When the time comes to up the stakes, the Star Wars movies have repeatedly resorted to superweapons, be it the Death Star in A New Hope, the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, or the Death Star tribute act that was Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens. It’s therefore not an unreasonable prediction to guess that Star Wars: Episode IX could be puling the same trick, and this recent report shared by Express.co.uk is alleging just that.
According to an unverified leak, the upcoming trilogy-closer features a scene where Kylo Ren is in his throne room viewing a hologram projected from a device in his hand. From here, he sees footage of a new superweapon that’s seemingly still under construction as it destroys terrain on a planet. And while the authenticity of this leak is questionable, the resentment provoked by the report seems pretty real, as fans lament at the possibility of yet another retread of the Death Star narrative.
Sure enough, while the superweapon plot device is certainly one way of incorporating a large cast of characters into a single mission, we’d like to think that writer-director J.J. Abrams will apply a little more imagination to the story of this era-closing flick. Say what you will about the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, but at least Revenge of the Sith found a way of escalating the conflict without making its heroes fight yet another giant genocide machine.
At the same time, you could argue that the story itself is less important than how you tell it, and if Abrams’ script finds a satisfying way of wrapping the many character arcs of the series, then perhaps we can forgive a few clichés in the setup. In any case, we’ll find out what form the final battle takes when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.