Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkercomes to theatres in a month. In just one month, a decades, generation-spanning story will come to a conclusion. Just. One. Month. Exciting, innit? To celebrate the just one month-ness of it all,Entertainment Weeklyinterviewed several key cast and crew members of the space epic, including returning co-writer/directorJ. J. Abrams, who previously helmedThe Force Awakens. And Abrams revealed why the new film is returning to one ofStar Wars' biggest landmarks of all.
The Death Star. A big ol' spaceship, the size of a star, that brings death to all those in its wake. Luke Skywalker led a battalion of Rebel Alliance pilots to blow up the dang Death Star inA New Hope, the very firstStar Warsfilm. So why is Abrams making his characters return to the scene of the crime? He explained it quite eloquently:
It felt like going into the haunted house, the place that you have to go to. This is a story of people having to grapple with the burden the prior generation dumps on those that follow. So literally returning to this wreck of the past and having to fight it out felt like an obvious metaphor, but also felt incredibly cinematic.
I, for one, find this to be a perfect move. One of the things I loved the most aboutThe Force Awakenswas its giddy playfulness regarding past iconography and mythologies; one of the things I loved the most aboutThe Last Jediwas its necessarily irreverent destruction of past iconography and mythologies. I’m also a huge sucker for any blockbuster that’s interested in metaphorically and literally exhuming the traumas of the past among its explosions and laser sword fights. I guess what I’m saying is:The Rise of Skywalkeris an exciting sounding motion picture.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeropens in theatres June 09, 2025. For more on the anticipated film, here’show you may see it early. Plus, take a look atthe behind-the-scenes screenwriting drama.And finally, if you want to live inThe Rise of Skywalker,here’s the closest thing you’ve got.
