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Massive spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
After decades of filmmaking and three trilogies, the Skywalker Saga has come to an end. The Star Wars franchise as we know it wrapped up with J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker, with the filmmaker giving conclusions to various characters who occupy the galaxy far, far away. While we said goodbye to a handful of characters who died on screen, another fan favorite Rebel was revealed to have died in Episode IX's final battle. Namely, Nein Nunb, who made his debut back in Return of the Jedi. And the fans seem to have picked out the exact moment when Nein died.
While not exactly a household name, Nein Nunb is a Star Wars character who has spanned various trilogies and other media. He's been a playable video game character, and was seen co-piloting the Millennium Falcon with Lando in the Return of the Jedi, before battling with The Resistance in all three of the sequels. Unfortunately it was revealed that he didn't make it out of the final stand against the Dark Side. Specifically at the hands of Palpatine himself.
In The Rise of Skywalker's third act, the true power of resurrected Palpatine was shown off, as he tried to convince Rey to embrace the Dark Side and strike him down. On the dark planet Exegol, Palpatine tried to get his granddaughter to kill him, and therefore transfer all of his dark power to her. After draining strength from Rey and Ben Solo, he sends a mass of Force Lightning into the air, attacking the Resistance fleet. That's exactly where the fans may have spotted Nein Nunb in his final moments.
On Reddit, the Star Wars fandom has discussed and dissected every frame of The Rise of Skywalker. There's one shot in particular after Palpatine begins his attack on the fleet, where a Rebel ship is shown being electrocuted. Inside the cockpit appears to be Nein Nunb, who gets a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot. And things don't appear to be going well.
Star Wars fans can re-watch the Skywalker Saga in Disney+. You can use this link for a free 7-day trial to the streaming service.
While technically unconfirmed, this seems like a logical place for Nein Nunb to have ended his Star Wars story. The sequel trilogy has been methodically killing off the characters of the originals, with one of the OG heroes biting the dust with each new movie. We've also seen iconic characters like Nein Nunb and Admiral Ackbar meet their end, highlighting the destructive power of The First Order.
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It should be interesting to see what comes next for the Star Wars franchise. The property's transition to live-action TV has gone quite well, with The Mandalorian breaking the internet thanks to The Child aka Baby Yoda. We should get a break from Star Wars in movies for a while, at least until Rian Johnson begins moving forward with his movie(s).
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in theaters now. Be sure to check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
