History Film / TheRiseOfSkywalker

It was confirmed in 2023 that Daisy Ridley would return as Rey in a new film set fifteen years after this installment to rebuild the Jedi Order. The film will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy of ''Series/MsMarvel2022'' and written by [[Series/PeakyBlinders Steven Knight]].

It was confirmed in 2023 that Daisy Ridley would return as Rey in a new film set fifteen years after this installment to rebuild the Jedi Order. The film will be directed by [[Series/MsMarvel2022 Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy]] and written by [[Series/PeakyBlinders Steven Knight]].

It was confirmed in 2023 that Daisy Ridley would return as Rey in a new film set fifteen years after this insallment to rebuild the Jedi Order. The film will be directed by [[Series/MsMarvel2022 Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy]] and written by [[Series/PeakyBlinders Steven Knight]].

* AdaptationExpansion: The novelization addresses several things not touched upon in the movie. That Palpatine was resurrected via transferring his essence into a clone body as in ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire''. That Rey's father was Palpatine's attempted replacement clone body, hence why he wasn't heard about prior, defective for laking Force ability. That Rey and Ben's story arc wasn't about romance by describing their kiss in emotionally heightened but non-romantic terms. And that Rey isn't retiring to Tatooine in the final scene; she's just burying the lightsabers and will continue being a hero across the galaxy.

** Luke's parting lines to Kylo Ren in the prior film, "See you around, kid," was meant to set up a subplot in Colin Trevorrow's version of Episode Nine that would have had Luke's force ghost haunting Kylo. This was scrapped along with the entirety of Colin's version and Luke and Kylo never interacted again in the trilogy.

** The Visual Dictionary for the film explains some of the more oblique plot points that the filmmakers didn't have enough time to cover due to the tight production deadline (i.e. more detail on ''how'' Palpatine came back from the dead, how he was able to amass the Final Order's massive fleet on Exegol and clarifying that the Final Order Star Destroyers are ''not'' mini-Death Stars as the film implies, how Rey was able to repair Anakin's lightsaber and learned Force Healing, a more clear explanation for why Hux suddenly began to betray the First Order, Poe's backstory and past as a smuggler prior to joining the Resistance, etc.)

* SoloMissionBecomesGroupMission: When Rey decides to go searching for the Sith world Exegol alone, her friends Finn, Poe and Chewbacca (plus C-3PO) insist on accompanying her.

!!''Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' provides examples of:

** Rey destroys the First Order frigate with Force lightning during a struggle to bring it down against Kylo Ren's attempt to break the hold on it. We later find out Palpatine is her grandfather. The ease with which she's drawn on the Dark Side, both subtly and obviously, throughout the trilogy also counts.
** Rey takes out a First Order frigate with Force Lightning by accident. In the climax, Palpatine disables the Resistance fleet with a far larger, sustained blast of lightning.

* TimeSkip: The film picks up one year after the events of ''Film/TheLastJedi'', rather than being an ImmediateSequel as ''The Last Jedi'' was. As such, the Resistance has regained some forces (the comic book ''ComicBook/StarWarsAllegiance'' explains how they did), Finn's hair has grown out more, Rey rebuilt Anakin's lightsaber after it was torn apart in the finale of the previous film, and so on.

* FakeShemp: A necessity to finish Leia's story without the late Carrie Fisher. Beyond the repurposed footage from previous films, a body double was used in some scenes where Leia is seen from her back, she's conveniently darkened when concentrating to call Kylo/Ben through the Force, and her dead body is covered with a sheet the last time she's seen.

** Rey buries Luke and Leia's lightsabers at the Lars homestead on Tatooine, but she has constructed her own lightsaber, and closes the film watching the binary sunrise, promising a new generation of Jedi with her to lead them.

** There is something funny in the fact that the Skywalker family lightsaber will now end up being buried on Tatooine which Anakin and Luke wished to leave in their youth, and at the Lars Homestead, whose owner was not fond of Jedi.

%%BookEnds are matching scenes from the beginning and end that specifically highlight a character's arc, a significant change in the plot, or meaningful relationships. Scenes which are merely a symbolic parallel to each other can be MeaningfulEcho, CallBack, or ContinuityNod depending on their use.

* BookEnds: This film is called the conclusion of The Skywalker Saga for several reasons.

!'''Due to the sheer volume of spoilers, all spoilers are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!'''

!'''This page contains unmarked spoilers. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!'''

* SimpleSolutionWontWork: Beaumont Kin says, "We need to pull some Holdo Maneuvers" in reference to the scene in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' when Admiral Holdo used the ''Raddus'' to ram the First Order flagship ''Supremacy'' while jumping to hyperspace, wrecking it and the accompanying fleet. The suggestion is [[{{Handwave}} brushed off as "one in a million"]]. [[spoiler:Though in spite of this line, the montage of the First Order's defeat at the end includes a shot of a Star Destroyer broken in nearly the same way as the ''Supremacy'', implying that some crazy Resistance pilot did recreate the Holdo Maneuver successfully.]]

''Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker''[[note]]also known as ''Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker''[[/note]] is the third film in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel trilogy and the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga. It is directed by Creator/JJAbrams, who returns after having directed ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', and written by Abrams and Creator/ChrisTerrio.

** Rey - [[TheTriple three times]].

*** The third when rejecting Finn's plea - followed by a Force push of Finn back.

** The first thing Luke did in ''The Last Jedi'' was to throw Anakin's lightsaber off a cliff above the ocean. This is referenced twofold: One, the first thing Luke does in this movie is ''[[BookEnds catch]]'' that same lightsaber when Rey tries to throw it away - on that exact same island, no less. Two, the last thing that "Kylo Ren" does (before [[ThatManIsDead Ben Solo]] [[HeelFaceTurn is reborn]]) is angrily throw his Dark Side crossguard-saber into the sea.

* GladToBeAliveSex: Overlapping with VictorySex, and hilariously {{Defied|Trope}} in the post-battle celebration. Poe and Zorii lock eyes from across a crowd, and he gives her a suggestive look. Zorii shoots him down with a firm shake of her head. Poe takes it in stride. On a more positive note, Commander D’Acy and Lieutenant Tyce share a celebratory smooch (a lesbian interracial kiss that had to be cut from the film in some nations due to legal standards, not to mention that D’Acy is Tyce’s superior officer).

** Kylo Ren/Ben Solo having visions of a grand Throne, with the universe either at peace or turmoil under the rule of a Solo, calls to mind Darth Caedus/Jacen Solo - the old Expanded Universe's son of Han and Leia - having visions of his daughter on a grand throne both in a time of peace and under the reign of a Sith.
** Kylo/Ben turning back to the light after a ''long'' fall in a search for everlasting galaxy-wide peace that left Luke embittered and the Jedi nearly eradicated completes the arc of a Solo's son being redeemed - Jacen, again, underwent something similar, complete with attempting to convince a female rival/comrade to join the Dark Side, avoiding a fight (and becoming mortally wounded as a result), and said rival/comrade nearly falling to the Dark Side twice.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Once more, the Empire/First Order's Nazi inspirations are hammered home with Palpatine's "[[FinalSolution Final Order]]" - a total genocide of anyone who opposes him.

** We also finally get an explanation for why there was NoEndorHolocaust - the remains of the Death Star II scattered across Endor's moons, the biggest chunk of it landed on a different moon than the one featured in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. [[MST3KMantra Don't think about the logistics of it too hard]].

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Once more, the Empire/First Order's Nazi inspirations are hammered home with Palpatine's "Final Order" - a total genocide of anyone who opposes him.

* GladToBeAliveSex: Overlapping with VictorySex, and hilariously {{Defied|Trope}} in the post-battle celebration. Poe and Zorii lock eyes from across a crowd, and he gives her a suggestive look. Zorii shoots him down with a firm shake of her head. Poe takes it in stride. On a more positive note, Commander D’Acy and Lieutenant Tyce share a celebratory smooch (a lesbian interracial kiss that had to be cut from the film in some nations due to legal standards).

* GladToBeAliveSex: Overlapping with VictorySex, and hilariously {{Defied|Trope}} in the post-battle celebration. Poe and Zorii lock eyes from across a crowd, and he gives her a suggestive look. Zorii shoots him down with a firm shake of her head. Poe takes it in stride.

One year after the events of ''Film/TheLastJedi'', the Resistance has replenished many of its forces and the First Order's conquest of the galaxy begins to stagnate, with neither side having a clear upper hand. Suddenly, Emperor Palpatine (Creator/IanMcDiarmid) releases a message revealing that he has come back from his [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi sudden demise]], promising to unleash a fleet of ships, each equipped with the firepower of a Death Star, upon the galaxy from the hidden Sith world of Exegol. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Creator/AdamDriver) makes a move to ally with the man pulling his strings, with a plan to betray him later.

With only 16 hours to enact a plan to find and infiltrate Exegol before the Final Order can be unleashed upon the galaxy, both sides assemble their forces for a crucial battle that will determine the course of history. Rey (Creator/DaisyRidley), the last Jedi, goes on a journey alongside her allies Finn (Creator/JohnBoyega) and Poe Dameron (Creator/OscarIsaac) to chart a path to the planet, while all three are targeted by the First Order and its Supreme Leader. While confronting Kylo Ren once again, Rey learns of her true origins, and both must face their pasts as the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance.

Most of the sequel trilogy's cast return, including Creator/CarrieFisher (brought back posthumously via repurposed footage from the previous three Skywalker Saga films) as Leia Organa, Creator/MarkHamill as Luke Skywalker, Creator/HarrisonFord as Han Solo, Creator/AnthonyDaniels as C-3PO, Creator/DomhnallGleeson as Armitage Hux, Creator/LupitaNyongo as Maz Kanata, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, and Creator/KellyMarieTran as Rose Tico. Hassan Taj and Lee Towersey replace Jimmy Vee as the primary actors for R2-D2. Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, Denis Lawson, and Creator/WarwickDavis reprise their roles as Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles, and Wicket W. Warrick, respectively. New additions to the cast include Creator/NaomiAckie as Jannah, Creator/RichardEGrant as Enric Pryde, Creator/KeriRussell as Zorii Bliss, and Creator/DominicMonaghan as Beaumont Kin.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: On a ''grand'' scale; not only would killing a Sith out of hatred cause a fall to the Dark Side, as it nearly happened to Luke, but Rey--who finds herself in an identical situation of killing Palpatine--is explicitly told that, if she kills Palpatine, driven by fear and rage, she will be possessed by his spirit and countless Sith Dark Jedi--cementing his resurrection. However this ends up [[NiceJobFixingItVillain blowing back in Palpatine's face]] (''literally'') because it allows Rey to realize what killing Palpatine means for both of them and she manages to stay her hand until she can summon the power of the light side to drive back Palpatine's own attack towards her (meaning she did not strike him down in anger) and use it against him to finally end him once and for all.

** Aboard the remains of the Death Star, Rey sees a vision of herself having embraced the dark side, who wears a black hood. Later, frightened of what she could become, Rey goes to Ahch-To and dons the light cloak of the Jedi, intending to stay there for the rest of her life.

** The plot about Palpatine returning, while attempting to make a Jedi his new apprentice/possess them also heavily echoes ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'', a comic series in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends''.
** Kylo/Ben having visions of a grand Throne, with the universe at peace under the rule of a Solo, calls to mind Jacen Solo - the old Expanded Universe's son of Han and Leia who fell to the Dark Side and betrayed Luke - having visions of his daughter on a grand throne in a time of peace.

** Palpatine having a son who was against him, plus a grandchild who isn't aware of their heritage, had previously been in a series of ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' books from the '90s.

** In the ''Legends'' continuity, Darth Vader's personal castle was described as looking like it was made out of black onyx stone. Kylo Ren keeps his grandfather's melted mask on a pedestal which looks like black onyx.
** Chewbacca became the only one of the original heroes from all three original trilogy films to actually die over the course of the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' Expanded Universe (specifically in ''Literature/NewJediOrder''). While audiences already knew Leia would die in this film, it was a surprise that Chewie gets killed, but he [[BaitAndSwitch actually wasn't]]. So the sequel trilogy did the complete opposite of the Expanded Universe, with Han, Luke, and Leia passing away, while Chewie outlived them.

** Palpatine's heavily scarred, undead-looking visage with milky white eyes before he rejuvenates himself isn't an exactly a pretty sight.

** Played straight here in the trope's originating franchise (and back to the TropeNamer at that). We see two Ewoks celebrating the final victory over the Final Order at the end. A Star Destroyer has been destroyed by a "Holdo Maneuver" right over the forest moon of Endor, and everything seems just fine there, despite the apocalyptic destruction and spread damage such a maneuver caused in the previous film.

** The [[invoked]]FanNickname "Holdo Maneuvers" (i.e., [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming another starship]] [[UpToEleven at lightspeed]]) is used onscreen by Beaumont Kin. The fan questions about "why didn't the Rebels use this before" are also acknowledged by Snap Wexley, who points out that the high cost versus the low chance of success makes it [[AwesomeButImpractical prohibitively impractical]]. (Though we later find out that it didn't stop someone over Endor from trying it -- and succeeding!)

* HyperspeedAmbush: The Resistance fleet jumping to Exegol and attacking the Sith Star Destroyers. Then taken UpToEleven when the entire friggin' ''galaxy'' shows up to join the Resistance.

* MookFaceTurn: UpToEleven -- our heroes meet an entire platoon of former Stormtroopers who went AWOL when they refused to kill civilians. They later join the Resistance.

'''"Han":''' *''touches Kylo's cheek''* You do.\\
'''Kylo Ren:''' [''on the verge of tears''] Dad...\\

* ChekhovsGun: One that was loaded but [[RedHerring left unfired]] in the [[Film/TheLastJedi previous movie]]: Rey saw Luke Skywalker's X-Wing sunken in the ocean at the edge of the island on Ahch-To, but neither she nor Luke ever used it. In this movie, Force Ghost Luke [[CallBack lifts it out of the water]] just like Yoda did in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', and Rey flies it to Exegol.
We also learn where Rey's parents were going when they left in her vision from "The Force Awakens."