It’s long been speculated that the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX will see a time jump after the events of The Last Jedi, and it may even be necessary too, seeing how J.J. Abrams presumably has only one film to bring about the downfall of the First Order. But thanks to Empire Magazine’s 2019 movie preview, it seems we finally have some confirmation on where in the timeline this next feature will take place.
The publication reports that the still-untitled ninth Star Wars episode will pick things up one year after the conclusion to Rian Johnson’s last film. What exactly unfolds in that skipped period remains to be seen, but you have to imagine that Kylo Ren will have settled into his role as Supreme Leader by then, while the Resistance may need that year to recover and start rebuilding after being whittled down to precious few numbers in their previous outing.
In fact, Oscar Isaac teased earlier this year that this next movie will see the gang engage in some guerrilla warfare, suggesting that Abrams may build on the final scene from The Last Jedi by sending our heroes on something of a grassroots campaign, gathering support from ordinary folk across the galaxy until the Resistance is ready to fight back one year later.
In any case, the time jump likely won’t come as a great shock to most longtime fans, seeing how most Star Wars sequels take the story forward a year or so from the preceding entry. The only major exception is The Last Jedi, making the film’s opening text crawl – which basically serves as a recap of The Force Awakens – one of the rare examples of Johnson’s movie following tradition for tradition’s sake. Abrams, on the other hand, seems all too happy to adhere to the customs of the franchise, but we’ll see if he also has a few surprises planned when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.