CinemaBlend participates in affiliate programs with various companies. We may earn a commission when you click on or make purchases via links.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s now officially December, and you know what that means: we’re in the homestretch of the countdown to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. As the clock ticks down, we’re going to continue to see new ads and footage that showcases just what the end of the Skywalker Saga will bring -- yes, including flying Stormtroopers.
It’s crunch time to get butts into seats, so it’s time to pull out all the stops, which means it’s time to make the world believe that a Storm Trooper can fly. But don't take it from me, take a look below.
For the uninitiated, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has brought a pretty exciting prospect to the table, to the point where this ad’s title “Hold On” really should have been something like “They Fly Now,” echoing the opening dialogue between Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and John Boyega’s Finn. For fans who are deep in the paint when it comes to Star Wars lore, the extended universe of books and video games have shown off such delights earlier in the history of the storied franchise.
So seeing these flying Stormtroopers may not be as big of a surprise to those sorts of folks, but the bigger shock is that director J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has brought that phenomenon to the big screen for presumably the first time. When you’re giving Stormtroopers the power of flight, it definitely feels like you’re leading up to the end of an era, and the ninth episode in the supposedly ending Skywalker Saga is doing just that.
Of course, that’s not the only exciting moment we’re seeing in the latest pair of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker promo footage. While Monty Palpatine’s Flying Stormtroopers are certainly a highlight, there’s tons more to take out of these blockbuster teasers. In fact, Daisy Ridley’s Rey gets to pull another Jedi mind trick on some unsuspecting Troopers, which leads to Poe and Finn getting another fun moment of comedic relief. It just goes to show that while Stormtroopers can fly at this point, it doesn’t mean their minds have become any sharper.
There’s even more fun coming out of another clip entitled “Celebrate,” which also dropped today from within the Star Wars marketing apparatus. In this round of delight, we get to hear Ian McDiarmid’s legendary Emperor Palpatine supposedly touting this film’s bout of warfare as the “final battle.” I say supposedly because not only have we still not seen The Emperor in any Star Wars footage, but also that “final battle” could come at any point during this film’s course of events.
If you’re curious to see and hear this moment for yourselves, and why wouldn’t you be, take a look at that very Star Wars ad, included below.
Flying Stormtroopers, Jedi mind tricks, and even the late Carrie Fisher holding a lightsaber are all images promising one hell of a closer to this era of Star Wars filmmaking. It certainly makes Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker sound like the movie event of the year, and with only a little under three weeks separating fans from this historic occasion, there’s only going to be more hype added to the pile. With that hype will most assuredly come even more footage giving us all a peek at 2019’s cinematic Christmas present, so you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled and your browser tuned to CinemaBlend to see more as it develops.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker fights the good fight in theaters on December 20. But if you’ve already marked that down on your calendar, then why not check out the 2019 release schedule to get some of your other holiday moviegoing scheduled as soon as possible? Even better, if you want to hone up on your Star Wars history before The Rise of Skywalker, there's a 7-day free trial available for Disney+, so you can see the first seven episodes of the franchise – one for each day!
