Ahead of its release on digital in a couple of weeks, Lucasfilm has dropped a new clip from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – a snippet of the climactic battle between heroine Rey (Daisy Ridley), redeemed villain Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the evilest creature in the galaxy, Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
The footage, which lasts just over a minute, picks up as Rey senses the changed Ben Solo, who’s arrived on Exegol to help stop Darth Sidious. Though Palpatine expects her to strike him down, thereby fulfilling the Sith ritual that will allow him to possess her, Rey actually passes Ben Luke’s old lightsaber through the Force, allowing him to make quick work of the Knights of Ren (bye guys, we hardly knew you). Meanwhile, Rey battles the Sith Troopers with Leia’s lightsaber.
Once Ben reaches the Sith temple, the two share a loaded look, both wordlessly acknowledging Ben’s switch to the light, before they stand side by side and team up to take on the former Emperor together. And that’s the whole clip. To rewatch the rest of it, we’ll have to buy the movie when it comes out on Digital HD on March 17th.
TROS‘ climax has been hugely divisive ever since the film came out last December, with everything from Kylo’s sacrifice to the Rey/Ben kiss to the addition of Force healing causing controversy. However, you have to admit that this sequence is hugely exciting to witness. After three films of him struggling with his conflicted nature, it’s thrilling to watch Ben Solo drop the Darth Vader impression and act more like his dad. In fact, the Han-like shrug he makes to the Knights has rightly become a widespread meme.
Be sure sure to grab a digital copy of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in a couple of weeks’ time, or else wait for the Blu-Ray/DVD release at the end of the month (March 31st).