After debuting at D23 this weekend, a new featurette for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has dropped online.
As promised, the big shock in the footage is the reveal of Rey (Daisy Ridley) cloaked in a dark robe, holding two red lightsabers that snap into a Darth Maul-esque double-bladed configuration. It’s tempting to compare her wardrobe change with that of Luke (Mark Hamill) in Return of the Jedi, in which the character’s new all-black wardrobe helped symbolize how perilously close he was to succumbing to the Sith emotions of fear and hatred, but Luke never wielded Sith lightsabers the way Rey does here.
The new footage also gives us a glimpse of the new character Jannah, played by Naomi Ackie, a new recruit to the Resistance but a mystery in every other regard. We also see another apparent alignment swap, as C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) sports red eyes, rather than his normal yellow ones, in the brief look we get at him.
The return of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) also seems to be confirmed, as he’s heard saying, “Your journey nears its end.” What’s more intriguing is that you can also briefly hear Darth Vader breathing, which seems like fair ground to at least speculate that the most infamous Skywalker may be back, too. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will hit theaters on Dec. 20.