Rise of Skywalker cast and crew on Carrie Fisher, character dynamics, and hope

We’re just 14 days away from the theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. On Wednesday, director J.J. Abrams and the film’s cast sat down with moderator Ava DuVernay and did their best to answer questions from journalists. How much do they reveal? Let’s see!

First up, Abrams was asked what message he was trying to send with the third and final film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. The director said it was about one thing: “For me, rather than give away themes that [co-writer] Chris [Terrio] and I talked about doing from the beginning and what our specifics are, I will say that it really is about hope. And it’s about coming back to a sense of possibility, about unity, and if Star Wars can’t do that for us, I don’t know what can.”

That makes sense. The very first Star Wars movie was called A New Hope, after all. That title represented the hope of the Rebellion as it fought against the overwhelming might of the Galactic Empire, led by Emperor Palpatine and his enforcer Darth Vader. Fast-forward to The Rise of Skywalker, and we’ve got the scattered resistance placing its hopes in Rey as she leads them into one last battle against the First Order, led by Kylo Ren and apparently, somehow, Emperor Palpatine again.

In Rise, Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico) will spend time with General Leia, even though Carrie Fisher died before filming her planned scenes for the movie. Abrams made use of cut footage from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi to give us more time with this iconic actor and character. “There is sort of this idea that J.J. has talked about: ending nine films,” Tran said. “Carrie was such a big part of all of that. So I think for me personally, there was a lot of wanting to honor this thing and do right by this thing. I think that she’s pretty effing incredible in this movie.”

As you can see above, newcomer Richard E. Grant (Allegiant General Pryde) was very emotional after watching the movie for the first time. “It felt really like a combination of everything I read in the Bible, Greek mythology, The Wizard of Oz, all rolled into one, in this extraordinary summation of the whole story that delivers an emotional wallop at the end that I was totally unprepared for,” he said. “I was wiped out and I barely slept.”

Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) is excited to get to do something more than fly his X-Wing. “I’ve been taken away from my little box in space and I get to join my friends this time,” he said. “You really get to see the interaction with the three [Rey, Poe, Finn], and the hope that I think he, in particular, brings in this one. It’s kind of a relentless, almost aggressive optimism that he has, and how that is tested and how he tries to be there for his friends, tries to push them along even when it seems quite hopeless.”

John Boyega (Finn) talked about his character’s friendship with Rey:

"Proactive love is something Finn does on a day-to-day basis. Throughout the film, a lot of the time Rey is going off on this really hard journey as a character blessed with so much power, and Finn tries to support her in that journey. And sometimes it’s hard. In my real life, if I’ve tried to get in contact with you three or four times and you’re going off, I’m going to leave you alone. Finn’s going to come for you and try and make it work regardless. That’s some Jesus shit. (laughs) I’m not built like that."

As with the last two movies, getting Adam Driver to reveal anything about Kylo Ren was like drawing blood from a stone. When DuVernay straight up asked him if Kylo had finally rejected his past as Ben Solo, he simply answered, “yes and no.” Well played, Supreme Leader.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20.

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h/t SlashFilm