Seven Years After Rise of Skywalker, Is Star Wars Already Bringing Back the Sith?

The Sith have always been such a big part of Star Wars, despite the fact they weren’t actually named on-screen until the prequels. Darth Vader was officially called the “Dark Lord of the Sith” in the official novelization of the first film (ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster), and there’s no mention of the Sith in the original trilogy itself. George Lucas only revealed what the Sith were in the prequels, introducing concepts like the Sith Rule of Two to explain why they were fewer in number than the Jedi.

The Star Wars sequel trilogy deliberately positioned Kylo Ren as something different, something new; a dark Jedi, despite the fact he had a Sith-style red lightsaber. But the Sith did return by the end of the sequels, courtesy of the resurrected Palpatine, who believed himself the culmination of everything the Sith stood for. Palpatine died, and the Sith line came to an end with him; but is Star Wars already bringing the Sith back in the post-Rise of Skywalker era?

Shawn Levy’s Star Wars Film Features a Lightsaber Fight

2027 is the anniversary year of the first Star Wars movie, and Lucasfilm is celebrating it in style with Star Wars: Starfighter, a new blockbuster movie by Shawn Levy. We don’t know much about the plot right now; Ryan Gosling is confirmed as the star, rescuing a Force-sensitive teenager (Flynn Gray) and her mother (Amy Adams) from sinister forces led by Matt Smith and Mia Goth. But we just learned an exciting new detail; that Starfighter will feature a lightsaber duel (including part that was shot by Tom Cruise when he visited the set).

It makes sense to celebrate Star Wars’ 50th anniversary with a lightsaber duel, of course. But it’s also pretty significant, given Starfighter is set five years after Rise of Skywalker. While it’s true that lightsabers have been used by other Force cults in wider lore, Lucasfilm has always been careful not to compromise that iconic image of Jedi and Sith on the big screen. Tellingly, dark Jedi like Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati have even been given orange lightsabers on Disney+, likely in part to differentiate them from the Sith and avoid compromising the iconography.

A lightsaber duel in Starfighter pretty much confirms that this film will be dealing with Jedi. There’s long been speculation that Amy Adams’ character is a former Jedi, explaining a Force-sensitive child pursued by the villains. Alternatively, it’s equally possible Ryan Gosling is playing a Jedi (or former Jedi) associated with Rey’s new Jedi Order. Whatever the truth may be, though, the big question is: what does this mean for the villains?

Matt Smith & Mia Goth Are Either Dark Jedi… Or Sith

If there’s a lightsaber duel, it logically stands to reason that the film’s villains have lightsabers too. That means – assuming Lucasfilm still aim to maintain that iconography, which is a safe bet – we’re either dealing with dark Jedi or even, potentially, Sith. There’s an important distinction between those two groups, of course; dark Jedi are Jedi who have fallen to the dark side, and who still justify what they’re doing, usually because it serves the “greater good.” Sith are fully bought-in members of the Sith cult, devoted to power and self-actualization through dominance.

The idea of “dark Jedi” sits uncomfortably with this part of the Star Wars timeline. Through Supreme Leader Snoke, Palpatine sought to dominate the entire galaxy through the First Order; he had Luke Skywalker’s Jedi slaughtered rather than corrupted, with Kylo Ren the sole survivor. Any other dark Jedi from Luke’s order would confuse the timeline, fit awkwardly with continuity, and undermine Luke’s legacy. Meanwhile, Rey has only had five years to train new Jedi, so there hasn’t really been enough time for things to go this badly wrong.

But would things be any better if Star Wars revealed Matt Smith and/or Mia Goth were in fact Sith? There’s long been confusion about why the Sith were so dangerous they caused an imbalance in the Force, leading to the birth of the Chosen One. The likely reason lies in Darth Bane’s reinvention of the Sith a thousand years before the Skywalker saga, when he established the Rule of Two. According to this, there are only ever two Sith at a time; a master and an apprentice, one to crave power and the other to wield it.

The Rule of Two meant every Sith was more powerful than the last, which is arguably the reason the Force lost any sense of balance. That means it is quite possible Star Wars could bring back the Sith, but simply avoid problems with the Chosen One prophecy by ensuring these Sith did not follow the line of Darth Bane. It’s not hard to envision a scenario where there was a Sith resurgence, given Palpatine’s example means the Sith are associated with power and dominance, while there are surely countless old Sith Holocrons that could be found by power-hungry individuals.

What the Return of the Sith Would Mean for Star Wars

This is only a theory, of course; it’s entirely possible Lucasfilm will go down the “dark Jedi” route. But Star Wars would be smart to bring back a sort of pre-Bane version of the Sith, not least because it would raise such exciting possibilities for Rey’s inevitable new Jedi Order. It would mean the so-called “New Jedi Order” era could become characterized by sweeping battles between Jedi and Sith, the kind of stories viewers have longed to see for decades. Individually, these Sith would be mere shadows of Palpatine and Darth Vader, but that would ensure the greatest Sith in history remained distinctive.

We don’t yet know whether the lightsaber duel (filmed in part by Tom Cruise) features Matt Smith, Mia Goth, or perhaps some other character whose existence has yet to be revealed. That said, there’s been speculation that horror star Mia Goth would make a fantastic Darth Maul-style Sith ever since she was cast as a villain. So we can only hope that speculation proves to be true, that Goth is indeed a Sith scrapper, and that we’re entering a bold new era for Star Wars.

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