The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Do we still need to do this? I always get confused on the rules.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker wasn't the end of the Star Wars franchise, but it was the biggest finale we've seen since probably the end of the original trilogy. The film tried to wrap up the entire Skywalker Saga in a satisfying way, and while that task was largely impossible, there were just too many fans to make happy who were looking for different things, one way that the film tried to push the buttons of fans was with easter eggs and references to previous films in the series as well as the additional media.
We heard the voices of Jedi from not just the original trilogy, but the prequels as well. We visited the Death Star again. We saw Wedge riding in the Millennium Falcon with Lando. However, Wedge was far from the only returning Star Wars favorite in the final battle of Exegol, as Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group recently confirmed to StarWars.com that several ships from the animated series Star Wars: Resistance can also be seen among the several thousands ships that make up the final battle.
Well, one thing we do know is that among the 14,000 ships that arrive with Lando Calrissian over Exegol in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker are the Fireball, Jarek Yeager’s racer, and Torra Doza’s ship.
We knew that the insane number of ships at the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was certainly hiding some familiar ships, and some were more recognizable than others. But the comments from Pablo Hidalgo also confirm that the ships that we see aren't simply the same model of craft as the familiar ships from Star Wars: Resistance, but are actually those same ships. This means the ships, and likely the pilots, will survive the second season of the animated series, which recently got underway.
Because of the large gaps that exist within the trilogies of films, and the fact that most characters between the live-action and the animated series don't cross over between the two, we end up with serious holes in the timeline for various character. We largely don't know what happened to characters from animated shows during film trilogies or vice versa. So, if nothing else, it's nice for fans to see these ships appear in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While we still may not know exactly where they've been, we know where they end up.
There are likely a lot more easter egg type ships in that sequence, as well as a host of brand new designs. Did you catch all these Star Wars: Resistance ships in The Rise of Skywalker? What else did you notice?
