Months before any of us had seen the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, filmmaker and podcaster Kevin Smith visited the set of the upcoming trilogy-closer, where he claimed to have seen things that brought tears to his eyes. Of course, the Clerks helmsman stopped short of revealing any actual details of what he witnessed, but now that the first footage from the Last Jedi sequel has been shared with the public, Smith has taken the opportunity to offer a few thoughts.
In a recent tweet, he shared yesterday’s teaser, along with the following message:
“SPOILERS! This teaser is elegant and exciting! I got to witness J.J. doing the Lord’s work in person and what I saw and heard on #EpisodioIX took me back in time to 1977, 1980 and 1983! Rey’s TIE flip, Kylo masking up, and LANDO at last! @starwars Saga is going out Force-fully!”
Indeed, despite Kylo Ren’s instruction to “let the past die,” The Rise of Skywalker is set to feature quite a few returning players from the Original Trilogy. Alongside Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, the film is expected to serve as the big screen finale of Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker and Carrie Fisher’s Leia Organa.
But the comeback that’s really got the internet talking is that of Emperor Palpatine. The classic villain’s return was signaled in the new trailer by the distinctive sound of Ian McDiarmid’s sinister laugh, leaving the fans with eight months to speculate on this surprising reveal.
In any case, Smith’s remark about his set visit taking him back to the Original Trilogy seems in line with various comments he made last December. Speaking on the Lights Camera Barstool podcast, the filmmaker claimed that the moments that really blew his mind had less to do with The Last Jedi than with the saga as a whole. Palpatine’s return could certainly be one example of what he was talking about, but we’ll find out how else Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker connects to the wider series when the film hits theaters on December 20th.
