History Film / TheRiseOfSkywalker

* AnAesop:
** Bloodlines don't define who you are. Only you can define who you are and what you want to be. And as Luke himself put it, "Some things are stronger than blood."
** Family isn't always whom you're related to. Family is also about those who love you and care about you. And you can choose your own family. At the end of the film, Rey rejects her Palpatine family lineage and chooses to rename herself as a Skywalker to honor the people who love her unconditionally, the Skywalker family.
** No one is ever really gone.

** Series composer Music/JohnWilliams appears as the bartender on Kijimi who shakes his head when the protagonists walk in to see Babu Frik. (Presumably, [[DeathByCameo he was killed]] when the First Order destroys the planet later in the movie.)

* DavidVersusGoliath: The Resistance attacks thousands of destroyers with just a handful of fighters and a paltry corvette as their flagship hoping that their [[GondorCallsForAid plea]] is answered before they're wiped out.

* BodyHorror: During Palpatine's first scene, we're treated to a quick look at his hands, revealing that at least one finger isn't completely ''finished''. The rest look none too healthy as well. His eyes also appear to be permanently glazed. All part of the CloningBlues.

* TheMole: One informs the Resistance of Palpatine's return and the Last Order fleet. It's General Hux, who, while he has no love for the Resistance, can no longer stand Kylo Ren and is willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of him.

* YouAreInCommandNow: With Leia dead, Poe becomes General of the Resistance.

** Series composer Music/JohnWilliams appears as the bartender on Kijimi who shakes his head when the protagonists walk in to see Babu Frik.

** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Palpatine is thrown into a reactor and vaporized, on board a space station that subsequently explodes. He is somehow still alive in this film.

* RetCon: Rey's parents were said to be nobodies who sold her for drinking money in ''The Last Jedi'', but now her father was a Palpatine clone, making Palpatine himself her grandfather (kind of?). The change can be explained as UnreliableNarrator as she heard it from Kylo and the Dark Side Cave on Ahch-To.

[[header:[[center:[-'''''Franchise/StarWars'' Films'''\\
'''''Skywalker Saga:''''' '''[[Film/ThePhantomMenace I]]''' | ''[[Film/AttackOfTheClones II]]'' | ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith III]]'' | ''[[Film/ANewHope IV]]'' | ''[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack V]]'' | ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi VI]]'' | ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens VII]]'' | ''[[Film/TheLastJedi VIII]]'' | ''IX''\\
'''''A Star Wars Story:''''' '''''Film/RogueOne''''' | '''''Film/{{Solo}}'''''-]]]]]

[[header:[[center:[-'''''Franchise/StarWars'' -- Skywalker Saga'''\\
''[[Film/ThePhantomMenace I]]'' | ''[[Film/AttackOfTheClones II]]'' | ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith III]]'' | ''[[Film/ANewHope IV]]'' | ''[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack V]]'' | ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi VI]]'' | ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens VII]]'' | ''[[Film/TheLastJedi VIII]]'' | '''IX'''-]]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[-'''Luke Skywalker:''' [[CallBack Rey, the Force will be with you,]] ''[[CallBack always]]''.-][[note]]Clockwise from top right: Kylo Ren, Rey, Zorii Bliss, Lando Calrissian, Rose Tico, D-O, C-3PO and R2-D2, BB-8, Hannah, Chewbacca, Finn, and Poe Dameron.[[/note]]]]

[-[[caption-width-right:350:'''Luke Skywalker:''' [[CallBack Rey, the Force will be with you,]] ''[[CallBack always]]''.]]-]

* ParasiticImmortality: [[BigBad The unnamed alien]] terrorizing the titular Orient Express train is revealed to be a formless EnergyBeing who can leap from lifeform to lifeform, and by the time of the film has already lived for millions of years at the very least. Should its current host be killed and the alien be unable to find a new body to inhabit, it will die, which is ultimately how the protagonists kill it during the ending, by derailing the train off of a cliff, with the alien still inside.

** Maz Kanata gives Chewie a medal at the end, acknowledging the fact that fans have lamented for years how Chewie was the only one who [[SnubByOmission never got a medal]] at the end of ''A New Hope''. This retcons previous information explaining that Wookie culture prevents Chewbacca from accepting medals from non-Wookies, although he may just have accepted it due to being [[TragicKeepsake something that he can remember Han, Luke, and Leia by]].

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 Steven Knight of ''Series/PeakyBlinders''