Breaking Down The New ‘Star Wars’ Title, Because It's A Lot Less Simple Than It Seems

On Friday afternoon the new trailer for the current Star Wars trilogy's third installment debuted, and it's nothing short of breathtaking. It leaves a lot of questions, though, like what does the title The Rise of Skywalker mean? It could be the time for Rey (Daisy Ridley) to become the Jedi master she was born to be. The name itself suggests that Rey might even be a Skywalker after all, a theory that has permeated the Star Wars fandom ever since Rey first appeared as a scavenger in 2015's The Force Awakens.

The trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker debuted at the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, and it shows Rey using the Jedi skills that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) taught her in 2017's The Last Jedi. Despite Luke disappearing at the end of The Last Jedi, his voice narrates the new trailer for Episode 9, which is set to come out on Dec. 20.

"We’ve passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now. But this is your fight," an unseen Luke says in the trailer as Rey makes an impressive jump over the spacecraft that villain Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) navigates speedily towards her in the desert. It seems likely that the "Skywalker" rising the new movie's title refers to Rey, given the way Luke passes the baton to her, but then again, there may be a chance that Luke returns in some form.

The fan theories suggesting that Rey is Luke's daughter were strengthened following The Last Jedi due to the two characters' undeniable bond. As you'll probably remember, Rey finds Luke on the remote island, Ahch-To, where he'd hidden as a hermit for many years, and she convinces him to train her in the Jedi arts. Luke tells Rey that he recognizes similarities between her and Kylo Ren, but he doesn't mention that he's also strikingly similar to Rey. True, Kylo told her that her parents were scavengers who abandoned her, but he could have been lying.

Even if Luke didn't want to acknowledge the connection between himself and Rey, the duo's equal ability to use the Force became undeniable at the end of The Last Jedi when Luke and Rey together save the Resistance in an epic stand-off against Kylo Ren. Before Luke seemingly disappears into thin air, he tells Kylo Ren, "I will not be the last Jedi," leading fans to deduce that the Jedi Order will come back in full force — or Force — in the following Star Wars films. Judging by Rey's remarkable performance in the new trailer, it seems likely that that's exactly what happens.

That said, there is another Skywalker who could still rise to power in the upcoming Star Wars installment, and that's Kylo Ren, who's Leia and Han Solo's son. Plenty of fans on Twitter are positing that the "Skywalker" being referred to in Episode 9's title is actually him, which might suggest that the dark force either triumphs in the end, or that Kylo Ren has some sort of epiphany that he should switch over to the light side.

It seems most likely that the "Skywalker" who is rising in the upcoming movie will be Rey — after all, she does literally rise into the air to jump over Kylo Ren's ship — but even if she's not actually related to her mentor, Luke, she'll follow his guidance as she continues to fight against the Dark Side.