After months of rumored titles for the movie (Rise of the Force, Will of the Force, A New Order and the truly execrable Skywalkers), we finally have the official moniker for Episode IX: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. And while it’s not the most original title in the world, I kinda like it. After all, Episode IX has been billed as the final entry in the Skywalker Saga, a story which began with The Phantom Menace and has provided the backbone to the eight mainline films in the franchise.
But what could The Rise of Skywalker mean? Well, I think there are a few options. First is that all of the sketchy rumors about the movie will be true and they’re referring to Anakin Skywalker. We’ve heard that Anakin (or Darth Vader) may be set to make an appearance in the film, so perhaps J.J. Abrams could be bringing things full circle and making this final entry in the Sequel Trilogy the true end of Anakin’s story. But I think that’s unlikely.
The next candidate is that they’re referring to Luke. Though he died in The Last Jedi, he’s narrating the trailer and Mark Hamill is confirmed to appear in the movie. There’s an outside chance that Abrams might be seeking to finish his story from beyond the grave, but then again, given that so much of The Last Jedi was about the character, I think a renewed focus on him is also not too probable.
Then there’s Leia. We’ve known for a long time that the plans for the Sequel Trilogy were to make Episode VII Han’s film, Episode VIII Luke’s and Episode IX Leia’s. Despite Carrie Fisher having sadly passed, she’s apparently set to play a major role in the movie. In The Last Jedi we saw her use the Force to save her own life, so perhaps this pic could show her Force talents developing even more and her finally taking up the title of Leia Skywalker. But though this is a cool idea, the fact that they’re reportedly assembling Fisher’s performance from unused footage might make it technically unworkable.
That leaves the youngest remaining Skywalker: Kylo Ren. Despite never having referred to himself as Ben Skywalker, he’s the youngest in the bloodline and is in my opinion by far the most likely candidate to be the subject of the title. My bet is that we’re going to see him on a redemption arc throughout the movie, possibly confronting and atoning for the crimes of his past (and maybe sacrificing himself to put an end to the First Order). His story has been one of the major arcs in this trilogy, so making him the core of the movie makes a hell of a lot of sense to me.
Or it could just be Rey and everyone is going to end up rolling their eyes. Either way, we’ll find out when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits cinemas on December 20th.
