The title of the final film in the third Star Wars trilogy will be Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. A trailer for the upcoming Star Wars Episode IX was also released, carrying the the tagline “Every generation has a legend.”
The announcement was made at a Star Wars celebration event in Chicago.
The director JJ Abrams said the film does not pick up immediately after the events of The Last Jedi. He said some time has gone by since the events of the last film and teased that it will be an adventure that the group goes on together.
Abrams has said Carrie Fisher’s Leia will live in Star Wars: Episode IX through unused scenes from The Force Awakens that he has been able to integrate into the story. Speaking at the Star Wars Celebration event, Abrams said having a CG character, recasting or just having her disappear were not options.
Fisher died in December 2016, after shooting had finished on The Last Jedi, and her character is alive in the last shot of the film. It has been a lingering question as to how the final instalment in the new trilogy would handle Fisher’s passing.
Abrams said that Leia lives in the film in a way that is mindblowing to him.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy also reiterated that Episode IX, which arrives in cinemas on December 20th, will close out the newest trilogy and the nine-film Skywalker saga that began in 1977. – PA
