STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has divided fans of the franchise and certainly doesn’t appear to have served as a satisfying ending to this nine film saga. Over the weekend, we were given an earlier than expected opportunity to return to this Galaxy Far, Far Away as Disney chose to release the Skywalker Saga finale on digital platforms a few days sooner. 

Now, we’ve combed through some of the featurettes to bring you guys ten must-see behind the scenes images which shed some light on how the movie was made and provide some very cool new details (most of which you probably missed while watching The Rise of Skywalker in theaters).

From Emperor Palpatine’s new look to some jaw-dropping sets and Luke Skywalker’s return, there’s a lot to delve into here, and we think you’ll have a fun time checking out this gallery regardless of whether you loved or hated the movie. So, to check out these ten must-see images, all you guys need to do is click on the “Next” button down below.

The Rise of Skywalker‘s final act was pretty murky from a visual standpoint, so we never really got a proper look at Emperor Palpatine. Well, thanks to this behind the scenes photo, we finally get to see the black and red robe the villain donned. 

Honestly, it’s a real shame he never saw action because watching him take on Rey and Ben Solo in a lightsaber battle definitely would have served as a far more epic finale in this film. 
 

The new trilogy made good use of flashbacks to fill in some gaps, and this awesome (albeit brief) sequence showed Luke training Leia with a lightsaber. 

She ultimately managed to get the best of her brother, but Luke revealed to Rey that she only gave up her training because she had a vision that her becoming a Jedi would result in her son’s death…the son who died, anyway! 
 

In the final few minutes of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey revealed her brand new yellow bladed lightsaber. Created from the remnants of her staff, it made for a cool visual.

We don’t know where that Kyber crystal came from, so that’s a story that could be told somewhere down the line, but the novelisation revealed that Rey was considering turning her new lightsaber into a double-bladed one. 
 

While Rey and Ben Solo were battling Emperor Palpatine, Finn and the Rest of the Resistance were taking the fight to the Final Order atop one of the villain’s new Star Destroyers. 

This set photo shows just how much of that was built for real, and it definitely makes for an impressive sight. It also proves that J.J. Abrams still wanted to do as much as he could in The Rise of Skywalker with practical effects and sets. 
 

Ian McDiarmid may be quite a bit older now than when he first played Emperor Palpatine, but a lot of make-up effects were still needed to transform him into the iconic villain.

According to the novelisation of the film, this version of Palpatine was indeed a clone inhabited by the spirit of the Emperor who was thrown into the heart of the Death Star II by Darth Vader. 
 

We’re betting you would have never guessed this massive creature was brought to life with practical effects, right? That’s definitely impressive, but this scene wasn’t really that great.

It was shoehorned into the movie to show that Rey had the ability to use the Force to heal others, something which we’d later see her do in order to save Kylo Ren. In the fact act, the redeemed Ben Solo did the same thing to bring her back from the dead.
 

Fans were hoping that Luke Skywalker would have a larger role in the proceedings than he actually did, but his return as a Force Ghost at least went some way towards redeeming him in the eyes of fans. 

Sure, it didn’t really make sense that his attitude had completely changed since the events of The Last Jedi, but at least we got to see more of Mark Hamill back as the beloved Jedi Knight. 
 

Emperor Palpatine’s throne was definitely impressive, but his return to this Galaxy Far, Far Away has divided fans on the franchise (mostly because of the way it was handled).

Recent reveals from the aforementioned novelisation haven’t helped, especially as we’ve since learned that Rey’s father was actually just a failed, powerless clone, thereby making Palpatine her father and grandfather. 
 

Seeing how Kylo Ren’s entire TIE Fighter was built for this scene (and then set on fire) is impressive, and it can’t have been an easy practical effect to pull off, especially with the actors so close.

Of course, a highlight of this sequence was seeing the Porgs return. Sadly, we still don’t know what became of the one that decided to call the Millennium Falcon its new home! 
 

At the end of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey arrived on Tatooine to bury the lightsabers that once belonged to Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. While she used the Force to push them deep underground, will they one day return?

That would certainly make for an interesting story, but now there are no Skywalkers left in the Galaxy, perhaps it will be a Palpatine who ends up retrieving them?