New Star Wars: The Last Jedi TV Spot Has Empire Strikes Back Parallels

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a great film. No one can deny that. It introduced a whole new generation to that galaxy far, far away and also relaunched the franchise on the big screen in a very satisfying manner. However, longtime fans will have no doubt noticed the many similarities between the J.J. Abrams-directed flick and A New Hope, especially when it came to the general plot beats and themes running throughout the movie.

Now, with Star Wars: The Last Jedi looming on the horizon, people are starting to wonder if Rian Johnson will follow a similar path and draw heavily from The Empire Strikes Back. After all, it’d be tempting to do so, given that film’s status as one of the greatest sequels ever made. Not only that, but a lot of what we’ve seen from Episode VIII so far does seem to echo certain things from Empire. Still, we’ve been assured on numerous occasions now that the movie will forge its own path.

We certainly hope that’s the case, but this new promo up above isn’t helping matters. Though more or less just a shortened version of the most recent trailer, there is a sliver of fresh footage, which sees Rey approaching the Force tree on Ahch-To. If it looks familiar, it should, as it calls to mind the moment when we saw Luke heading into the cave on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back, with a similar dark and foggy landscape.

Aside from that, it’s mostly just recycled footage here, but if nothing else, this promo is a sure sign that the floodgates are truly about to open as far as marketing material goes. With less than two months left until Episode VIII blasts into theatres, it looks as if the studio is ready to showcase the film in all its glory ahead of release, and that means you can expect a deluge of TV spots, photos and more to hit the web over the coming weeks. In other words, it’s a good time to be a fan.

Said to balance the “familiar with the unfamiliar” and lay down a new series of rules for this most precious of cinematic universes, Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be with us on December 15th. It’ll be followed in relatively quick succession by Ron Howard’s Han Solo spinoff, before J.J. Abrams brings the curtain down on Disney’s rebooted trilogy with the release of Episode IX on December 20th, 2019, placing it right alongside Warner’s Wonder Woman 2.