Though Lucasfilm doesn’t have a panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, filmmaker Kevin Smith was on the scene to relay some promising intel about the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Last year, the Clerks helmsman and podcaster paid a visit to the set of the Sequel Trilogy finale, where he claims to have witnessed some things that brought tears to his eyes. But while Smith’s mind is no doubt full of valuable Star Wars spoilers, there was one key moment during the production that he chose to avoid.
Speaking to IGN this weekend, Smith was asked if he’d seen the film’s final shot, to which he responded:
“I have not seen it, but I was on set. I went to London at one point and visited the set, [director] J.J. [Abrams] invited me, because I had the heart attack. When I had the heart attack, he wrote me and he was like, ‘You gotta pull through, man, so you can come visit Star Wars,’ and I was like, ‘Can I be in it?’ and he was like, ‘Come visit.’ I pulled through and I was the kind of asshole that wrote him back to be like, ‘Remember what you said?!’ and he was like, ‘Come on out.’”
Smith went on to recall the chatter he heard about a set that was simply too good to spoil:
“I got to hang out and be there on set and there was a scuttlebutt about a set there on Pinewood. A big set that they were like, ‘You have to see this. When you see it, it’ll melt your mind.’ And I was like, ‘What was it?’ and they were like, ‘Ask J.J.’ And so I asked J.J., ‘They keep telling me I should see the set,’ and he goes, ‘Don’t.’ I said, ‘Why?’ and he said, ‘It’s the last shot of the movie.’ So I was like, ‘Well now I really wanna see it,’ and he goes, ‘You don’t want this spoiled. You wanna be in a theater when this happens, trust me.’ And then other people on the crew were like, ‘Bro, I wish I hadn’t seen it. I’m glad I did, but it will melt your mind.’”
Kevin Smith talks about the last shot of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: crew members said seeing it would "melt your mind." #SDCC2019 pic.twitter.com/BtJ4E06hu9
— IGN (@IGN) July 20, 2019
It sounds like Abrams and his team have something very special in mind for the film’s final moments, though we still have another five months to wait before we can find out what all the fuss is about.
Naturally, Smith has refrained from saying too much about his visit to the set, though in previous interviews, he’s been very enthusiastic about the sheer scale of the film. Speaking to Good Morning America last year, for instance, the filmmaker compared the production to “a small country,” before assuring fans that the movie is going to be “fantastic.”
So far, the general public has managed to catch only fleeting glimpses of the sets used in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, with our main source still being the 2-minute teaser released back in April. If recent speculation is anything to go by, then the full trailer could be coming out as soon as next month, but either way, all will be revealed when the film hits theaters on December 20th.