New Rise of Skywalker featurette offers BTS footage and ruminates on the legacy of Star Wars

For the next month or so, all eyes are on J.J. Abrams, who has the monumental task of wrapping up the epic story of the Skywalker family in a galaxy far, far away. In a new featurette honoring Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Disney and Lucasfilm take a look back at a franchise that's been running for more than four decades—much longer than anyone involved with the first movie in 1977 thought it would.

Beginning with an outtake from A New Hope and ending with a bunch of behind-the-scenes footage from Episode 9, the video is a love letter to all 42 years of George Lucas' humble space opera that spawned an iconic and multibillion-dollar IP.

"If you're a kid watching this 100 years from now, 500 years from now, you see this inevitability, this story conclude in a way that feels thrilling and shocking and funny and emotional and satisfying," says Abrams in the featurette. "Episode 9 will be a conclusion of a story that is over 40 years in the making."

Take a look at the video below. The Rise of Skywalker content begins at the 2:13-mark ...

Much of the plot for the upcoming movie is being kept under wraps, particularly how Ian McDiarmid's Emperor Palpatine is coming back from the dead when Darth Vader chucked him into the core of the second Death Star. Nevertheless, we do know that Rey (Daisy Ridley), Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), and the rest of the Resistance have to make one final push to eradicate the First Order and the Dark Side from the galaxy once and for all.

A handful of new characters, played by Naomi Ackie, Keri Russell, and Richard E. Grant, are being introduced as well.

And if all of this stuff weren't enough, feast your eyes on a fresh IMAX poster that incorporates Rey, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

And here's a second exclusive poster from RealD 3D:

While Fisher passed away several years ago, she'll be reprising her role via eight minutes of unused footage from The Force Awakens. And despite dying at the end of The Last Jedi, Luke will be coming back as a Force Ghost.

Co-written by Chris Terrio, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters everywhere Friday, Dec. 20.