UPDATE: This footage has been removed. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be the main attraction at Disney’s D23 panel tomorrow, but a crafty attendee has managed to sneak out a quick preview of what’s to come. The brief clip – seen below – shows Kylo Ren viciously slamming an enemy into the ground in a crimson forest, Rey explaining that “it’s too dangerous, I have to go alone,” Rey, Finn, Poe and Chewie in the Millennium Falcon cockpit and – most excitingly – a peek at Darth Vader’s destroyed helmet.
What we see here lines up with the descriptions we heard of footage that was screened for Disney shareholders a few months back and appears to be part of a larger video. While the clip is too brief to really spoil anything important or significant about the movie, it’s nice to finally see a bit of new material as the last proper trailer we got was several months ago.
Fortunately, though this clip has leaked, tomorrow’s panel will still feature much to look forward to. Among other things, we’re going to get a Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker behind-the-scenes reel, which will give us a glimpse at the creation of the movie and include interviews with J.J. Abrams and the cast.
After the mixed reception of The Last Jedi and Solo, there’s suddenly a lot riding on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Reports indicate that merchandising sales are way down and that the Galaxy’s Edge theme park hasn’t seen the crowds that Disney had anticipated. With this film billed as the true finale of the Skywalker Saga, the Mouse House are sure to be pulling out all the stops to make it a hit with critics, fans and general audience members.
We already know that Ian McDiarmid is returning as the Emperor, but what other surprises could the movie hold? I guess we’ll only know for certain on December 20th. See you there.