All the updates for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – The Verge

The high and low points of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

2019-12-20T10:51:37-05:00

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was designed to answer big questions about the entire Skywalker Saga. But it also raised a lot of new ones, including how well director J.J. Abrams handled its breakneck pacing and huge plot reveals. We offered our spoiler-free impressions earlier this week. But with the film now in theaters, it's time to take a closer (and, it should go without saying, spoiler-heavy) look at what worked and what didn't.

Final warning: we'll be talking about specific plot points throughout The Rise of Skywalker below.

Adi Robertson, Senior Reporter: I had to corner you with a few dozen lore-related questions about this movi …

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — our spoiler-free review

2019-12-18T03:24:29-05:00

I thought a lot about Rey's bread while I was watching Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The weird green food is a completely extraneous detail from Rey's life as a desperate scavenger on the desert planet Jakku, where she began her journey in The Force Awakens, director J.J. Abrams' first entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. But it's the kind of memorable quirk that makes Star Wars feel like a fantastical world still inhabited by real human beings.

The characters in Rise of Skywalker don't have time to bake bread, which is understandable for a third-act finale involving a galaxy-spanning war. Unfortunately, they don't really have time to …

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J.J. Abrams shows off Star Wars clip inside Fortnite, and now lightsabers are in the game

2019-12-14T14:41:15-05:00

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is so inescapable that it's even started invading video games. This afternoon, director J.J. Abrams stopped by a unique location to show off a new clip from the movie: Risky Reels, the drive-in theater on Fortnite's virtual island. It was a unique promotional event for the film, which naturally ended with a lightsaber duel.

The event opened with Abrams arriving on the Millennium Falcon, amidst a battle with some TIE fighters and a few Star Destroyers. There was even an in-game avatar that looked remarkably like the director. After a bit of a preamble with host Geoff Keighley - best known as the host and crea …

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Watch the new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer from D23 right now

2019-08-26T08:36:26-04:00

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will conclude the current Star Wars trilogy, and a new trailer showcased at Disney's D23 Expo teases what that end looks like. And now, Disney has posted it online for everyone to see.

The trailer opens with footage from all nine Star Wars films. A voiceover from Luke declares that there have been "a thousand generations, but this is your fight." Rey, Poe, and Finn are preparing for the biggest fight of their life. Battleships tear through the skies, as Rey and Kylo Ren meet in the middle of a war-torn planet, ready to fight. The best bit of all? Rey is wielding a red, double-sided lightsaber.

This new trai …

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Marvel will explore the origins of Kylo Ren in a new comic series

2019-07-20T10:59:03-04:00

When Disney released Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, its 30-year jump from Return of the Jedi introduced plenty of new characters and mysteries to the franchise. One of those was how Han Solo and Leia Organa's son Ben turned to the dark side to become Kylo Ren. Later this year, Marvel Comics will explore some of that story with new comic miniseries: The Rise of Kylo Ren.

Lucasfilm announced the four-issue comic series at the Lucasfilm publishing panel yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con. Charles Soule, the writer behind Marvel's Darth Vader and Poe Dameron comics, will write the series.

As just announced, I am writing THE RISE OF KYLO R …

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Lucasfilm just announced the Star Wars books that will lead to The Rise of Skywalker

2019-05-04T12:41:17-04:00

The Star Wars franchise famously includes a wide range of mediums beyond just the films - numerous books, comics, and games fill in the untold corners of the galaxy, and have set up the world for the coming installments. Lucasfilm just unveiled its publishing slate that will lead to the next film, The Rise of Skywalker, and it includes a novel that will bridge the gap from The Last Jedi, written by author Rebecca Roanhorse.

The new adult novel is Resistance Reborn, set to be released on November 12th, just before the The Rise of Skywalker premieres in December. The bare-bones description says that it will follow General Leia Organa, Poe Dam …

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Breaking down all the key moments of the first Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer

2019-04-12T15:11:29-04:00

The first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (the newly announced, official title for Episode IX, the upcoming conclusion of the Star Wars Skywalker saga) is here, and Lucasfilm has given fans a surprising amount of footage to dissect.

There are virtually no details on Episode IX's actual plot or story in the trailer, just a lot of disconnected scenes, but there are still plenty of hints about what to expect from The Rise of Skywalker. We've broken down all the key moments of the trailer below, along with our best guesses at what it all means.

The trailer opens with a shot of Rey on an unknown desert planet. (Jakku? Tatooine? Geo …

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Watch the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

2019-04-12T13:11:42-04:00

The final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy finally has a name. During a panel at Star Wars Celebration today, Lucasfilm debuted the first trailer for Episode IX, which will officially be called Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

The film will be directed by J.J. Abrams, who kicked off Disney's Star Wars efforts with The Force Awakens back in 2015. According to Abrams, the new installment takes place sometime after Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, in which Leia Organa's Resistance movement was forced on the run and battered by the First Order. That film also saw the death of Luke Skywalker after a showdown with his nephew, Kylo Ren, w …

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Doctor Who star Matt Smith is reportedly joining Star Wars: Episode IX

2018-08-28T14:41:30-04:00

J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode IX began shooting earlier this month, and today, Variety reports that a new actor has joined the cast: former Doctor Who star Matt Smith.

As usual with all things Star Wars, advanced details are light at the moment, but the report describes Smith's character as a "key role" in the upcoming film. Science fiction fans are doubtless most familiar with Smith for his multiyear run as the Eleventh Doctor on the BBC program Doctor Who. He's also been demonstrating his range since leaving that program by earning an Emmy nomination for his performance as Prince Philip in Netflix's historical drama The Crown.

Smith jo …

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Lucasfilm confirms Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill will be in Star Wars: Episode IX

2018-07-27T16:52:04-04:00

The next big Star Wars movie will begin production on Wednesday, August 1st in London, and Lucasfilm has formally announced the cast for the film. While there are no surprises regarding the actors playing the roles of the characters introduced in the sequel trilogy, there are a few major reveals: Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill will be back, and so will Billy Dee Williams, now officially confirmed to be reprising his role as Lando Calrissian, after rumors earlier this year.

Other actors reprising their roles in the untitled sequel include Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe), Lupita Nyong'o (Maz), …

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