Director Kevin Smith recently theorized that he believes Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will introduce a new religion to the Star Wars universe.
Smith dropped the theory on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast after Star Wars released the first trailer for The Rise of Skywalker.
At around the 1 minute mark, Smith drops his theory.
“I have no knowledge whatsoever. To be fair or full disclosure I did visit the Star Wars set. This was not information I gleaned at all. I had no idea what the title was until they f****** dropped the trailer. But looking at that title, these are the things swirling around my head.”
Smith continues:
“Story level. Now, I’m going okay, it could be after unfairly killing him off after the last one, he’s coming back. It’s a literal title. It’s about the rise of Skywalker. Or it could be after all this time that we find out that Rey is a Skywalker or it could be that f****** Kylo is, because isn’t he a Skywalker, or was he a Solo? He’s Ben Solo.”
Smith then gets into his Skywalker religion theory:
“The title does for me, without knowing anything, excites the shit out of me because there are endless possibilities. But here’s one that it could be. And again this is a shot in the dark. What if, you know the last movie was The Last Jedi. What if they are telling us the f****** title…What if that is like a title. What if the way the Jedi has been used historically in these movies and like including in the last movie, The Last Jedi, the Jedis must end and all that shit. What if that’s it for the Jedis? And perhaps the new religion are the Skywalkers. Didn’t that just give you f****** chills?”
Ralph Garman then states, “Maybe Skywalker supplants the order that existed beforehand.”
Smith adds, “Wouldn’t that be f****** dope? Like he was so f****** important to the universe that from then on, they named the order after; they’re all Skywalkers.”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is being billed as the end of the Skywalker Saga.
Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron, told Today, “It is the end of the entire Skywalker saga.” He would add, ““Nine stories. This is the culmination of the entire thing. What J.J. has done, and the entire Lucasfilm team, is incredibly fulfilling. It’s also special for us because you get to learn a lot more things about these characters.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger would confirm the end of the Skywalker saga telling Bloomberg:
“Because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Star Wars movies, but again I think we’re going to end up in a period where there will be a bit of hiatus.”
As for clues to the title, director J.J. Abrams spoke to ET Live saying:
“The title feels like it’s the right title for this movie. I know it’s provocative and asks a bunch of questions, but I think when you see the movie, you’ll see how it’s intended and what it means.”
Abrams would add:
“But in the flow of titles, this movie had a very weird responsibility. It had to be the end of not just three movies, but nine movies, and the idea of having to incorporate the stories that have come before, strangely, is the story of the movie.”
Former DC Comics artist and the creator of Cyberfrog, Ethan Van Sciver indicates Smith’s theory is correct, “Kevin Smith pretty much has it right here.” He points to his own sources on how this new Skywalker religion will be created.
Van Sciver adds that five years from the events of The Last Jedi have taken place. He indicates that the First Order isn’t really that bad and that the galaxy is prosperous and people are happy. In fact, he notes there isn’t a lot of conflict and “war has been tamped down.”
As for how the film incorporates Emperor Palpatine, he indicates that it’s either a hologram or some kind of Force Ghost.
He goes on to note that the small band of Resistance fighters led by General Organa and Rey set out to prove out how evil the First Order is.
In fact, they set out on a mission to uncover a transmission device from one of the Death Stars in order to broadcast “the word of Luke Skywalker all over the galaxy.”
What do you make of Kevin Smith’s theory? What about the plot points revealed by Ethan Van Sciver? Do you think that is how the movie will go?