‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s New Droid Steals the Show at Star Wars Celebration

Now that the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has made its way into the pop culture consciousness, fans are eagerly picking apart every element of the film, ranging from the familiar to the entirely new. And it’s safe to say one of the latter elements has captured fans’ hearts.

ComicBook.com was on hand for The Rise of Skywalker‘s panel at Star Wars Celebration Chicago, where the first look at the film’s new droid, D-O, was officially debuted. The droid, who will reportedly be a new friend of BB-8, literally made his debut on the Celebration Stage, which you can check out a clip of below.

D-O also made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in the Rise of Skywalker trailer, where he could be seen alongside his new friend.

While the droid has only just started to factor into the Star Wars universe, it’s safe to say that he’s already become a fan-favorite. And while it’s unclear what story D-O will have in the overall narrative, it will be interesting to see how he factors into the last chapter of the Skywalker Saga.

“Our movie was not just following what we had started [with The Force Awakens], it was following what we had started and then had been advanced by someone else [with Star Wars: The Last Jedi]. So there was that, and, finally, it was resolving nine movies,” director J.J. Abrams shared in a recent interview. “While there are some threads of larger ideas and some big picture things that had been conceived decades ago and a lot of ideas that Lawrence Kasdan and I had when we were doing Episode VII, the lack of absolute inevitability, the lack of a complete structure for this thing, given the way it was being run, was an enormous challenge.”

The Rise of Skywalker will feature returning appearances from Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) and Lieutenant Connix (Billie Lourd). Carrie Fisher will also be posthumously returning as Leia Organa in the film, through the use of archival footage.

New cast members joining the film include Keri Russell, Richard E. Grant, Naomi Ackie, Matt Smith, and Dominic Monaghan. The film will be directed by J.J. Abrams, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Chris Terrio.

What do you think of the first look at D-O from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will arrive in December.

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