Is JJ Abrams Undoing What Rian Johnson Has Done for Star Wars?

When Disney revealed the new title for the next Star Wars installment, “Episode IX: The Rise of the Skywalker,” the diehard fanbase divided down the center. Some feared Abrams would retcon the big reveal in “The Last Jedi” that Rey’s parents were not of any famous bloodline while others had hopes that maybe the heroine was actually connected to the Skywalker clan. Abrams, of course, isn’t saying, but he did defend the decision to ETOnline.

“The title feels like it’s the right title for this movie, and I know that it’s provocative and asks a bunch of questions. But I think when you see the movie, you’ll see how it’s intended, what it means. In the flow of titles, this movie had a very weird responsibility. It had to be the end of not just three movies, but nine movies, and the idea of having to incorporate the stories that have come before strangely is the story of the movie. Which is to say it’s the characters in the film inheriting everything that’s come before in previous generations, whether it’s sins of the father, whether it’s the wisdom that they’ve acquired. And the question is this new generation, are they up to the task, can they stand up to what they have to? And so in a way, I feel like we coming into this movie have inherited a lot, and the question is can we do it? And that question we ask ourselves every day.”
Of course, theories about the title have been circulating since the announcement, with some wondering if it’s not Rey but Kylo Ren that it references. Others wonder if the term Skywalker will become synonymous with Jedi. We’ll just have to wait until December 20 to find out.