Big Star Wars Episode IX Rumors May Reveal Timeline and More
A recent thread on Reddit surfaced from someone claiming to have attended a Disney marketing conference that revealed some new information on their major projects (which is not unheard of). Surprisingly, some of its key details about Star Wars Episode IX – as it was described at this event – have been verified elsewhere, so we feel confident enough to share this set of rumors here.
Plot details on Episode IX were predictably light, but from the sound of things, the scale of this movie is going to be absolutely massive. Inside are some details about Kylo Ren’s appearance and Rey’s weapon of choice, along with much more. Potential spoilers ahead!
The Reddit thread, posted by the user Xyzsvtabc, begins with a disclaimer about how the user came across the information. He explains it in the following way:
“Recently I was able to go to a Star Wars Marketing Presentation by Disney where they discussed all things Star Wars for 2019. It was mostly focused on marketing but they talked about all the different projects and showed a ton of images and concept art. I realize I’m just some anonymous person on the internet so take all of this information for what it’s worth but I just wanted to share. Also, I’m not exactly sure what info has already been made public so some of this may already be known. Furthermore, I didn’t take notes and I’m going off of memory so I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of stuff. Anyway, here you go: the overall theme of their marketing will be focused on the legacy characters and really re-introducing them to the younger generation of fans.”
There’s a lot to the post itself, but I want to just focus on the Episode IX-related material for this article. (We’ll be sure to cover the other claims later on in a separate piece.) In his initial post, he clarifies the year that Episode IX takes place in, along with a quick discussion of two repaired objects that Rey and Kylo Ren make use of, another droid buddy, and the promise that we’ll be seeing lots of planets:
“Episode 9: So plot info was pretty much non-existent here. They only mentioned that it takes place about a year after TLJ. They talked about the culmination of the movie being a battle between Rey and Kylo. [They] did show a ton or artwork of planets and characters. [They] said Kylo has his helmet back and that it has been put back together with some kind of red adhesive. It looked kinda cool with the red lines going through it. They also talked about Rey’s lightsaber and how it’s back and has been reforged. They said the reforge is not shown on screen. There’s a new droid. It’s name is Dio and it’s sort of a sidekick to BB8. It’s little and has sort of a cone shaped head, kind of like a megaphone shape if you can picture it. Beyond that it was just a lot of artwork and toy packaging. They mentioned various new planet terrains but the only one I remember was some kind of Jungle planet.”
So that’s a lot to go through. First and foremost, the time-skip between The Last Jedi and Episode IX is roughly the same as The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so it seems like the entirety of the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order is going to remain in a relatively short timespan – fitting, considering that both sides have fewer resources than the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. While Kylo Ren will no doubt take his mask off again for multiple scenes in the movie, it stands to reason that he’d want to reconstruct it (in a process that seems similar to kintsugi) to appear more intimidating as a military leader. (Snoke left big shoes to fill, after all.) When pressed for details about what the red lines looked like, Xyzsvtabc noted that he couldn’t quite tell if the markings resembled crystals or a glowing substance.
What’s more confusing is the idea that we’ll skip seeing Rey repair the Skywalker Lightsaber, which we recently heard would be her weapon of choice. Her last scene in The Last Jedi implied that she was going to fix yet another broken thing in her life (as that’s something that she’s got a knack for), and it seems like that might be something that they’d want to at least mention even if it happened offscreen. It may be that all the media that will be made for the lead-up to the launch of Episode IX will feature explanations for less-important story elements like this one, as Rey having fixed her lightsaber before the events of the movie would give storytellers working in this era more freedom in covering events set between the last two films of the trilogy.
The droid is of particular interest here, as it, along with Kylo Ren’s mask design, are things that the people at Making Star Wars recently verified as being accurate to what they know. While Xyzsvtabc referred to the droid as “Dio”, MSW has seen it spelled “D. O.”, but pronounced the same way that Xyzsvtabc wrote it. They compared the character to the fable of the Ugly Duckling, and mentioned that its story arc involves looking up to BB-8 as a parental figure. (Droid life, uh, finds a way! In any case, “D. O.” has nothing in common with Iden Versio’s “Dio” droid from Battlefront II.) Meanwhile, they described Kylo Ren’s repaired mask as having “a very corrupted look” that’s evocative of the appearances of Darth Vader and Darth Maul.
I also dig that it sounds like there’s going to be a wide variety of planets visited in this movie. John Boyega most likely wasn’t kidding when he said he saw this movie as being “the war to end all wars” shortly before the release of The Last Jedi. I can only hope that we’ll get to revisit some familiar locations decades after the events of the two prior trilogies alongside plenty of brand-new environments.
But this description isn’t all. Looking through some of his other posts reveals other information of note. The cherry on top is the confirmation that the film will indeed see the Knights of Ren take part in the story of Episode IX after only being vaguely hinted at in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi! When asked about the mysterious antagonists, this was his reply:
“Yes! I totally forgot about them but they will definitely be in the next movie… They did show numerous pictures/artwork of them. I wish I had more details but at the very least it seems like they will play a bigger role than previous films. While I’m a Star Wars fan, I’m not a superfan like many of you so a lot of names/details/places probably were wasted on someone like me.”
Finally! The Knights of Ren have been the subject of nonstop speculation for years, and it looks like we’re finally going to get some answers about them one way or the other. J. J. Abrams was enthusiastic about these guys, and it seems only fitting that he’s the director who will actually get to show them all off in action.
On another note, I should also mention that Xyzsvtabc has previously leaked accurate information from Disney events before. A few months ago, he mentioned that Nick Fury would have a prominent role in Spider-Man: Far From Home and that several Avengers in the fourth film in their series would wear white matching uniforms. Both of these things have been confirmed, officially in the case of Spider-Man and through a leak with Avengers 4 (read at your own risk, as there are other spoilers following that link). While his username doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, he’s someone who’s proved himself reliable in the past, and that’s definitely a point in his favor.
All this stuff sounds incredibly exciting, and I can’t wait until we can see it for ourselves. To think that Episode IX is only a year (and some change) away is mind-blowing. May the Force be with us all.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
