SYFY WIRE's breakdown of the final trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Star Wars saga captured our collective imaginations. 42 years and nine movies later, the story of the Skywalkers will come to a close with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

In an unusual show of restraint, Disney and Lucasfilm have limited the footage from The Rise of Skywalker. The final trailer hit this week, and it naturally left us with a lot of unanswered questions. Director J.J. Abrams has said that he intends this film to be the proper conclusion for all nine of the primary Star Wars movies. And we can believe it, based on this trailer. "Roger, roger," and welcome back the battle droids!

SYFY WIRE's panel of experts has pored over the details in the final trailer to unearth any hidden clues about what to expect in the film. Will one or more of our beloved characters perish? Can Kylo Ren be redeemed or is Ben Solo truly gone? Also, how the heck is the Emperor back? Getting shafted in the second Death Star was a pretty convincing way to die in Return of the Jedi. There had better be a good explanation for that, even if it's just "evil Force Ghost." We can buy that, as long as there are no midi-chlorians involved.

Are we excited about the possibilities? You'd better believe it! Part of the fun of the Star Wars movies is trying to predict which way they're going to go. But we still have to wait until December 20 to find out if we were right.

For the full details of our Rise of Skywalker trailer reactions, check out the full video!