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What Does “Rise of Skywalker” Mean?: 3 Theories

First, Disney announces the new Star Wars title months before the film actually comes out. Then, the internet dissects and mocks the title.

Rinse. Repeat.

This has been the way of things for the new Star Wars trilogy during the Disney era. From Force Awakens to The Rise of Skywalker, we’ve laughed, theorized, shrugged, and then theorized some more:

The Force Awakens? What, did it forget to set its alarm?

The Last Jedi? Does that refer to Luke, Rey, or Kylo Ren?

The Rise of Skywalker? Sounds like a caveman or Frankenstein struggling to say “Rise of the Skywalkers.” (Or maybe sounds like the way Palpatine would say it.)

Eventually, the title settles into our lexicon and stops seeming so meme-able. We’ll get there with Rise of Skywalker but not for many more months. Until we’ve actually seen the movie, we are left to wonder: what the hell does Rise of Skywalker even mean?

The options seem fairly obvious.

1. It refers to Rey

As a storyteller, J.J. Abrams is ultimately a traditionalist; Rian Johnson is not.

That divide is what has led us to this point in the Skywalker saga. The writer-directors behind the first two films in the new trilogy came at it from entirely different philosophical points of view. As a result, the general criticism argues Force Awakens is too nostalgic and Last Jedi too radical. Following the Goldilocks rule of three, does that mean Rise of Skywalker will be just right?

Time will tell, obviously, but calling this thing Rise of Skywalker might just be a giant dog whistle for all Last Jedi critics. Y’all disappointed Rey didn’t turn out to be a secret Skywalker or Kenobi kid? Just you wait because J.J.’s back in charge, baby. You’ll finally get your “Rey Skywalker” reveal!

Like an anti-”Luke, I am your father!” Empire Strikes Back moment, Last Jedi memorably builds to Kylo telling Rey she’s actually descended from nobodies who abandoned her. Only by partnering with him and burning down the past in pursuit of a revolutionary new future can she become someone. Why worry about being the latest so and so when you can be the first you? Rey, of course, rejects his offer but does accept the truth of what he’s saying.

What if he’s lying, though? Darth Vader told Luke the truth at the end of Empire, but not even James Earl Jones – Darth Vader’s own voice – believed it when he read the script. He assumed Darth was lying. Abrams and Johnson are surely familiar with that oft-told Star Wars anecdote. Maybe – either intentionally or far more likely inadvertently – they’ve now baked it into the lore, inverting the Empire model by including a giant reveal which turns out to be a lie.

In that case, Rise of Skywalker could directly refer to Rey, presumably Leia and Han’s secret daughter. That would make Kylo her brother, which does cast their Last Jedi flirtations in a more incestuous light…

…but since when has a little light incest stopped Star Wars?

It would certainly lend additional meaning to why Luke seemed so horrified when he walked in on Rey and Kylo’s metaphorical make-out session game of Force telephone.

More importantly, it would also restore to the Star Wars story much of the monastic, your-power-is-tied-to-your-heredity monomyth subtext which Rian Johnson worked so hard to burn to the ground. Depending on you how you feel about Last Jedi, that’s either a welcome mulligan or an example of extreme fan culture gone too far, with something new proving so objectionable to a vocal minority that the franchise radically course-corrected.

Both Abrams and Johnson have indicated in interviews that no such course-correction is actually coming, yet not everyone totally believes them, even after Johnson whole-heartedly endorsed this new trailer:

We could still end up with a situation where every single one of the new trilogy installments includes its own Empire reveal of someone’s true parentage – Ben Solo in Force Awakens, Rey in Last Jedi, and then Rey Again in Rise of Skywalker. Overkill, much?

Rey isn’t our last hope for the Skywalkers, though.

2. It refers to Kylo Ren

J.J. Abrams M.O. is to puzzle box us to death in marketing and hype before revealing a final product which is usually just a slight inversion on the familiar. It’s his way of bridging the divide between new and old fans, offering solid entertainment to the newbies and familiar, but just different enough content to the old. That’s why in his glorified Wrath of Khan remake Kirk dies at the end, not Spock. That’s also why in his version of A New Hope his Darth Vader his tempted by the light side of the force, not the dark side.

The Rise of Skywalker title might be another puzzle box, sending us into a big wall of crazy before revealing the most obvious outcome: it simply refers to Ben Solo, the last living Skywalker other than Leia, whose long-term outlook isn’t great for obvious reasons.

If you think back to the prequel trilogy – and I know you probably don’t really want to – remember George Lucas re-framed the entire saga around a “Chosen One” prophecy. Qui Gon believed little Anakin was the prophesized Jedi who would bring balance to the force. Big swing and miss there, Qui Gon. Here’s your punishment:

However, as anyone who watched Angel knows ancient prophecies can be such a pain in the ass. Unpredictable, they are. Double meanings, they often have.

What Qui Gon sensed in Anakin might have been correct, just a couple of generations too early. Anakin didn’t balance the force, but his similarly corrupted grandson might. Ben Solo might emerge from Kylo Ren’s ashes and tip the scale in the battle against the First Order…even though he basically is the First Order now.

Small problem: Last Jedi already explored that potential character arc and effectively shut the door on it. Emo Kylo is so emo because Luke was a terrible mentor to him. Plus, like a rebellious teenager, he was drawn to whatever his parents told him he shouldn’t do. In this case, that meant becoming a murderous Darth Vader cosplayer hanging out with the Hugh Hefner of Sith Lords; in normal cases, it means no drinking or staying out past curfew. Same diff, right?

Snoke did so love his robes

In his interactions with Rey, Kylo showed he was only willing to go so far in defying the state of things. His goals are still rooted in anger and hate, which leads to sufffferrrrring. Rey’s rejection of him and Luke’s refusal to grant him true closure on their own tortured relationship simply sent him further inward. All that’s left for him is a tragic end.

Basically, Rian Johnson wrote them into that corner. (I say that as a huge Last Jedi fan.) Now they might be writing themselves out of it. You can already see that in Abrams bringing Palpatine back for Rise of Skywalker. Johnson left them with no obvious big bad for the third film. So, Abrams went and got the biggest of the big bads in franchise history.

Anecdotally, one of the loudest cheers I’ve ever heard in a movie theater in my entire life was opening night of Last Jedi when Kylo betrays Snoke and joins Rey in battle. For a brief moment, so many fans got exactly what they wanted – Rey and Kylo, back-to-back, mowing down baddies like the galaxy’s greatest power couple or buddy cop duo. Based on that, I imagine the passionate thirst to see Kylo redeemed still exists. Come this Christmas, the cheers might be even louder.

3. It refers to something else

Maybe Skywalker will become, like, a state of mind, man.

Maybe Skywalker will become synonymous with “The Force” or even a replacement word for “The Force.” Henceforth, we shall now no longer say: “I am one with the force.” Instead, we shall say: “I am one with Skywalker.”

Maybe it refers to both Rey and Kylo, brother and sister saving the universe together even though they’ve only known each other for a short time. Why not? Worked for Luke and Leia.

Maybe you have a better suggestion? Or joke? Let me know in the comments. And how do you feel about the title referring to either Rey, Kylo or both or possibly neither of them?



  1. I was not a fan of The Last Jedi, so I hope there is a “course correction” in this film. Having the word Skywalker intrigues me and I of course wonder what that signifies. I just hope Leia get a proper send off and that Luke plays a significant part in the movie.

  2. Hopefully not 1. That would have been a cringey fanfic direction to take even without the events of Last Jedi. It would just make so little sense at this point too.

    2 seems the most likely. Kind of derivative, but they could still make it work if they do it right.

    3? My wild, ridiculous “probably not really” theory is that everyone is wrong and it’s all about Darth Vader coming back to life for no reason whatsoever. I think this still has better odds of happening than Luke coming back to life like some people think though.

    1. I know, but that seems like the most challenging option considering Carrie Fisher’s death. There’s only so many Force Awakens deleted scenes they can manipulate. Still, it is certainly possible she ends the saga in charge of the new Republic or whatever they’ll call it.

      1. Yoda said: No, there is another. What if—-REY is naturally talented in the force because her parent is……Shmi ? WHO SAYS that “there was no Father” can only happen once? How long is an average force-sensitive persons Lifespan? 85 yrs? 300 yrs? Longer? Could Shmi have had “daughter Rey” after Aniken leaves her and maybe she gave birth later as a slave? Maybe not, but it could explain her ability.

        On another note, if Palpatine is not Snoke, then Snoke is probably older. Why does Palpatine never mention Snoke if he’s older? And who was Snoke’s Master? What planet dd Snoke come from? Why does YODA never mention Snoke, either, if Snoke was old enough to “have seen the rise of the Republic”?

      2. That’s a good question about the force person’s Lifespan. I didn’t think the Force actually granted people extra long lives. Yoda, for example, grows so old simply because his species has a longer lifespan than a humans. But, I’ve never known that to actually be true. If Palpatine is somehow and quite improbably still alive and kicking, he’s got to be pushing over 100 now. So, maybe the Forced helped prolong his time?

      3. In “the OLD Republic”, Revan was captured by a bad Sith Lord snf tortured, yet he was also able to influence or have an effect on the “emporer” (not Palpatine, much earlier) and have him turn over power to a dark council. Later, REVAN said he had given someone (the Galaxy? the Jedi?) “300 yrs of peace” and he was human or humanoid-looking. Did he live long naturally or was it because he was tortured by an old sith lord that long? Unknown.

  3. Oh man i hope there is a plan linking the films and not a chance to retvon. I will give disney credit they are good at reacting to fan critism very quickly. Look what they did after Solo and fixing rogue one. Time will tell if last jedi matures on us. Empire wasnt well received when that came out even though now it is worshiped for its change in tone and story. But i cant believe its all a great plan. Rian just wrote his own movie and chucked what he didnt like out of the story (such as Finn) and had no appreciation of Luke skywalker’s past. Disney talking jj backs tells me they made a mistske and need course correcting But more importantly star wars is 9 films. 10 if you count rogue and yes there are ewok movies and clone things and rebels too but you know what i mean. My point is the last two films have ignored anything set before a new hope and that bothers me. The emperor doesnt count. Yoda doesnt count. There was a story before that and to complete it they should go back further. Heck i will accept a jar jar binks cameo at this point. Only rogue one had the balls to include jimmy smidt’s character. What of the rest? Come on euan mcgregor is up for it. Im sure liam neeson has more space in his diary now. And any of the anakins as a force gost will do along with the others and hey why not bring all the younglings too so they can guilt on anikan too. Im not sure what rabbit palpatine will pull out of a hat but im guessing its like vaders mask in force awakens. Hopefully im wrong.

  4. Don’t be surprised if Rey turns out bad and Kylo returns to the light. Then again we can draw any conclusion from the word Skywalker really the sky is the limit. I’m also not convinced about Palpatines return, sounds like a nice red herring, but consider this Palpatine died at the hands of Vader lest we forget he threw him into a darker hole than the one Darth Maul was cast into.

    1. Re palpatines return, i didnt see a second shuttle craft leave the death star before it exploded so not sure how he returned and i dont belives siths bother to come back as force ghosts so probably be lame visions. So long as Leia doesnt fly again will be good. Dont think title is about reys parents. Neither luke nor leia seemed funny about her so reckon its about Ben finding his good side over dark side. Or its a nod to george lucas royalties allowing him to extend his skywalker ranch.

      1. LOL Skywalker Ranch. I almost made the same joke in the article but I couldn’t quite figure out how to word it. You hit it perfectly with “royalties.”

    2. “Don’t be surprised if Rey turns out bad and Kylo returns to the light.

      That would be a very J.J. Abrams twist to run with, though I’d still be surprised.

      “’m also not convinced about Palpatines return, sounds like a nice red herring”

      The presence of Ian McDiarmid on the stage at Star Wars Celebration after the trailer’s debut is what is throwing everyone off. Without him there, speculation could be endless, but with him there we assume that really was his voice in the trailer. How present/significant Palpatine will be, though, who knows. Thinking back, almost all of the theories everyone had about Last Jedi based on that film’s trailer proved to be dead wrong. Re: Luke is totally going to turn evil this time! (Because of the way he says “the jedi must die.”)


      Yet, even Darth Maul came back, first with mechanical legs on Clone Wars and then again in Solo’s twist ending.

      1. Darth Vader throws Palpatine “down the chute” and there is an explosion. But we don’t see any body. Suppose..……that Palpatine survived BUT, was badly bunred and skinny-looking. Just like……..SNOKE. Was Snoke really Palpatine? It could explain Snoke’s damaged appearance don’t you think? But—Snoke said he had “seen the rise of the Republic”. Would this make him older than palpatine? and if yes, then why didn’t Palpatine ever mention him to Anakin? Hmmmm……why didn’t Luke ever mention Snoke? did luke not know about him?

  5. Ahh, the possibilities!

    When YODA said: No, there is another, he could have meant REY.
    But–suppose he really did mean Rey. Seems odd, that Yoda never said anything else about her. Why would he withhold information?

    I never did believe Kylo Ren at all when he tells Rey her parents are nobody’s. I think he lied.

    The Rise of Skywalker could be REY, or it could be the small boy at the end of the Last Jedi who was sweeping with a broom, apparantly using the Force. Maybe he will be the next one to rise up. Or, it could be the rise of Kylo Ren as he trains in the Force under Supreme Leader Snoke. and speaking of Snoke—–

    He said he had “seen the rise of the empire”. Is Snoke really Palpatine?? This could explain his burned and beat-up appearance from the explosion when Darth Vader threw Palpatine “down the chute”. OR—does seeing the rise of the empire make Snoke older than Palpatine? and if that is the case, why does Palpatine never mention Snoke? Also, did Luke ever mention Snoke? Was Snoke unknown to Luke? and if Luke did know, why is he silent about Snoke?

    And just suppose, that SNOKE is soooo powerful that he really did know Kylo and Reys thoughts and that he created a convincing hypnotic Illusion that he was sliced and killed, but is really alive, whether he is really Palpatine or not? If that is the case, who would be powerful to stop him, and how?

    and who is Maz Kanata?
    I hope we really do get specific answeras!!

    1. If the recent season of Game of Thrones taught us nothing else, we at least walk away knowing this: it’s probably safer to assume that the latest big franchise you’re geeking out over isn’t going to answer all the questions you have, and you’re probably not going to like some of the answers it does actually provide.

      So, I would simply say don’t give your hopes up that Rise of Skywalker is going to satisfy everything you just asked. Part of the new reality of Star Wars and the modern era of franchise world-building is that a LOT of the loose plot strands will never be directly answered in a movie because they’ve already been addressed in some canonical comic book, book, video game, or TV show. For example, ever wonder how exactly the Asgardians rebuilt the Bifrost in-between Thor and Thor: The Dark World? There’s a comic book for that!

      I will say this:

      Yoda’s “there is another” was clearly meant to refer to Leia since she was the only other Jedi besides Luke at that point. I don’t think they’re going to retcon that.


      My reading of it is that Rian Johnson wrote and directed that scene to be true, i.e., Kylo is telling the truth. Rey not being linked to any royal bloodline of Jedis is central to the themes of The Last Jedi. However, Johnson left enough wiggle room for Abrams to retcon him, and I do think that Rise of Skywalker is going to do exactly that meaning we will find out she’s really Han’s daughter or Obi Wan’s daughter or something basic like that.

      Snoke – the big theory is that Snoke is/was Darth Plagueis, which would mean he’s the old master Palpatine referred to in Revenge of the Sith. If so, however, that would mean Palpatine didn’t actually kill him like he said he did.

      Alternately, since Rise of Skywalker is re-positioning Palpatine as the evil mastermind behind the entire Skywalker saga it’s also possible Palpatine is actually Darth Plagueis himself and Snoke was his mentor. I don’t know. That theory quickly falls apart – so, Palpatine was both Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious?

      My guess is that unlike the Rey’s parent plot line that Snoke is one Last Jedi development which JJ Abrams will leave alone. I think he really is dead and we’re never going to learn that much more about him, dispatched as quickly as Count Dooku in service to Palpatine larger’s plan, I guess.

      “Who is Maz Kanata?”

      My guess is there are already or will soon be books and comic books which provide more answer to that question than the films ever will.

      1. Grroooooooaannnnn……sigh. Who wants to wade and slog thru a giant heap of comic books or read the entire Aftermath books searching for the 2 paragraphs that answer this or that riddle? Ughhhh, what a chore! It would be soooo much better if the Movies answered things. I would say: “but I just work here” but I cant even say that. hehehe

      2. I agree. All of the additional reading and viewing options out there should be additive to the franchise but not integral. Yet, Disney has figured out a way to turn hardcore fan’s need for answers as well as their completists tendencies against them. For example, curious to know more about Luke Skywalker’s life in-between Return of the Jedi and Force Awakens? There’s a comic book for that! From MovieWeb:

        “A new Star Wars comic series, Age of the Rebellion – Luke Skywalker, is attempting to shed some light on Skywalker’s life after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens. As it turns out, Emperor Palpatine was successful in an attempting to contact Skywalker through the Force and may have been influencing him the whole time after he made the decision not to join the Dark Side. Instead of trying to draw the Jedi in closer, it is believed Palpatine tried to push him away, which may explain why he went into exile.”

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