With less than a month to its premiere, the marketing machine for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is dominating the online space, and with good reason, as the last movie in the Skywalker Saga promises to conclude the epic space-opera story that started over 40 years ago.
The cast and crew of a galaxy far, far away are currently busy promoting the now-finished final Star Wars movie in the main saga, and Disney has been teasing us with many short teasers and clips that depict the gorgeous scenery of the film’s various locations. Fans can barely contain their excitement, at least those who still hope the third entry in the Sequel Trilogy can stick the landing, unlike its divisive predecessor.
These clips don’t reveal much about the film’s plot or its narrative structure, and in spite of all the rumors circulating online, there’s still so much that we don’t know about The Rise of Skywalker. Namely, one of the biggest puzzles comes from the D23 footage which showcased Dark Rey wielding a red double-bladed lightsaber. Ever since the release of The Force Awakens, fans have theorized about a possible twist revealing Rey as the true villain of the story and paving the way for Ben Solo’s redemption and return to the light side.
For now, all we can do is speculate, but appearing on The Tonight Show, Daisy Ridley had a cheeky response when asked about Dark Rey:
“That’s Dark Rey… I honestly felt like I know know what a viral sensation is – because I was one,” Daisy said. “It was really exciting because it dropped at a convention, and then the trailer didn’t come out for three days. So my mom was texting me, being like, ‘What is this I’ve seen on Twitter? Do you go dark?’ And I was like ‘We’ll have to wait and see!'”
Previous rumors have suggested there’s a special connection between Rey and Palpatine, leading people to believe that this dark version of the heroine could be a clone created by Darth Sidious to do his bidding. Others, meanwhile, think this is a force vision like the one Luke experienced in The Empire Strikes Back as part of his Jedi training.
Either way, J.J. Abrams sure does love his mystery boxes, and we won’t know the answer for sure until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th.
