Over the weekend, Lucasfilm showed off some of its upcoming projects at Disney’s D23 conference, including a release date for the final season of The Clone Wars, a trailer for The Mandalorian, and a special teaser for The Rise of Skywalker. That teaser is now online, and it teases how the final installment of the Skywalker Saga ties the entire franchise together.
Lucasfilm released the first teaser for the film earlier this year, and it included what seems to be a notable line from Luke Skywalker: “A thousand generations live in you now.” That sentiment is echoed here as this teaser runs through the events of past Star Wars films, starting with the Original Trilogy, and ending up with The Rise of Skywalker. Luke Skywalker and the Jedi might be gone, but their legacy rests on Rey’s shoulders.
In a way, it feels very much like this is not just a conclusion to the Skywalker saga, but a goodbye for the franchise as well. The trailer is a neat look at the high points throughout the entire series, before closing out with some new footage from the upcoming finale.
What we get is pretty incredible-looking: Rey, Poe, Finn, C-3P0 and Chewie looking out over a desert encampment; General Leia Organa; a massive fleet of Imperial-era-looking Star Destroyers facing off against a Resistance flotilla; C-3P0 with red eyes; Rey training in a forest, and then facing off against Kylo Ren in the midst of a storm. The whole thing closes out with a clip of Emperor Palpatine saying “your journey nears its end,” accompanied by a brief clip of a hooded Rey deploying a red, double-bladed lightsaber.
Clearly, it’ll be plenty of fuel for a whole new set of Star Wars conspiracy theories for how it pieces together. We’ll find out how it ends up on December 20th, when the film hits theaters.
