What a day it’s been for Star Wars fans, eh?
Amid rumors of a new outfit for Rey and possible flashbacks featuring Snoke, Lucasfilm finally cut through the noise to drop an official press release on us, which didn’t confirm any juicy plot details, but did give us a complete cast list for Star Wars: Episode IX. As such, we now know to expect Mark Hamill back as Luke, a return from General Leia via unused footage from The Force Awakens and of course, appearances from all the usuals: Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, etc.
But that’s not all, as the studio also confirmed that, as expected, Abrams’ upcoming threequel will bring the Skywalker Saga to an end. I know, shocker, right? Anyone with even a remote interest in the franchise will know that George Lucas alway planned for it to be a nine-film arc and now, with the Original and Prequel Trilogies complete, and the Sequel Trilogy getting ready to release its final chapter, that arc’s about to come to a close.
Just because the Skywalker Saga is at its end, though, that doesn’t mean Star Wars as a whole is done. Far from it, in fact. Aside from all the various spinoffs floating around (see: Obi-Wan and Boba Fett), there are also new trilogies coming to us from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Not to mention that on the small screen, we’ll soon see Star Wars Resistance and a live-action show from Jon Favreau.
In short, it’s a good time to be a fan of that galaxy far, far away, and though some are understandably worried about franchise fatigue setting in, we’re just hopeful that Lucasfilm has learned from their mistakes (see: Solo: A Star Wars Story) and takes the proper care and time with their next batch of releases, which will kickoff with Star Wars: Episode IX on December 20th, 2019.
