The final trailer for Star Wars IX: Rise of Skywalker just arrived during halftime of Monday Night Football on ESPN, a high-profile promotion for the J.J. Abrams-directed fantasy epic that also served as the starting-whistle for the film’s advance tickets sales.
The December 20 mega-release from Disney-owned Lucasfilm Ltd.is billed as the swan song of the Skywalker saga that began in 1977 when moviegoers met a callow farm-boy named Luke who dreamed of glory beyond a backwater planet broiling under the glare of two suns.
Forty-two years later, Mark Hamill reprises the role of Luke for the saga finale, while another original cast member, the late Carrie Fisher, will appear posthumously.
Billy Dee Williams and Ian McDiarmid are among the old-school cast members back with the venerable franchise, while Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Domhnall Gleeson, Billie Lourd, Kelly Marie Tran, and Lupita Nyong’o represent the next-gen players who have joined the star-spanning adventure.
The trailer premiered at halftime of a lopsided showdown between the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, and their AFC East nemesis, the New York Jets. The score was 24-0 at halftime in favor of the Tom Brady-led Patriots.
The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer was directly set-up by an in-studio introduction by ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after multiple mentions during Disney-owned ESPN’s pregame programing and first-half coverage.
The Jedi universe was created by George Lucas, whose technical prowess brought his spaceship fairy tale to the screen with movies that revolutionized Hollywood visual effects. New generations of fans continue to embrace the franchise’s trademark melding of sleek sci-fi with fantasy’s familiar citizenry of wizards, princesses, pirates, and ghosts.
The Rise of Skywalker which was penned by Abrams with Chris Terrio, Colin Trevorrow, and Derek Connolly. Kathleen Kennedy, Abrams, and Michelle Rejwan are the producers. Callum Greene, Tommy Gormley and Jason McGatlin serve as executive producers.