Daisy Ridley wields a deadly red lightsaber in new Star Wars teaser

But will Rey turn to the Dark Side in the Rise of Skywalker?

Published: Monday, 26 August 2019 at 2:18 pm

After being debuted at Disney’s D23 celebration earlier in the week, a new teaser has arrived online for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and it’s full of exciting new reveals from the eagerly-awaited Episode IX.

Ad

After a montage of clips from earlier Star Wars films, the new footage includes our heroes (including Daisy Ridley’s Rey, Oscar Isaac’s Poe and John Boyega’s Finn) visiting an alien festival, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Rey battling on the ruins of the second Death Star on Endor, some nifty lightsaber tricks and, perhaps most poignantly, an appearance by the late Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia.

Want to see this content?

This page contains content provided by YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as YouTube may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow YouTube and its required purposes.

Accept and continue

But by far the biggest moment (already described by D23 attendees last week) appears at the end of the new footage, as the returning Emperor (Ian McDiarmuid) notes that “Your journey…nears its end,” and the scene cuts to Rey wearing a menacing dark hood.

In her hands? A brand-new, parallel-blade red lightsaber, which she then resets to a long, double-bladed staff like the iconic weapon wielded by Darth Maul in the prequels.

Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Disney)

Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Disney)

Famously, the red-bladed lightsaber is almost exclusively wielded by Dark Side users (something about the lightsaber’s coloured Kyber crystal being corrupted, for recently-invented canon fans) – so does this, and her new fashion sense mean that the Emperor has turned Rey to evil after all?

For now, we’ll just have to wait and see until The Rise of Skywalker is released this Christmas before we find out the truth, even if one fact already seems assured.

That new lightsaber is going to be THE toy this December.

Ad

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is released in UK cinemas on the 19th December

Authors

Radio Times commissioning editor Huw Fullerton. He sits in front of a shelving unit, looking at the camera and smiling. He wears glasses and has a moustache

Huw FullertonCommissioning editor

Huw Fullerton is a commissioning editor for Radio Times magazine handling comedy, entertainment and specialist drama. In a previous regeneration, he covered all things sci-fi and fantasy for RadioTimes.com.

Ad

Ad

Get the Christmas double issue

Too much to watch at Christmas? Let Radio Times do the choosing to find something the whole family will enjoy.

Subscribe by 3 Dec

Loading...

Ad

Loading...