New Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker teaser ends with a Rey bombshell


Lucasfilm just dropped yet another Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stunner.
After the film's initial teaser left fans speechless with the reveal of Emperor Palpatine's return, a new clip released online on Monday ends with an equally shocking moment: footage of a seemingly Dark Side Rey. As if that wasn't enough to get those fan theories fired up, she's also holding a new, double-bladed Sith lightsaber.
There's certainly a lot to unpack just in those last few seconds, although this may very well be a misdirect on the marketing department's part. After all, the trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi also ended ominously with a hint that Rey could turn to the Dark Side, only for the film itself to reveal the trailer had deceptively edited two scenes together. The trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens were similarly misleading, implying Finn would be the new Jedi hero when it was ultimately Rey.
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The rest of the teaser relies heavily on footage from previous films in order to emphasize The Rise of Skywalker as the end of an era for Star Wars, with the tagline "The story of a generation comes to an end" now being used. But in terms of new footage, we also get a glimpse at a fleet of hundreds of Star Destroyers, Kylo Ren and Rey fighting seemingly on the ruins of the sunken Death Star, and a red-eyed C-3PO, who is expected to have a larger-than-usual role in this final episode. Oh, and Palpatine actually talks this time rather than just cackling, saying in a meta line, "your journey nears its end."
Check out the unbelievable new The Rise of Skywalker footage below. Brendan Morrow
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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