The force brought us together originating all the way back to 1977, and now together we can witness the end of a saga in the final Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
The surviving members of the Resistance face the First Order once again as the journey continues for Ray [Daisy Ridley], Finn [John Boyega] and Poe Dameron [Oscar Isaac]. With power, unity and knowledge obtained from generations past, the final battle will commence! This epic third installment to the Star Wars trilogy was produced, co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams and the cast will consist of some old and news faces such as Adam Driver, the iconic Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Keri Russell and many more.
Abrams, the only other person to take the reins of this saga on other than creator George Lucas describes how the pressure has shifted from creating The Force Awakens to The Rise of Skywalker and the challenges of wrapping up not one film, or two, but nine. “The responsibility was significant and the movie, this is a pretty big picture. The scale of the movie is pretty enormous, and we knew that none of that would matter, none of that would work if you didn’t care deeply and track with the people. So, the most important thing, the people, we were good with. We knew we had this incredible cast, who I think have gone above and beyond anyone’s expectations and are truly spectacular in the film,” states Abrams. This spectacular harnessing of craft, production design, costume, and sound design has “finished a piece of history” newest cast member who plays the role of Zorii Bliss, Keri Russell exclaimed. The two have had a long friendship but even Abrams wasn’t prepared for Russell’s on set etiquette. “Keri loved the mask so much that the first two days she worked as Zorii, the entire two days I never saw her face. She could have, like most people, take her mask off between takes, or after a couple of hours, or after the whole day and I would go up to her and say hey, want to take your mask off and she would say, “nope,” Abrams says.
The production team, cast members and audiences are all super fans of the beloved 42-year-old series, however, after receiving immense backlash from The Last Jedi, the eighth movie in the series, will fans be pleased with this highly anticipated finale? While backlash is almost inherently inevitable, co-writers Abrams and Chris Terrio feel as though they have honored George Lucas’ original creation and although they mourned writing the character’s names for the last time on the script, they felt great relief in knowing that fans who have been dedicated and loyal to the saga will feel complete.
In theaters on December 20.