The Last Jedi shocked fans by introducing some new tools into the Jedi’s arsenal as it saw Leia, Luke and Rey utilize Force powers that’d never been depicted before in the saga. There was Luke’s Force projection, Leia’s float through space…even Yoda’s lightning bolt. Some were rubbed up the wrong way by this “breaking of the rules” but the franchise has got to keep developing its mythology, and it seems Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will do much the same.
At the Episode IX panel at today’s Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, host Stephen Colbert pressed star Daisy Ridley on whether she got to show off any new cool Force abilities in Rise. The star nervously laughed off the question and wisely decided to pass the buck to director J.J. Abrams instead, saying “I think this is a J.J. question.”
Abrams then joked that this treachery had broken their friendship, quipping: “I used to love Daisy. I thought she was awesome.” After a moment to compose an answer, the director decided to praise the incredible stunt work on display in the movie:
“I’ll say this, there are some extraordinary things that the character, and Daisy did, but I will say some of the stuff that was possible was [thanks to] the stunt coordinator [Eunice Huthart]…who was just amazing.”
After discussing this for a while, Abrams did then work his way back around to the question and ended with a definite tease: “Anyways, yes, there are some other things, and you’ll see them soon.”
And we did. The first trailer, revealed at the end of the panel, opens with Rey pulling off an amazing Force leap, as she flips in the air and lands on a TIE fighter that’s coming for her. Sure, so this ability isn’t a totally new one, but it was one of the most impressive instances of it we’ve seen. Going by Abrams’ comments about stunts, it seems now that Rey’s been trained by Luke she’s much more in command of the Force and will be making a lot of moves like this in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.