In 1977, George Lucas introduced Luke Skywalker to the world, a ragged boy who dreamed of taking off from his sandy planet on an adventure. Forty years later, Lucas’ galaxy is an alternative universe, full of extraterrestrial populations, retrofuturistic technologies, warlike philosophies, and enough history to fill a hundred textbooks. Star Wars lives even when an era comes to an end.
This month’s Rise of Skywalker concludes the Skywalker saga with the last journey of Luke’s heirs: Rey, the ragged boy who dreamed of taking off on another sandy planet. Luke is at her side in spirit, like every Jedi who came before her. But just as Lucas’ prequel films followed Anakin Skywalker’s development to deepen Darth Vader’s connection with his wayward son, the sequel trilogy again focused on a modern young woman and the coat from “Skywalker” she was supposed to take over. Luke was mortal. To be a hero of the galaxy lives from generation to generation.
The Rise of Skywalker delivers an epic conclusion to Rey’s journey, which is also full of Star Warsisms. There is so much iconography, so much connective tissue for both the films and the expanded universe, and so much in the film that it needs careful reading. This is where we come in. In these stories we sift through the lore and make sense of Abrams and Lucasfilm’s big decisions. These are the stories you are looking for.
