Lucasfilm and Disney released an official trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Monday, Oct. 9 during an NFL game broadcast on ESPN and simultaneously on the internet.
As the trailer made its world debut, tickets were made available for purchase in advance.
The Last Jedi is the 8th episode of the Skywalker Saga and picks up just after the events of The Force Awakens.
The trailer shows shots of Kylo Ren with a voice over from Snoke, who is talking about a special person with “raw, untamed power.”
A shot of Rey igniting her lightsaber interrupts the voice over, implying that Snoke is talking about her and not Kylo.
We then see Rey hand off and deliver the lightsaber to a stunned Luke Skywalker, as teased at the end of The Force Awakens.
The audience gets a glimpse of raw power from Rey as she cracks open the ground beneath them while meditating with the force.
Luke, unsettled by her power, says, “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before, it didn’t scare me enough then. It does now.”
It seems Rey and Kylo both share this “raw” power. Since Luke trained Kylo the ways of the force, he is reluctant to train Rey because of the way Kylo turned out.
It seems that is the reason for Luke’s exile is that he doesn’t want to train those who are extremely powerful with the force.
The focus turns to Kylo Ren who, sporting a fresh new scar across his face, destroys his helmet as he vows to, “Let the past die. Kill it.” This clip supports the idea that The Last Jedi picks up moments after The Force Awakens.
In the next clip we see Kylo channel his grandfather Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader by engaging in some space combat during his personal starfighter.
Kylo flies through the hangar of a Resistance capital ship and locks on to the command bridge as he is about to pull the trigger but stops.
Leia Organa Solo, portrayed by Carrie Fisher, is aboard that ship. He can sense her presence through the force as she can with him. The trailer cuts back and forth between Kylo and his mother Leia, building up to whether or not he will fire the missiles and destroy the command bridge.
You can see he is conflicted. This is an interesting clip because Kylo just killed his father Han Solo in the last movie.
To have an evil character kill both parents is pretty dark for Disney. It is also a sensitive subject to hint at Leia’s death, since Carrie Fisher’s passing in last December is still a shock to many fans. Is it misdirection? Clever editing?
We finally see the Millenium Falcon in action featuring a close up of Chewbacca and a Porg in the cockpit. A Porg is a small, cute creature that is sure to sell millions of toys.
A brief shot of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron is shown as he prepares for space combat.
Finn, who looks to be disguised as a First Order Officer, engages his former leader Captain Phasma in a duel with melee weapons. They seem to be fighting on the ship that Kylo is standing on in the opening shot of the trailer.
In The Force Awakens Captain Phasma was an overhyped character in marketing and literally did nothing cool or evil in the film.
By the looks of this trailer, writer and director Rian Johnson has bigger plans for her in this film, as she faces off against a main character.
More clips begin to hype up fans during the end of the trailer with a voice over from Luke Skywalker saying, “This isn’t going to end the way you think.”
The trailer then teases a massive ground battle on a white/red surface planet called Crait right before Snoke is see using the force in a harmful way against Rey.
The final scene is either a very revealing scene or very well edited clip. We see Rey talking to someone saying, “I need someone, to show me my place in all of this.”
The next shot is an unmasked Kylo Ren with a healed scar which indicates time has passed and this scene could be towards the end of the movie.
He is in a similar setting to Rey and extends his hand as an offer to help.
Is Rey turning to the dark side? Is Kylo turning to the light? Do they join forces and begin a new type of force affiliation, hence the title, The Last Jedi?
All will be revealed December 15, when Star Wars: The Last the Jedi arrives in theaters in your galaxy.
