Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Writer Confirms We’ll Learn Answers About the First Order

With the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker set to conclude the Skywalker Saga, the film is staged to offer answers on various elements of the sequel trilogy, as co-writer Chris Terrio confirmed we’ll be learning more about the origins of the villainous First Order. Over the course of the prequel and original trilogies, audiences saw the birth and death of the Galactic Empire, and while some audiences have settled for accepting the First Order as just a new version of the Empire, the organization’s development and establishment of power is still an arena that is largely unexplored in the franchise.

“Already it’s established in the Expanded Universe and the novels, there are some things we know canonically about the First Order. Even in [Star Wars: The Force Awakens], there was that idea of Nazis in Argentina,” Terrio shared with Uproxx. “So we will definitely get some more. I think you’ll find there are more answers in this movie about how all that came to be. Because they are an extremely formidable military power that sprung up relatively quickly.”

He added, “So that’s a thing that really interests me as a fan. Because I saw The Force Awakens just as a fan and I wondered all those things. So, I came to this with questions. I wanted to know these things. In some cases there were answers and in some cases there weren’t and we got to craft answers.”

Terrio’s comparison to Nazis in Argentina refers to the collapse of the Third Reich after World War II and the soldiers who sought safety in foreign countries. A large number of them found sanctuary in Argentina, allowing them to evade accountability for their crimes against humanity. In this regard, Terrio is likely teasing that, in the wake of the collapse of the Galactic Empire, high-ranking Imperials were able to evade capture in the furthest regions of the galaxy until they were enlisted by the First Order in its rise to power.

With the new film likely being the last we’ll see of a number of its major characters, the story is set to shed light on the histories of a number of characters.

“I would say that each of the characters get more light shed on their histories,” director J.J. Abrams previously shared with Vanity Fair. “I’m not saying we get full, exhaustive downloads on all of their childhoods and every major step that got them to where they are. But there are a lot of questions about Finn’s past, about Poe’s past, obviously Rey and Kylo, and then some of the new characters we meet.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in theaters on December 20th.

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