The final full trailer for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” will drop Monday night during the Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and New York Jets.
The trailer will be the final trailer for the final film in the Skywalker Saga of “Star Wars” film. Its release date comes about two weeks ahead of the film’s release.
As you might imagine, “Star Wars” hype is bouncing off the stratosphere right now. In fact, the Star Wars Twitter account shared mini-trailers ahead of the trailer’s release. So yeah, hype is building.
We’ve only seen two “Rise of Skywalker” trailers since the film was announced. The first trailer dropped in April. The internet couldn’t handle it. It showed hero Rey (Daisy Ridley) jumping over a First Order ship, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) slashing his lightsaber through a foe and the entire crew looking out at the fallen Second Death Star. And it ended with a terrifying laugh from the true “Star Wars” villain — Emperor Palpatine.
Four months later, Disney released a special look at “Rise of Skywalker” at the D23 Expo convention. The trailer mostly offered a glimpse at previous “Star Wars” films until it showed a lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren. And then it culminated with Rey wearing a dark cloak and using a double-bladed red lightsaber. Whoa.
And, back in September, “Rise of Skywalker” dropped a TV spot that was basically a clipped down version of the D23 Special Look, as reported by the Deseret News.
Tonight, we’re going to get another “Star Wars” trailer, and it’ll be the last one before the film launches. We have so much ground to cover before the new films drops. We don’t know anything about the story, the narrative or where our characters are at. While that’s probably not going to change much — just read your reporter’s story on the magic of movie trailers and why sharing less is more for an example — we should expect more details out of the new trailer tonight.
With that in mind, here are nine things your reporter hopes to see tonight in the new “Rise of Skywalker” trailer. Just a note — your reporter has not read any spoilers for the trailers. However, this list is full of potential spoilers for the trailer should any of them come to fruition, which will be ego-boosting, to say the least.
1. A shot of Emperor Palpatine.
We’ve heard his laugh and a voice-over in the last two sneak peaks. Now we need to complete the deal and see a shot of Emperor Palpatine in the flesh, assuming that his physical presence makes a return in the new film. Hype is already high for a Palpatine return. We need to actually see him so we’re not guessing about whether he truly comes back.
2. More Rey, Finn and Poe in action.
Dialogue would be good to see in this trailer. Several shots from the last few trailers show Rey, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) staring out at things, flying on spaceships and what not. But we don’t really have any shared dialogue between them. Let’s turn down the score and increase the dialogue for the next trailer.
3. General Leia Organa to honor Carrie Fisher.
It’s the late Carrie Fisher’s birthday, which may or may not be a coincidence for why the trailer is dropping tonight. To honor her, it’d be great to see some footage of Leia speaking in the new trailer. Maybe she’ll have the last line, which would be a clear nod and homage to Fisher.
4. A shot of Luke Skywalker as a Force ghost?
Mark Hamill admitted that his character Luke Skywalker will be a Force Ghost in the new film. Will we see a shot of him in the new trailer? The final shot of the trailer would be a nice place to put him, leaving viewers on a cliffhanger for what they can expect.
5. Kylo Ren making decisions as Supreme Leader.
We know Ren took over as Supreme Leader for the First Order at the end of “The Last Jedi.” Let’s see his leadership in action. Will he be angry? Will he have a plan? Let’s see how Ren has evolved since the last time we saw him.
6. More brilliant music, please!
OK. The two “Rise of Skywalker” trailers have been filled with the iconic John Williams score. More of that would be nice to hear in this final trailer. We’ll surely get some of his music, likely rifts off the previous films’ songs. But will we hear any new music?
7. A sense of connection to the other trilogies.
J.J. Abrams recently said he has worked to connect all three “Star Wars” trilogies for this final film. He said he wants to make sure the ending is cohesive and brings the entire saga to its conclusion in a fitting way. It’d be great to feel some of that connection in this trailer. Maybe a shot of some pod racers? Maybe a glimpse of Naboo and then a quick shot of Hoth? New footage that shows this connection would be greatly celebrated by fans of the saga.
8. An idea of where the story is heading.
Don’t spoil everything, of course. We know JJ Abrams won’t want to share everything about the film in this trailer. And, like previous Disney and Marvel trailers, it’s unlikely the marketing departments will want to do it. But we should have some sense of an idea of where the story is headed. Are Rey, Poe and Finn on the hunt for something? Is Emperor Palpatine back in action?
9. A real battle scene.
Let’s see a brief shot of a space battle between the Resistance and the First Order. Let’s see the Millennium Falcon soaring through TIE fighter shots and exploding X-Wings over a frosted planet. Or ships scraping on the salty grounds of Crait. Let’s see some visually-stunning battle scenes the way only “Star Wars” can deliver.