J.J. Abrams Hints Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s Primary Focus Will Be New Characters

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is expected to be the conclusion of the Star Wars saga, and it sounds like it will approach that from a unique angle. In the film’s recent Vanity Fair profile, director J.J. Abrams spoke about the sense of legacy within the film, and how it ties directly into the younger generation of characters that have already populated the “sequel trilogy”.

“This trilogy is about this young generation, this new generation, having to deal with all the debt that has come before.” Abrams revealed. “And it’s the sins of the father, and it’s the wisdom and the accomplishments of those who did great things, but it’s also those who committed atrocities, and the idea that this group is up against this unspeakable evil and are they prepared? Are they ready? What have they learned from before? It’s less about grandeur. It’s less about restoring an old age. It’s more about preserving a sense of freedom and not being one of the oppressed.”

At the moment, it’s unclear exactly how the sequel trilogy’s characters will deal with that “unspeakable evil”, as plot details surrounding the film still remain largely unknown. But given the ominous teases we’ve gotten about the film so far – particularly, the possible return of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) – fans have already begun to draw their own conclusions about how the saga could come to a close.

“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,” Abrams shared in an interview earlier this year. “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.”

Even with all of that suspense currently hanging in the balance, it sounds like The Rise of Skywalker will further explore the relationship of the sequel trilogy characters in a whole new way.

“The movie doesn’t pick up immediately after the last film,” Abrams shared last month. “Some time has passed. This movie is an adventure the group goes on together. One of the great things about getting to work on the movie is the dynamic between all of the characters. They’re amazing together, and it’s something I’m excited for you all to see.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is expected to debut in theaters on December 20th.