The first trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the follow-up to The Force Awakens, is here.
If you, like me, were one of the few people to be completely bored by Rogue One, you may be looking forward to the return of Star Wars characters who have more than one film through which to develop (or, in the case of Rogue One, woefully under-develop — despite an “unsung heroes” plot — and be sacrificed for endless, generic action sequences.) You may also be interested to see what Brick/Looper director Rian Johnson has to contribute to the Star Wars universe. (He both wrote and directed this one.)
J. J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, in all its playful imitation of the original films, managed to present a new cast of characters who were compelling, and to whom the audience could become quickly endeared. The action, and the stakes of the action, thereby felt like they mattered because these characters were beautifully Frankensteined by Disney to matter — and then fleshed out in vibrant performances by the likes of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and Oscar Issac. They’re all back in the new trailer for The Last Jedi. Who, speaking of which, is Luke Skywalker, aka Mark Hamill — who actually has a line!
And what a fraught line it is: “It’s time for the Jedi to end,” he says at the close of the trailer — which of course doesn’t seem very productive when you’re also seemingly training one. Of course, after these films, and the Han Solo spinoff, Disney will surely cook up another way for to bring about the antithesis of that proclamation — and perhaps a prequel to the prequels? a prequel to the spinoff? a spinoff to the prequel to the sequel?
Watch the trailer:
The movie’s out December 15, 2017.