx, and there's a big reveal about the Starkiller Base in there that has Harrison Ford fans speculating on an unlikely return. The book explained what the movie didn't — how the giant weapon is powered. The assumption was that it harnessed the power of the sun, but the truth is far more complicated.

"Turns out, it was never supposed to be powered by the sun," Uproxx's Donna Dickens reports. "Situated in one place, messing with science they didn't understand, the First Order was harvesting dark matter to power their weapon. As the matter congealed to be sucked into the core, the light was supposed to dim. Then, using more science they barely understood, they beamed the concentrated dark matter through the galaxy instead of across it. Basically, they were ripping holes in time/space."

Solo appeared to have been killed by his own son when we saw him last, but there's now a theoretical chance that he was sucked into an alternate timeline before he bled out. One fan who's excited at the prospect is Kevin Smith. "[If it] allows Lando to repeat his Empire Strikes Back line 'There's still a chance to save Han!' and get us back to that fateful bridge on Starkiller Base? Then I'll kiss J.J. on the mouth," he said.

When Carrie Fisher passed away in December 2016, Lucasfilm's original position on her inclusion in any future Star Wars movies was pretty clear — it wasn't happening. The idea that they could digitally render a version of Fisher like they did with Peter Cushing's Tarkin in Rogue One was quickly ruled out after execs met with Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd. All parties reportedly agreed that it would be disrespectful. Thankfully, they found a way to include Fisher's iconic character in Episode IX without having to resort to digital trickery.

Director J.J. Abrams desperately wanted to include Leia Organa in what's to be the last entry in the Skywalker saga, and he was willing to write scenes around the stuff she shot before her death to make that happen. Abrams discussed the late actress "at length" at D23 Expo 2019, according to Variety. "The character of Leia is really, in a way, the heart of this story," he said. "We realized we could not possibly tell the end of these nine films without Leia."

It's fantastic news for fans of Carrie Fisher, and her family is pleased with the outcome, too. "Carrie's Princess Leia is forever entrenched in the franchise and her indelible presence is fundamental to the film," Fisher's brother, Todd, said. "J.J. Abrams understood Carrie's iconic role, and he has masterfully re-crafted this final entry to include this unused and very last footage of Carrie ever taken, without resorting to CGI or animatronics."

The backlash that Ed Sheeran received following his Game of Thrones appearance ought to have put him off cameos for life, but if rumors circulating in the British press are to be believed, the award-winning singer-songwriter has filmed a scene for Episode IX. Sheeran abandoned his Twitter account after irate Game of Thrones fans told him exactly what they thought about him popping up as a Lannister soldier in the season 7 opener, but if he thinks Star Wars fans will be any more accommodating, he'd better think again.

Kelly Marie Tran quit Twitter and Instagram after a small but vocal minority of Star Wars fans trolled her relentlessly, showering her with abuse (some of it racial) because they hated her in The Last Jedi. Luckily for Sheeran, fans won't be able to spot his mystery scene in the upcoming Star Wars installment, because his famous red hair will be hidden — he's playing a stormtrooper. "I can reveal the world's most successful male singer has been seen suiting up for scenes to appear in Episode IX, which has been filming at Pinewood Studios since August," Dan Wootton, executive editor of The Sun, confirmed.

Sheeran won't be the first famous Englishman to don the iconic white uniform on the sly; Princes William and Harry were in The Last Jedi, though their scene only made the home version as an extra. According to London's Evening Standard, the royals were cut out of the final movie because they were too tall to be stormtroopers.

With appearances in Doctor Who and Game of Thrones under his belt, veteran character actor Richard E. Grant already had some major fan cred when he was cast in The Rise of Skywalker. As it turns out, he's a big Star Wars fanboy himself. The actor opened up about the moment J.J. Abrams told him he'd be part of the final chapter in the Skywalker saga while a guest on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, revealing how he was so excited that he couldn't actually take anything in.

"I'm sure he was telling me in detail what part I was playing and what the character is called — I have no memory of that whatsoever," Grant admitted (via SyFy). "They kept saying, 'So you are gonna do this, aren't you?' and I said, 'Of course I'm gonna do this!'" The most popular theory was that Grant would be taking on the role of Grand Admiral Thrawn (a popular villain reintroduced into canon in the third season of Star Wars Rebels), but the actor outright debunked that rumor when Radio Times asked him about it. 

"I'm not playing the Star Wars character you just mentioned," Grant said, and he wasn't lying. When Vanity Fair released a huge Episode IX cover story in May 2019, the identity of Grant's character was finally revealed — he's playing a new villain named Allegiant General Pryde. "The Oscar nominee promises to bring on-screen menace and off-screen glee," the mag reported.

The second new location revealed during Vanity Fair's set visit is called Pasaana, a world of sand and unforgiving sun. The planet (which is actually the Wadi Rum desert valley in southern Jordan) will seemingly play host to a pivotal moment in The Rise of Skywalker. We saw Rey jumping over a TIE fighter on a very Jordanian-looking landscape in the first Episode IX teaser trailer, as well as Finn and Poe skidding on sand. Finn and Jannah (Naomi Ackie) are shown riding new horse-like creatures named orbaks in the Vanity Fair shoot, and while this image features a grassy surface, there's a theory that it could also be Pasaana.

"The foliage looks sort of dead or dried up," Den of Geek associate editor John Saavedra pointed out. "Might Pasaana not be completely covered in desert and instead have diverse environments? The first picture of Jannah, which was revealed at Celebration, also shows her standing in a similar environment as the Vanity Fair picture." Saavedra goes on to theorize that, because grass means water, the big Death Star shot from the teaser (the one where our heroes look out at wreckage of the notorious weapon across a body of water) could also be on Pasaana. Biodiversity isn't something we're used to seeing on Star Wars planets, however. At this stage, all we know for sure about Pasaana is that it's home to the Aki-Aki, a native race being played by Jordanian locals.

Luke Skywalker vanishes after helping Leia and what's left of the Resistance escape at the end of the The Last Jedi, passing on peacefully. It was a highly divisive moment, one that director Rian Johnson was forced to defend. As the backlash grew, Johnson reminded everyone that we may not have seen the last of Skywalker. "I don't know where the next movie is going to go," he told Variety. "But it seemed like the potential of Luke crossing into [a] new realm, that offers exciting possibilities for the role he plays in the coming chapter... No one's ever really gone."

Yoda returned as a Force Ghost in The Last Jedi, and rumors that Skywalker will do the same in the upcoming sequel have been around for some time now. In 2018, Pinewood insiders claimed that sets were being erected for two Episode IX scenes involving Mark Hamill. "This may well indicate that Luke will appear as a Force Ghost to Kylo Ren and Rey separately," an Express source said.

Thanks to Hamill himself, we can now classify this rumor as a spoiler — the actor has confirmed he's appearing as a Force Ghost in The Rise of Skywalker. "The fact that I'm involved in any capacity is only because of that peculiar aspect of the Star Wars mythology in that, as a Jedi, you're allowed to come back and make a curtain call as a Force Ghost," he told the AP in June 2019.

Disney revealed a brand new poster for The Rise of Skywalker at D23 Expo 2019. Rey and Kylo Ren fight under the grinning visage of Emperor Palpatine in the image, showcasing what appears to be a classic light side versus dark side duel (Rey's lightsaber is blue, while Ren wields red). Either Rey's weapon has some hidden features she's yet to discover or she gets hold of a new lightsaber in The Rise of Skywalker — actually, make that double lightsaber.

The teaser footage first screened at D23 Expo included a number of cool shots, including one of Rey and Ren battling it out on the wreckage of a Death Star. The biggest moment came right at the end, however, when what can only be described as "Dark Side Rey" is revealed. The hero of the sequel trilogy, wearing a Palpatine-esque black hood, ignites a double-bladed red lightsaber.

The footage "blew the roof off of the Anaheim Convention Center" according to CinemaBlend, who spoke with Daisy Ridley about the apparent dark side reveal. "Watching it today, it was weird because I felt nervous with it coming," Ridley said. "And then hearing the audience reaction was amazing." The actress was standoffish when asked if viewers should take the whole dark Rey thing at face value. "I mean, we'll see," she told IGN, grinning.

There's an Episode IX mega-theory doing the rounds that suggests Rey might have been Palpatine's intended host all along. Could she be possessed in this footage?

Rumors that the The Rise of Skywalker would go out of its way to tie all the previous Star Wars movies together date back to 2017, when a Redditor claimed to have been told by J.J. Abrams that Episode IX will include elements from both the original and prequel trilogies (according to MovieWeb, the poster had photographic proof of meeting Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio). The specifics of this overarching connection remain a mystery, but from the little we've seen of the movie so far, it does appear as though Abrams isn't skimping on nostalgia.

The first teaser didn't give much away in terms of plot, but it's full of cool callbacks to the original trilogy. We see Han Solo's old frenemy Lando Calrissian flying the Millennium Falcon, and there's a shot of what appears to be Leia clutching the same medal given to Luke and Han in A New Hope. This theme of bringing it all together was central at D23 Expo 2019, where a sizzle reel featuring iconic shots of Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Princess Leia was screened. While The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi have already done quite a bit to call back to the original trilogy, fans can now hope that the mysteries of Star Wars might come full circle, and certain questions posed back in Episode I could finally be answered.

Perhaps the biggest shocker in the purported Rise of Skywalker leak shared by JediPaxis concerns everyone's favorite Wookiee. The Redditor's rundown of the film's first act contains a huge bombshell — the death of Chewbacca at the hands of Rey. If this leak is to be believed, the hero of the sequel trilogy will accidentally kill Chewie during a battle with Kylo Ren. Or will she?

According to JediPaxis, Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and BB-8 are dispatched to Pasaana (the new desert world that was unveiled during Vanity Fair's set visit) by Leia. General Organa has a contact on the planet that may be able to help them unravel Kylo Ren's new plan — the new Supreme Leader of the First Order is on the hunt for a hidden dark power that he believes was fueling his predecessor, Snoke. This contact turns out to be none other than Lando Calrissian, who tells them about a Sith dagger that he and Luke Skywalker once sought but were unable to locate. The heroes ultimately find this dagger, but not before Kylo Ren learns of their location.

The First Order arrive and Chewbacca is captured. Rey engages Kylo Ren and, using the Force, she attempts to ground the ship that's transporting Chewie. She's unable to, however, and in her frustration she accidentally destroys the ship, killing everyone on board. Don't get too upset, though — it's later revealed that the Wookiee was on a different transport carrier and is actually still alive.

Rey accidentally killing Chewbacca turns out to be a big bluff according to JediPaxis' sources, but C-3PO's sad fate is very much real, they claim. The r/StarWarsLeak moderator posits that the aforementioned dagger our heroes discover on Pasaana has a message engraved on it that none of them can understand. According to JediPaxis, "It's then handed over to 3PO who identifies the writing as a Sith language, but he reveals that he is unable to translate the writing due to restrictions in his programming."

Chewbacca takes possession of the dagger before he is captured by the First Order and taken aboard a transport ship as prisoner (this is when Rey tries to intervene and accidentally kills him, or so she believes). Luckily, 3PO has the message committed to memory. It's said that Poe Dameron then intervenes, claiming to have a contact that can help 3PO translate the ancient writing: Keri Russell's Zorri Bliss. Russell's character introduces the gang to an alien friend of hers who knows how to unlock the message. But they face a huge dilemma — the beloved droid's memory will be completely wiped in the process.

"In an act of self sacrifice, C-3PO voluntarily consents to the modifications," JediPaxis claims. "For all intents and purposes, the droid we've all known for years will essentially die. According to my sources, this scene is reportedly one of the most emotional in the film." The hack leaves 3PO with red eyes, as seen in the D23 footage.

In September 2019, some brand new Star Wars merch was previewed by The Rise of Skywalker's cast during a special live stream event. The toys revealed some interesting details about the upcoming sequel, seemingly confirming (at least in part) that the mega-leak shared by Redditor JediPaxis is indeed accurate.

Two new characters were revealed: aliens Boolio and Babu Frik. The latter was mentioned in JediPaxis' breakdown of The Rise of Skywalker's second act — he's the alien that hacks C-3PO's programming to unlock the message on the Sith dagger. The fact that he's included as an accessory attached to the Hasbro Black Series C-3PO figure and is referred to as a droid builder seems to confirm that the hack will go down just like the Redditor said it would. Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) remained tight-lipped, but he did call Frik one of his "truly favorite characters out of the whole movie."

There's also a new Kylo Ren figure to look forward to. This will no doubt have kids and collectors alike extremely excited, but it's the description on the packaging that peaked our interest. "As Supreme Leader of the First Order, Kylo Ren wields more power than ever before," it reads (via StarWarsNewsNet). "Nevertheless, Ren continues to search for secrets of the Force from the depths of the dark side." This lines up with JediPaxis' rundown, in which Ren searches for Snoke's power source — which, of course, turns out to be Palpatine.

The news that Billy Dee Williams was reprising his iconic Star Wars role in The Rise of Skywalker was huge for fans of the original trilogy. Since the announcement, people have been theorizing about what Lando Calrissian could have been doing since we last saw him. According to JediPaxis' mammoth leak — which has seemingly been at least partially backed up by the release of several new Star Wars toys — Calrissian has been laying low on Pasaana, the sandy world that's set to feature prominently in the final installment of the Skywalker saga.

It transpires that Calrissian and Luke Skywalker tracked a Sith loyalist (thought to be named Ochie) to the planet. The charming smuggler tells the heroes that he had a young child at home at the time of his and Luke's quest, and that his kid was abducted by the First Order in his absence. "After having failed to protect his child from the First Order, Lando and Luke parted ways and he's stayed on Pasaana ever since," the Redditor writes. "This story strikes a chord with Finn, having been stolen from his own family at an incredibly young age as well."

It's long been theorized that Naomi Ackie's Jannah is the daughter of Lando Calrissian. The new character was revealed at Star Wars Celebration 2019, and fans couldn't help but notice that her blue and yellow costume (complete with a cape) looks an awful lot like Calrissian's get-up from the original trilogy.

It's no secret that Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi didn't win over the entire Star Wars fanbase. Many saw the whole Canto Bight subplot as a waste of time, and Luke Skywalker's passing was also heavily criticized, though one of the most controversial moments was the underwhelming death of an iconic Resistance fighter. Admiral Gial Ackbar's famous line from 1983's Return of the Jedi (he's the one who yells "It's a trap!" during the Battle of Endor) went down in pop culture history and would later become part of internet culture, too (everyone's seen the Ackbar meme at least once).

Ackbar has always been a fan favorite, and that's precisely why there was such an angry reaction when he was killed by the First Order's fleet — offscreen, no less. "Cast into the blackness of space like the Empire's garbage," one Twitter user said. Last Jedi editor Bob Ducsay later told HuffPost that Ackbar's death was "slightly incidental" and expressed a degree of regret over how it was handled.

Nobody liked seeing Ackbar go out like that, but we can get behind the idea of his son avenging him. Aftab Ackbar was introduced in 2019's Star Wars: Allegiance, a four-part prequel to Episode IX. He's revealed as an associate of the Resistance in the canonical comic, and that's seemingly what he'll be in The Rise of Skywalker — he's standing beside Lando Calrissian at a rebel meeting in the final trailer.

A great deal of the Rise of Skywalker chatter has centered around Emperor Palpatine ever since the debut of the teaser trailer. He didn't appear in the teaser, but his infamous evil cackle did, and to make sure there was no misunderstanding about what that meant, actor Ian McDiarmid appeared on stage right after the footage premiered at Star Wars Celebration 2019. We didn't get a full-on shot of Palpatine in the final trailer, either, but the character was a much bigger presence this time around.

The Emperor has a long line of dialogue in the final trailer, and he seems to be talking directly to Rey and Kylo Ren. "Your coming together is your undoing," the Sith Lord says, possibly giving credence to the theory that Kylo Ren will redeem himself and become Ben Solo once more. "Long have I waited," the Emperor can also be heard saying, and at this moment we get a shot of his new throne — only it isn't a new throne at all. 

This imposing, jagged structure was actually inspired by (and when we say inspired by, we mean directly copied from) an old sketch that legendary concept artist Ralph McQuarrie drew when he was working on Return of the Jedi. Lucasfilm's creative art manager Phil Szostak pointed this out on Twitter, using a side-by-side comparison to show how the throne in McQuarrie's sketch and the one in the movie are basically identical.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in October 2019, J.J. Abrams admitted that he was in a race against time to get The Rise of Skywalker finished. "We always knew we were going to have three fewer months to post-production this film," the returning director said. "So much is still being worked on." This didn't seem to panic him, however. Abrams was in good spirits and up for the challenge.

"We had more reshoots on Episode VII than this one," he explained. "We didn't know if these characters would work, if the actors would be able to carry a Star Wars movie. There were a lot of things we didn't know. On this, we knew who and what worked, and everyone is doing the best work I've ever seen anyone do." Abrams is clearly pleased with the contribution of his cast, and the movie itself is shaping up to be the biggest Star Wars flick ever — much bigger than the director's previous contribution.

"The ambition of this movie is far greater than Force Awakens," Abrams said. "What we set out to do was far more challenging. Everything is exponentially larger on this." Bigger doesn't always mean better, but Abrams knew that he had to create a spectacle while still remaining true to the films that started it all. According to Oscar Isaac, he's done exactly that. "I think it really captures the spirit of the original trilogy," Isaac said.

We've yet to see Rey, Finn, and Poe go on a mission as a trio, but we know for sure that the core heroes of the sequel trilogy will finally team up on screen in The Rise of Skywalker. The dialogue between them will be "messy and natural" according to John Boyega, who told Entertainment Weekly that J.J. Abrams let his stars improvise lines to give some authenticity to their interactions. "We got to bring out a side of Finn we haven't seen," Boyega said.

Finn will be working with Oscar Issac's Poe Dameron in the opening stages of the movie, attempting to recruit new members to the ailing Resistance. Both actors were given a say over their respective character arcs (Isaac wanted to get "out of the cockpit and into the group" while Boyega wanted to be more than just a "comedic goofy dude who never gets stuff done"), and Daisy Ridley seems pretty happy with her story, too. "Rey is driving her own thing," she told Entertainment Weekly. "She's not doing what other people are telling her to do."

The Rise of Skywalker starts with a time jump, so Rey, Finn, and Poe will be a lot more familiar with each other when we catch up with them. "We're not just a ragtag group of people who have been thrown together," Isaac said. "We've actually had time to train. There are some really great sequences with the three of us in infiltrating spaces."

Disney has been doing its best to keep spoilers to an absolute minimum as it promotes The Rise of Skywalker, but with the release date fast approaching, the Mouse House marketing machine changed gears in November of 2019. A clip from the trilogy-capper dropped on the official Star Wars Twitter account, treating fans to a full 30 seconds of footage from the movie. We'd already seen glimpses of the Pasaana speeder chase in TV spots, but this uninterrupted clip confirms something that had been rumored for several months — flying stormtroopers.

The line "They fly now!" is said by a shocked C-3PO, repeated by Finn, and then again by Poe Dameron as the crew flees across the surface of the new desert planet. Snippets from this scene have already been used in marketing material, but this was our first real look at the sequence proper. The crew are being pursued by stormtroopers on bikes (which appear to have tank-like tracks instead of wheels), two to a vehicle. The drivers are able to make the back end of the bike shoot upwards, launching the passenger into the sky. These airborne stormtroopers then activate jet packs and continue to attack Rey, Finn, Poe, and company from the above.

Stormtroopers with jet packs isn't an entirely new thing — they were featured in the Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back video game, in which they were known as Imperial Jumptroopers, or Skytroopers.

Anthony Daniels, who has portrayed beloved droid C-3PO in every installment of the Skywalker Saga, was in a typically open mood when he spoke with Empire magazine for its big The Rise of Skywalker special edition. The actor was always rather candid when it came to discussing his relationship with late co-star Kenny Baker (R2D2), and he didn't hold back when the movie mag asked him about The Last Jedi, claiming that his character was relegated to "a table decoration" in Rian Johnson's movie. "Threepio was worth more than that," Daniels said. 

When it comes to The Rise of Skywalker, it's pretty clear that C-3PO is vital to the plot. The trailers, TV spots, and everything we've learned about the movie over the course of its mammoth production lead us to believe that Threepio will make a grand sacrifice to save the day, and fans are bracing themselves accordingly. Daniels didn't go into much detail, but the way he talked about his role in The Rise of Skywalker during his Empire interview certainly hinted at an emotional blow.

"He does all sorts of weird stuff in this one," Daniels said of the upcoming sequel. "It was a delight, a joy! I get to go out on a high. This is my third ending and I think I'll be saddest about this one. Return Of The Jedi was... well, it had the Ewoks in it, for God's sake!"

We now know that J.J. Abrams decided to embrace some of the choices that Rian Johnson made in The Last Jedi when he sat down to pen The Rise of Skywalker, and it turns out that Johnson isn't the only other director to influence the final film — not according to Colin Trevorrow. The Jurassic World helmer was hired to write and direct The Rise of Skywalker before being let go over creative differences, but some of the stuff he brought to the table apparently managed to survive the rewrite process, despite the fact that Abrams decided to take the plot in an entirely new direction.

"I'm grateful to J.J. [Abrams] for embracing some of our ideas," Trevorrow told Empire. "It's exciting that fans will get to see the moments that felt essential to all of us." Trevorrow refused to divulge which segments of the movie came from him, but he did reveal that bringing Emperor Palpatine back into the equation was all Abrams' idea. "It's honestly something I never considered," Trevorrow said. "I commend him for it. This was a tough story to unlock, and he found the key."

Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly will get a "story by" credit, it's been confirmed, and it seems as though there's no hard feelings. "I'm just proud to have my name in space," Trevorrow said. The director plans to donate his residuals to the Alexander Devine Children's Hospice.