Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's new trailer reveals a lot of surprising details about the plot, as well as containing a few Easter eggs. Released at D23 Expo 2019, the footage is described as a "sizzle reel" but may as well be the film's second trailer.
The new footage is full of moments that have no context at all. Why does Threepio have red eyes? Why are Rey and Kylo Ren dueling on the wreckage of the Death Star on Endor? What's going on with that dark side Rey? Even the audio cues are mysterious. We'll answer all these questions (as best we can) and more in our Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker D23 trailer breakdown.
18. A Thousand Generations Live In Rey
Lucasfilm want viewers to understand Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as the final chapter in a trilogy of trilogies. As a result, the Star Wars 9 D23 trailer begins with a stunning montage of scenes from the earlier movies, in release order, building up to the climax. Luke Skywalker's voice repeats words that were heard in the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer, that Rey now embodies a thousand generations of Jedi Knights. Rey has been taught by the Force Ghost of Luke Skywalker and by the notes she retrieved from the Jedi Temple on Ahch-To - but possibly by other Force Ghosts, such as Yoda and Obi-Wan.
17. The Core Team
The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker D23 trailer moves on to the core team, with Rey, Finn, and Poe standing at the front; Chewbacca and Threepio are behind them. Artoo-Detoo is conspicuously absent, and so far there's been no word on how the plucky Astromech will fit into the film. They're on the desert planet of Pasaana, where Rey was shown training in the first trailer.
16. Pasaana's Inhabitants, The Aki-Aki
These are the Aki-Aki, the inhabitants of Pasaana, who were first mentioned by Vanity Fair. Lucasfilm is yet to reveal anything about these distinctive aliens; in fact, until the Star Wars 9 D23 trailer, it had been assumed they would just be background color like the various beings in the Canto Bight casino or Maz Kanata's castle. Their prominence in the trailer suggests they may be more important than that.
The shocked expressions on the core team's faces may suggest the Resistance believed Pasaana to be uninhabited when they established a base on it. It's unclear whether this is a normal Aki-Aki settlement, or whether the group have walked in on some sort of celebration.
15. Carrie Fisher As General Leia Organa
Lucasfilm is recycling old, unused footage in order to bring the late Carrie Fisher back as Leia Organa in Star Wars 9, and The Rise of Skywalker's D23 trailer includes one impressive shot of her stood on a jungle planet, likely saying goodbye to Rey (the pair were seen hugging in the same location in the teaser).
This image is a familiar one, originally seen as part of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm has added some digital touchups to make Leia look a little older, such as graying her hair along the sides and weathering her skin.
14. The Resistance Forces Gather
The Resistance has spent the last year attempting to regroup, and the Star Wars 9 D23 trailer shows their fleet drop out of Hyperspace, ready for battle. Fleet junkies will be thrilled with the shots, which show a wide range of Resistance vehicles; X-Wings, B-Wings, Corellian Corvettes, even a couple of Y-Wings. The fleet appears to be gathering in the upper atmosphere of a planet, given the sunlight and the dust-storm; that's pretty tricky flying, given gravity wells associated with planets interfere with Hyperspace travel.
13. The Resistance Fleet Includes B-Wings
The Resistance fleet includes a number of B-Wings, which could be essential in the battle to come. The B-Wings were developed for the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War; they're relatively poor dogfighters, but they specialize as blockade busters to attack and destroy large capital ships. These are presumably B-Wing Mark IIs, which are even tougher than the first generation. The presence of the ships also acts as another Return of the Jedi parallel; that's when the ships were first introduced.
12. Palpatine's Secret Fleet Revealed?
The Star Wars 9 D23 trailer moves on to show a massive fleet of Star Destroyers - but it doesn't look to be the First Order. It has been hinted throughout Star Wars canon stories that Palpatine has built up a secret fleet in the Unknown Regions, and these Imperial Star Destroyers appear to be those forces. The ships are subtly different to the ones seen in the original trilogy, with red highlights and giant lasers instead of docking bays (which we'll get to shortly).
At this stage, it's unclear whether Palpatine will prove to be an ally for the First Order, whether he will stage a coup, or whether he will simply unleash this army against everybody. Whatever the case, it looks as though Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker could include the biggest space battle scenes in the franchise's history.
11. Finn and Jannah On The Millennium Falcon
The next shot shows Finn and Naomi Ackie's new character, Jannah in the cockpit of an unknown ship, staring out in horror. A lot of the shots in the Star Wars 9 D23 trailer are bereft of context, meaning it's best to be wary of making any assumptions. The trailer's narrative flow leads viewers to believe that the Resistance has jumped into a hostile system where they're confronted with the Imperial fleet; the sequence then seems to imply Finn and Jannah are there, but the editing could be misleading.
10. C-3P0 With Red Eyes
One of the most shocking moments in the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker D23 trailer for shows C-3P0 with red eyes. No context is provided for this shot, and it's hard to say exactly what's going on here; it certainly gives Threepio a rather sinister feel.
In the old Expanded Universe, a droid with red eyes had typically been hacked into, but it's unclear whether that idea still applies in new Star Wars canon. It could perhaps mean something a little more benign, such as Threepio having been given enhanced processing power for some reason. A potential poster showed Threepio with Chewie's bowcaster, so it's possible this is the lead up to an action sequence.
9. A Death Star Blast Ravages A Planet
The Star Wars 9 D23 trailer shows a Death Star-type blast shooting an unknown planet. The novelization of First Order had built more superweapons before revealing their existence to the galaxy, with Starkiller Base simply their biggest and most destructive. It's interesting to note that, while the trailer reveals a superweapon equivalent to the Death Star, it doesn't show the mobile battle station itself. There have been rumors that the First Order (or Palpatine) has installed Death Star superlasers into a new type of Star Destroyer (as they did the battering ram in The Last Jedi), and it could be that's what's shown here
