It’s hard to believe that a month from now, I’ll be sitting in the theater, watching the final chapter in Star Wars‘ Skywalker Saga. This is a franchise that has meant so much to me personally that saying farewell to these characters is ultimately going to be bittersweet. But, right now, I’m too consumed with wondering how the story is going to end to fully grasp this. It’s like watching the series finale of Lost. You’re too busy wondering how all the questions are going to be answered and how the final conflict is going to be resolved, that it’s not until after that it really hits you: “Oh, it’s over. That’s it. That was the end.”

Now, Star Wars as a franchise will apparently be going on forever. So far, I’m enjoying The Mandalorian; thus, if we get more stories like that, I honestly wouldn’t mind. But, I think it’s time we bid farewell to the Skywalker family and start focusing on some other more unique and, to be honest, more interesting stories in this fictional universe. (Seriously, why don’t we have a Knights of the Old Republic movie, yet? Oh wait…)

In any case, because we’re exactly one month away from the movie’s opening date, I wanted to take a minute to make some more predictions on how this is all going to end. I tackled this subject matter previously, but that was in a post that was written more than a year ago — before we even had the title of the movie. Now that we have not only the title, but a lot of footage in the trailers, photos from the movie, interviews from the actors and so on, I think it’s worth really exploring what’s really going to be in this movie, rather than speculating a year in advance.

I want to say, before I really dive into this, that I could be right about some of these predictions. So, if you’re in the midst of a media blackout for The Rise of Skywalker (as some of my friends and family are), and you haven’t seen trailers, read interviews or anything like that, TURN BACK NOW!

I don’t want to throw up SPOILER WARNING, because they’re not actually spoilers (yet), but my predictions might be more than some people want to know beforehand.

SO AGAIN: DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH ANYTHING EVEN RESEMBLING SPOILERS!

Now, onto the predictions:

ACT ONE

I’m going to predict that Act One is going to include Kylo Ren’s Star Destroyer and Rey’s training on the jungle planet.

(Side note: The Internet speculates the planet is called Ajan Kloss. But, one, that’s not confirmed; and, two, that is the stupidest name ever and I’m not going to call it that. Overall, the planets’ names in this movie sound like someone picked them from random Scrabble tiles. Pasaana is the one exception, because that actually sounds like a real place. Kijimi is OK, but I keep wanting to call it Kimiji, because I think that sounds better. Thus, I’m going to be calling “Ajan Kloss” Jungle Planet.)

For the Star Destroyer set piece, we’ve seen a shot of Rey and Kylo fighting and destroying Darth Vader’s helmet, and we have a shot of Finn, Poe and Chewie in a First Order hallway (presumably aboard a FO ship).

I believe, of the two, the Star Destroyer sequence is going to be the first set piece of the movie. Star Wars (main saga) movies always begin with the title crawl in space and then some shot of a ship flying to/from somewhere (or in TLJ, hovering over a planet). I believe our first shot is going to be Rey & Co. flying to Kylo Ren’s Star Destroyer to do … something. Maybe they’re sneaking aboard to steal information. Maybe they’re sneaking aboard to destroy something. I’m not sure.

During this sequence, we will see the confrontation between Rey and Kylo. She will pick up the Sith relic knife (seen in the shot where she’s destroying the helmet) during the fight, and SHE will destroy the Darth Vader helmet (whether accidentally or on purpose). Some people conjecture that she and Kylo are destroying it together, but I don’t think this is the case. Kylo, in the brief second we see this scene, seems to be concerned about its destruction. I think either Rey was trying to destroy the helmet on purpose or it was a by-product of the fight (ie, she parried his strike or vice versa and the lightsabers crashed into it).

Then, she, Finn and Poe escape the ship via the Falcon. We have a photo of Kylo — helmet off — in the hangar bay. It looks like a ship is flying away, as many of the Stormtroopers in the background are on the ground because of the ship’s engines blasting in their direction. So, makes me think that Kylo is using the Force to stand up and walk toward the ship before/as it flies away. [EDIT: I just saw a TV spot that confirms this prediction. It showed Rey escaping onto the Falcon in the hangar bay and Kylo watching her while staying upright via the Force.]

So then there’s the training sequence on the Jungle Planet. Now, I’ll fully admit that it’s possible that THIS is the first protagonist-centered set piece of the movie (because maybe the opening sequence is something First Order-centered, like in Return of the Jedi).

That would make more sense thematically, as it would show Rey has completed her training and is fully capable of facing Kylo Ren / taking on the First Order or whatever. As someone else described when analyzing that footage from the final trailer, it shows Rey has left her childhood behind (the helmet she discards as she runs away) and is now a fully matured woman and Jedi Knight (or at least, Force user). If TFA was childhood and TLJ was adolescence, then it fits that TROS will be adulthood.

This is also where Rey is saying goodbye to Leia, symbolizing the full transition from the old characters to the new ones.

Either way, I believe that these two set pieces (Jungle Planet training/saying goodbye to Leia and the Star Destroyer infiltration/fight) will be the first big ones of the movie. It’s the order I’m not sure about, because I could honestly see it going either way. (Actually, Jungle Planet then Star Destroyer kinda makes more sense, especially if Pasaana is an unscheduled stop in Act Two because their ship gets damaged escaping the Star Destroyer.)

ACT TWO

This is the act we’ve gotten the most about, it seems like. The bulk of Act Two seems to take place on Pasaana (the desert planet) with a few scenes on Kijimi (the underworld hideout where Zorri Bliss [Keri Russell’s character] is). Again, I’m not entirely sure on the order of which one is first. I would guess Pasaana, because the C-3PO “farewell” scene seems to be on Kijimi as Zorri Bliss is there.

OK, so after leaving the Jungle Planet, probably, the group goes to Pasaana. Or it could be that the the Jungle Planet is first, then they flee the Star Destroyer and maybe crash-land in Pasaana or something. Maybe it’s like a Flee from Naboo situation (in Phantom Menace) or Jakku situation (in TFA), where their ship is hit and so they have to make an emergency landing on a nearby planet to repair their ship or refuel. Either way, the First Order still seems to be chasing them across Pasaana, and we have the showdown between Rey and Kylo in his TIE fighter.

On that score, I subscribe to the theory that Rey and Kylo are actually training in that scene where she jumps over the TIE fighter.

We have the Vanity Fair covers that show Rey and Kylo on Pasaana, and they seem to be looking at each other with mixed emotions. And, as Daisy Ridley has stated in an interview, there was a very emotional scene that they filmed in Jordan with the natural light fading. And, there’s a photo of Kylo — helmet off — walking in a desert environment, presumably Pasaana.

I think, after the incident on the ship where Sith relics were disturbed or destroyed, Kylo has become aware of something developing on the Dark Side of the Force (which is Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious — and I’ll talk about that more in the Act 3 section). Thus, he seeks out Rey, because he wants to partner with her to investigate and probably destroy whatever this Dark Side energy is that he senses. He will call off all the First Order forces from pursuing them — so the speeder chase scene will presumably be in the first half of the group’s trip to Pasaana — and then he will approach the group (read: Rey) to ask for her help.

And THEN, I predict, we will get the infamous ‘Rey flipping over the TIE fighter scene.’ As I said, I believe the two are training. Some on the Internet have theorized that Kylo’s TIE fighter is actually cloaked and — while we the audience can see it in the shot — Rey can’t. Thus, she’s doing all that running and jumping solely because she’s honing her ability to sense things via the Force. It would also explain why she’s so out of breath at the beginning of the scene — because they’ve done this several times already and this is only Kylo’s most recent pass and Rey’s most recent jump. It also explains why Kylo isn’t shooting at her, which I found very odd when I first saw the scene.

OK, that seems to be the bulk of what we know they do on Pasaana. Now Kijimi. Again, it could be that Kijimi takes place before Pasaana. I have no idea, but — like with Act One — I think these two set pieces will take up the bulk of Act Two. I just don’t know the order.

The one thing that apparently takes place on Kijimi is whatever the group is doing with C-3PO that makes him take “one last look” at his friends. We also have the shot of C-3PO’s red eyes in the D-23 footage, which seems to be during the same scene. My prediction is that they are trying to recover some information from C-3PO’s memory that has been deleted. This technology is experimental, perhaps; and thus, there’s a risk that rather than recovering his old memories, it will wipe out his current ones. That’s why C-3PO is taking a last look at his friends, because there’s a risk he will forget them if the recovery technique fails. What memory or memories are they recovering from him? Not sure. Probably something to do with Anakin or Palpatine, as that would be relevant to what’s happening in Act 3.

ACT THREE

OK, so Act Three seems to consist of the lightsaber fight between Kylo and Rey atop the Death Star ruins on the ocean moon, supposedly named Kef Bir (I’m not calling it that — Ocean Moon is fine); the big space battle between the Resistance and First Order/Empire(??); and the confrontation with Palpatine.

I don’t really have a lot of predictions on the space battle front, so I’m going to focus mainly on everything going on between Kylo and Rey on Ocean Moon.

So, we have the shot of Rey & Co. arriving at the Death Star ruins from the first trailer, and then we have a shot of her riding over to it in some kind of skiff in the final trailer. This obviously happens before the fight between her and Kylo.

Now, from the final trailer, we have this shot of Rey (lightsaber ignited) and Kylo (no helmet and no lightsaber ignited) standing in the Death Star ruins of the Emperor’s Throne Room. I believe that this happens BEFORE the fight, because it seems to be lighter outside in the background. It seems that this meeting in the Throne Room takes place during the day, the fight atop the ruins takes place at dusk, and the confrontation with Palpatine takes place at night. So, I think that’s the sequence of events.

So, if Rey and Kylo teamed up before on Pasaana, why are they now fighting?

I have two theories: either Rey blames Kylo for Leia’s death, because we know Leia’s alive in Act One and presumably won’t be around much in the movie after that; OR — more likely — Kylo is being possessed by Palpatine.

Alright, so on the Sidious/Palpatine front, here’s what I think is happening:

Palpatine IS dead, but his essence or spirit or whatever you want to call it has been lingering on the Dark Side of the Force. Basically, he’s like Voldemort. Even though he died physically on the Death Star in ROTJ, he didn’t actually die. He’s too powerful in the Dark Side of the Force to actually be gone for good. And, I subscribe to the theory that Palpatine’s spirit was the one possessing Snoke (similar to how Voldemort possessed Quirrell as a sort of temporary body in Sorcerer’s Stone). If you go back through Snoke’s dialogue from TFA and TLJ, there wasn’t anything that sounded out-of-character for the Emperor to say; I mean, I think it was kind of like generically evil on purpose, just like the Emperor’s dialogue in ROTJ.

And, so, just as Palpatine presumably took over Snoke’s body — probably because it was the only one available at the time (again, like Quirrell) — now he has two young people who are both extremely strong in Force. I mean, now, he gets his pick of the litter, so to speak. Thus, I think he’ll initially possess and control Kylo, even if it’s only partially or only temporarily. And that’s how we get the lightsaber fight.

Rey will be pissed that Palpatine is controlling Kylo’s body and will fight in an effort to drive him out. It’s also possible that during this possession, Kylo will see Dark Rey, which we saw in the D-23 footage. I wouldn’t be surprised if — maybe because he doesn’t have full control of Kylo’s body just yet — Palpatine was manipulating Kylo into fighting Rey by showing Kylo a vision of her on the Dark Side. He’s corrupting Kylo’s mind into fighting Rey.

Now, the fight ends in a kind of draw. We see that Palpatine has returned in some kind of corporal form, as he’s confronting Rey in the final trailer. And we know that Kylo — if he was possessed before — has regained his senses by the time Palpatine physically returns.

This makes me wonder — and this is more of a theory than a prediction — that Palpatine drained Kylo of ability to use the Force and has used that energy to return physically. We know that Palpatine can use the Force to create / take away life from ROTS, and so I imagine he had to have access to a physical body who was strong enough, specifically in the Dark Side, to do this. That’s why he couldn’t do so when he controlled/possessed Snoke’s body. He needed Kylo’s power and strength, especially in the Dark Side, to be able to do it.

This would explain why Kylo isn’t initially facing down Palpatine with Rey. (The showdown appears to still be on Ocean Moon, but just a different part. I wonder if the tide shifted or something when the old Star Destroyers rose up out of the water …)

So, in their previous fight (where Palpatine is probably possessing Kylo) atop the Death Star ruins, neither side really wins. Rey is maybe strong enough to prevent Palpatine/Kylo from doing more damage while also keeping Kylo alive, but Palpatine gains enough energy to bring himself back to life. But, as said, rather than being by her side, Kylo is next to his TIE fighter and then DECIDES to go back and help Rey — or at least that’s what I predict he’s doing in the final trailer and D-23 footage.

But, why isn’t Kylo already alongside Rey? I doubt he’d just abandon her; and I doubt that Palpatine controlled or tempted him to abandon her. As I speculate, if Kylo was drained of his Force powers… I could see Rey telling Kylo that — without access to the Force — he’s only a liability and should leave while he has the chance. No doubt Palpatine’s focus has now shifted to Rey because she’s just as strong in the Force as Kylo is, and he probably wants to drain her energy, possess her body, or something else nefarious. Maybe Rey creates a distraction so Kylo can get away safely. And, just as he returns to his TIE fighter and is about to fly away, he decides he needs to go back and help her — Force powers or no.

Or, even if he still has his Force power, it’s possible that Rey was able to drive Palpatine out of Kylo during their fight earlier; and because of that Palpatine now wants to possess her and Rey wants Kylo to leave before Palpatine possess him again.

Either way, Kylo decides to go back and help Rey, and I predict that this is PART of the reason why the movie is called The Rise of Skywalker. Kylo, being the last living descendant of Anakin Skywalker, is now “rising” to the occasion and stopping the saga’s Big Bad (Palpatine) from taking over the galaxy or whatever his evil schemes are this time. Of course, Rey will certainly help in this effort, but Kylo’s choice there seems to be very pivotal to the whole story. Rather than letting the Dark Side/evil triumph, Kylo is going to turn back toward the Light/good.

And, of course, I think that that last shot of Rey looking directly at the camera in the final trailer will be her looking at Kylo/Ben when he decides to come back toward the Light/good.

Anyway, the two will fight alongside one another to defeat Palpatine, and they will because, duh.

THE DENOUEMENT

If you read my other post, you know that I subscribe to the theory that Rey and Kylo/Ben will get ~together~ at the end of the movie and become something akin to Grey Jedi — Force-users who use both the Light and the Dark Sides of the Force in balance. I also subscribe to the theory that this movement that they start of ‘balance’ within the Force will be called Skywalker or Skywalkers. The Jedi were a religion on the Light Side; the Sith, a religion on the Dark Side; and now, the Skywalker(s) will be a religion in between.

This is ANOTHER reason for why I think the movie is named “the Rise of Skywalker.” The titular Skywalker could refer to Kylo (an actual descendant of Anakin Skywalker), AND Rey (because I’m hoping she marries into that family), AND any future children they have, AND any students they have in their newfound order of Gray Jedi-like Force users.

I also predict that both the First Order/Empire and the Resistance will be disbanded and a new system of government will be instituted. Maybe the Republic will be resurrected; or maybe it will be something new entirely.

If my theory that Kylo will be drained of his Force-powers is true, I could see him never regaining them. Or, in an X-Men 3 way, regaining them but very slowly. Or maybe he will be drained of the Dark Side, but he can still use the Light. Who knows? This is where my predictions start to thin out, but I feel like for audiences to accept Kylo’s redemption he’s going to have to suffer some kind of loss of power or strength. Maybe it’s a physical injury, like a lost limb, or maybe it’s a spiritual one (ie, he’s lost his Force powers).

And, my theory for the final shot of the movie will be Rey and Kylo together either on Naboo or Tatooine. I could see either, to be quite honest. Naboo is where the whole nine-episode saga started in The Phantom Menace. The first shot in the whole saga (chronologically in-universe) was the Jedi’s ship flying toward Naboo. I could see the final shot be Rey and Kylo — our two Grey Jedi / Skywalker — on Naboo, thus completing the circle. But, Tatooine has more significance to the overall franchise, and that is where the Skywalker saga literally started because it’s where we first meet Anakin in The Phantom Menace.

MISC. THINGS & FINAL THOUGHTS

I want to state, for the record, that there are definitely plot lines and plot points that I know will be in the film that I did not discuss or make predictions about. These include Kylo mowing down a First Order soldier in the first trailer, Luke’s speech (presumably as a Force Ghost), Lando’s return, any of the new characters, or anything to do with the Resistance and the final battle.

Who knows? Maybe the first sequence will be Kylo’s ship going to wherever this red forest is to put down some kind of First Order insurrection, and then we get Rey training on Jungle Planet, and then we get Kijimi, and then the Star Destroyer and then Pasaana and then Ocean Moon. And maybe the shot of Rey and Kylo in the Throne Room of the Death Star ruins is actually after their fight with Palpatine (which would make sense thematically as the ‘return of the light’ given that it’s so bright in that scene compared to all the others in/around the Death Star ruins).

Here’s the thing: I don’t want all my predictions to be right. If they are, then it means the movie’s going to be boring because of how stale and predictable it is. Obviously, there are things I can say for certain about it — the Forest Planet training will definitely be at the beginning, Pasaana in the middle, Ocean Moon showdown at the end — but I also realize that there’s going to be a lot of stuff in this movie that we never even got a hint of in the trailers.

If you recall all the marketing for TLJ, for instance, there was never anything about Yoda returning as a Force Ghost, Holdo’s lightspeed-kamikaze move, or Rey and Kylo teaming up, or Snoke’s death. This franchise, I think, knows what cards to play and when in terms of marketing. Do we actually know the plot of the movie? No, not really. But, we know some things that are going to happen in it, like the lightsaber fight on the Death Star ruins, Rey finishing her training, Palpatine coming back in some fashion, etc. In the same way, I don’t think you could really piece together the plot of TLJ whenever its trailer came out. I mean, people thought the Crait battle was at the beginning or middle of the movie, rather than the end.

So, anyway, just keep that in mind. As Youtuber Preston Jacobs likes to say: I’m probably wrong about half of this.

And, that’s OK. So long as they get the big things right — Kylo/Ben being redeemed, he and Rey ending up together, and starting a Grey Jedi-type movement — I’ll be more than satisfied.

Thankfully, we only have one more month to find out!!!

Until then: