Patience, you must have, if you are a Star Wars fan. It has been six long months since we last saw a trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi; that patience has finally been rewarded with the glorious full trailer, finally released by Lucasfilm today. There’s a lot to unpack from those two minutes and twenty-nine seconds – here’s ten big reveals we discovered.
1. Yes, Luke does take the lightsaber – but reluctantly
If you were looking for a resolution to the final scene from The Force Awakens, you may now rest easy. Last we saw them, Rey (Daisy Ridley) was handing the long-lost lightsaber of Luke (Mark Hamill) back to him on the island of Ahch-To. Luke does accept it, but he’s clearly nervous. “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before,” he says, after Rey manages to leave a Force-crack in a UNESCO World Heritage site. Does he mean Papa Vader? Or nephew Kylo?
2. We’ll see more backstory on Luke’s exile
The shot of Luke’s robot hand on R2-D2, only glimpsed in hallucinogenic flashbacks in The Force Awakens, is expanded on in the trailer, depicting what looks like the burning of the Jedi temples, led by the Knights of Ren and Kylo Ren. The Jedi temple looks like a _Star Wars_ian take on the US Capitol Building, and if this shot is to be believed, Kylo and his merry gang have left nothing – except Luke.
3. The end of Leia’s story is teased
“Let the past die,” says Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in voiceover, during a furious space battle. “Kill it. If you have to.” We then see his estranged mother General Leia (the late Carrie Fisher) aboard the ship he appears to attacking, looking pensive, and Kylo looking hesitant, his finger hovering over a fire button. Is this how Leia dies? We’ve already had confirmation that Fisher will not be appearing in Episode IX, having sadly passed away shortly after filming Episode VIII. But this could be a fake-out; director Rian Johnson may wish to give such a beloved character a more peaceful ending.
4. There’s going to be a giant walker battle
One of the trailer’s first shots teased a mouth-wateringly big battle: the First Order’s Walkers taking on the Resistance ski speeders on the mineral planet of Crait. This being the First Order and not the Empire, these are slightly different walkers to the classic Imperial AT-AT models of old. First unveiled back in August, these are AT-M6s, standing for All Terrain Megacaliber Six, named due to the giant cannon on its back, and with so many in play (we could count at least ten), expect shock and awe.
5. Kylo is now wearing a bandage on his face
In the climactic battle of The Force Awakens, Rey managed to scar Kylo’s face with her lightsaber, leaving what appeared to be permanent damage. Being the foppish, vain millennial that he is, Kylo has opted to wear some sort of metallic band-aid to cover it up. Expect sales of that specific colour and design of band-aid to skyrocket today.
6. Finn and Phasma will duke it out
Last we saw them, Resistance hero Finn (John Boyega) was in a Force-induced coma, and First Order enforcer Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) was presumed to be languishing in a trash compactor. But they’re back and fighting fit in this trailer, with the former stormtrooper – dressed in a First Order uniform, suggesting he embarks on an undercover mission – meeting his horrible boss head on. Finn is wielding the Z6 riot control baton that the meme-favourite “traitor” stormtrooper battled with in Episode VII, while Phasma (a character Johnson has promised will have a meatier role this time) appears to be wielding some sort of extendable staff.
7. There’s a new ice fox creature
We were promised new aliens, and new aliens we have been given. Seen scurrying along the surface of Crait is this sparkly looking little thing: some sort of Arctic fox, made of ice; the eagle-eyed among you might have spotted it in the D23 behind-the-scenes reel back in July It doesn’t have a official name as of yet that we can ascertain. But it certainly looks cool. (Literally.)
8. Snoke won’t just appear in hologram this time
In The Force Awakens, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) cut an imposing figure, appearing only in a 25-foot hologram, to command supreme authority from his First Order minions. In The Last Jedi, it looks like we’ll finally see his true form, in all its twisty, deformed glory – and in one scene, it looks as though he’ll encounter and possibly torture Rey. Worth noting how impressive that performance-capture/CGI is – you can practically see the evil in his wrinkles.
9. Porgs are still cute – and now we know what they sound like
Despite appearing for all of a few seconds in the D23 behind-the-scenes reel, Porgs – big-eyed, puffin-like, Ahch-To-dwelling sea birds – have become an instant internet sensation, and a merchandising bonanza. There are more plush Porg toys sold than there have been people who’ve actually seen the film they’re in. We’re treated to one shot of them in this trailer, riding shotgun with Chewbacca in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. The trailer also gave us a preview of what they sound like: a cross between a chinchilla and a high-pitched chicken.
10. Rey could be headed to the dark side
“I need someone to show me my place in all of this,” says a tearful Rey in the trailer’s epilogue. Cut to Kylo, extending an outstretched black glove...an olive branch of friendship? A helping hand? An invitation to the First Order? Is this the shock that director Rian Johnson has been teasing? Could Rey be betraying her Jedi training? It would certainly be a big twist. But again, this could be a fake-out. For one thing, we’re not quite sure the two shots match up – Kylo is standing in flames and sparks, whereas Rey is not. More importantly, that’d be quite a brave move, to make your hero the villain. If anyone’s likely to switch sides, it’s Kylo, a character who’s battled with the pull between good and bad. But this is all speculation. We have to wait just a little bit longer – just over two months, in fact – to watch The Last Jedi, and find out for ourselves.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in cinemas worldwide on 14 December.
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