One of the first signs that Star Wars: Episode IX might feature a significant time jump after the events of The Last Jedi came earlier this year from actor John Boyega, who mentioned in an interview published back in May that he’d have to grow his hair out for his next big screen outing as Finn. And now it seems the star has offered some confirmation on the rumor he once helped fuel, telling Empire Magazine that the upcoming trilogy-closer will be set one year after the events of Rian Johnson’s film.
It’s a long-held tradition in the Star Wars franchise that each new entry takes the story forward at least another year or so, hence the need for an opening text crawl to fill viewers in on what they’ve missed. The only real exception of the series was The Last Jedi, though this was surely one of the least divisive ways in which last year’s release broke from the template.
In any case, it remains to be seen what changes will unfold in the year between movies, though judging by the ending of The Last Jedi, you have to imagine that Kylo Ren will use this time to settle into his role as Supreme Leader, while the Resistance may need the year to recover and rebuild now that their numbers have been seriously diminished. Seeing how Johnson’s film left our heroes with little in the way of manpower and resources, the rebels may have to draw on the help of warriors and ordinary folk from across the galaxy, perhaps recruiting them for the guerrilla warfare strategy previously teased by Oscar Isaac.
Since real life doesn’t come with one-year time jumps though, we’ll just have to wait and find out how J.J. Abrams wraps up this trilogy when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.