The last film in the Skywalker saga, “The Rise of Skywalker” has been dividing critics and audiences since it premiered last week. No matter what you thought of J.J. Abrams’ return to the franchise far, far away, one thing is clear – there was a lot of information in the film.
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Clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, “The Rise of Skywalker” has a whole lot of plot, naturally, things will get pushed to the sidelines. The problem comes when information that is vital to a character’s arc, or information that adds to what we’re seeing isn’t presented on the screen, but on a companion book. After already leaving out a key piece of information about the film’s villain to be revealed only on Fortnite, Entertainment Weekly is now reporting that the “Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary” companion book adds significant detail to that changes the context of a scene late in the film as well as the opening scene.
**SPOILERS for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”**
In the opening scene, we see Kylo Ren slaughtering his way through a crowd of hooded aliens in a red-colored forest on an unknown planet, all to obtain the very important Sith “Wayfinder” object that will help locate Palpatine’s location. Well, now we know that the planet Kylo visits is none other than Mustafar, the lava planet where Anakin Skywalker fought Obi-Wan Kenobi in the climax of “Revenge of the Sith,” and that the place where Kylo found the Wayfinder was actually Vader’s Castle, as seen in “Rogue One.”
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Even more baffling is the tiny, little detail the book adds to a scene near the end of the film where newfound resistance fighter, Jannah (Naomi Ackie) meets smooth-talker Rebel general Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). Lando asks Jannah where she’s from and they decide to go find out together after Jannah says she was kidnapped as a child and doesn’t know her origin. The scene plays out ambiguously, unclear to the audience if Lando is flirting, or genuinely trying to help this woman find out about her past. According to the companion book, “When peace reigned, [Lando] attempted to start a family, but tragedy struck and his infant daughter vanished. It was only later that it became clear who the culprits behind the abduction were: the First Order, building their fighting forces but also specifically striking out at the old Alliance leadership.” This heavily hints that Jannah is Lando’s long-lost daughter.
You know, in a movie that’s already stuffed with information, why leave something this important for a companion book?
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is in theaters now.