Star Wars, the trilogy of trilogies, arguably the most widespread series of our parents’ generation, is coming out with yet another episode to continue the highly grossing chain. Estimated to have cost about 65 billion dollars, the Star Wars series has set the bar high with past episodes, making episode IX a command performance for audiences going to see it in theatres starting on December 20th. 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has to follow The Mandalorian, a recent series that has been released on Disney+. The Mandalorian has Star Wars fans excited because of the generally lackluster reception from audiences from previous movies, so the fans are hesitant towards the new movie release. Scoring a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Mandalorian has performed very highly in the eyes of its viewers, making the expectations for The Rise of Skywalker rise. 

Regardless, due to the amount of time and money most fans have spent on this series, almost everyone will most likely go see it due to their curiosity of where the series will lead next with plot twists and new characters.

David Crews, a senior, is excited about the new movie because “we finally get the conclusion to the Star Wars saga”, but he is “cautiously optimistic of the last one.” This reflects a lot of Star Wars fans attitude, but their hopes have been raised by the recent release of the Mandalorian. 

Another interesting factor that comes into play in the making of this film was Chris Terrio, the co-writer of The Rise of Skywalker. He wrote the screenplay for Argo, which won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

It will be interesting to see how he will be able to convert over to the Star Wars series, but he will have veteran JJ Abrams, who worked on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This was the fourth highest grossing movie of all time and the highest grossing of all the Star Wars movies, which is reassuring for The Rise of Skywalker’s potential success.