Things Don't Look Good For C-3PO In The Final 'Star Wars: Episode 9' Trailer

The Skywalker family might be rising, but it looks like one droid just might be meeting their end in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Based on the final trailer for Episode 9, it looks like C-3PO could die in the last installment of the Skywalker saga. Or, at the very least, he's prepared to.

The last Rise of Skywalker trailer premiered Monday, Oct. 21, during Monday Night Football, and while many fans were ready to obsess over any Rey and Kylo interaction they could find, what they were not ready for was the devastating C-3PO scene teased in the middle of the clip. In the scene, 3PO is hooked up to a machine, being operated on by the little Babu Frik, a new character in The Rise of Skywalker. When Poe asks him what he's doing, he looks at Poe, Rey, Finn, new character Zorii Bliss, BB-8, and new droid D-0, and answers, "Taking one last look, sir, at my friends."

It's certainly an ominous statement for a droid to make, especially C-3PO, a droid known for being nervous, but not especially sentimental. That said, this emotional farewell could simply be a fake-out. After all, can droids really die? Well, just look at Rogue One's K-2SO for the answer: yes. However, there are ways for a droid to live on past their physical forms.

In Solo, for example, the droid L3-37 appeared to die, but lived on by incorporating herself into the Millennium Falcon. In The Rise of Skywalker trailer, C-3PO appears to be wired to some kind of contraption, which could very well be part of a ship, meaning he could be attempting to upload his "consciousness" into another form. Or, perhaps this goodbye has something to do with those dark-looking red eyes teased in the Episode 9 footage released at D23. But regardless of his intentions, the line alone is enough to send Star Wars fans into an emotional spiral.

C-3PO's death would be a poignant end to this story, as the character is the only one to have been in every single Skywalker saga film — starting with the original trilogy, through the prequel trilogy, and, of course, into the current trilogy. Actor Anthony Daniels, who has played 3PO in all 9 films — the only actor to appear in each one — previously teased that his character would be making his last appearance on the big screen. Speaking to Variety at the D23 Expo in August, Daniels said The Rise of Skywalker was "such a terrific movie that I thought it was OK to say goodbye." He went on to say that "the story comes together" at the end of the film. "I'm not going to say who dies, who doesn't die, whatever. But, you have a sense that the galaxy is in its state," he added, making a balancing motion with his hands.

Daniels bringing up "who dies, who doesn't die" all on his own, coupled with C-3PO's apparent goodbye in this Episode 9 trailer definitely warrants a few red flags. This might not just be the end of the Skywalker family saga, but the end of the Skywalker droids, too.