The return of Palpatine as the ultimate big bad in the final Star Wars movie bestowed Lucasfilm with a ton of creative opportunities to wrap up the story in a meaningful and satisfying way, which makes Episode XI – The Rise of Skywalker‘s failure to do just that all the more jarring.
One thing that a lot of fans were expecting to see was the return of Force Ghosts to lend their assistance to Rey in the final battle. That actually happened in the context of the narrative, but instead of Anakin, Yoda, and even Ben Kenobi appearing in the flesh — or ghost apparatus — to fight Palpatine and his Sith cronies on Exegol, viewers were treated to a half-assed voice cameo montage that played over the big moment. This even led many viewers to take matters into their own hands, adding the ghosts in numerous edits, some of which went viral and garnered a lot of traction within the fandom.
But it appears that Lucasfilm is finally relenting and acknowledging what fans wanted to see in the film a few years ago — and by incorporating the element into Luke Skywalker’s journey, no less. In the forthcoming Shadow of the Sith novel by Adam Christopher, Luke Skywalker travels to Exegol and encounters Sith spirits, who block his path. Luckily for him, the ghost of Anakin Skywalker arrives just in time to give him a much-needed strength boost, and they take on the Sith together.
Below you can check out the book’s official cover art, courtesy of StarWars.com, which also shared an excerpt from the book. You can read the chapter here.
Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith is releasing this summer on June 28, but you can already pre-order it through the official Penguin Random House website.
