Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker smashes Endgame

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set to dominate the box office this holiday season and may surpass stablemate Avengers: Endgame after setting a new record for pre-sale tickets in the US.

“A year after the events of The Last Jedi, the remnants of the Resistance face the First Order once again—while reckoning with the past and their own inner turmoil. Meanwhile, the ancient conflict between the Jedi and the Sith reaches its climax, altogether bringing the Skywalker saga to a definitive end.”

Director JJ Abrams (The Force Awakens) has the unenviable task or opportunity to overcome, as my dad would say, of closing the epic Skywalker saga that began in 1977.

After seeing the final trailer for The Rise of Skywalker, I think Abrams has every hope of sticking the landing this December. The mysterious movie's runtime is currently 155 minutes. So, get comfy, it's going to be an emotional thrill ride for generations of fans...

IMAX posters for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The final trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker dropped during Monday Night Football and tickets went on sale everywhere. IMAX has released two art posters to celebrate.





Booked tickets to see Star Wars: The Rise on Skywalker in IMAX with Laser at Cineworld on 19th December. When are you seeing the final chapter in the Skywalker saga? Let me know in the comments below.

Final Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer today

The final trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be shown during ESPN's Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. Expect the trailer to appear online and here shortly thereafter. Tickets will go on sale around the world following the trailer's debut.



The Rise of Skywalker is the culmination of the Skywalker saga spanning three trilogies and purportedly Lucasfilm is test screening eight possible endings to George Lucas' space opera.

"This is about bringing this thing to a close in a way that is emotional and meaningful and also satisfying in terms of actually answering [as many] questions as possible," director JJ Abrams (The Force Awakens) said.

"So if years from now, someone's watching these movies, all nine of them, they're watching a story that is as cohesive as possible."

Abrams added: "While there were many things that were planned for and discussed — George Lucas himself said when he created this he saw it as three, three-act plays — that doesn't mean there isn’t discovery, that doesn't mean there aren’t things that come up that make you realise, 'Oh, here’s an opportunity.'

"It also doesn't mean that there's a list of payoffs that we have to do because of setups. But we also were very much aware this is the end of the trilogy and it needs to satisfy. We went into this thing knowing it has to be an ending. We're not screwing around."

Will you be booking tickets for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker today? Let me know in the comments below.

Former Doctor Who Matt Smith in Star Wars?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is released in cinemas exactly two months today and fellow Doctor Who fans may have uncovered the role former Doctor Who Matt Smith plays in director JJ Abrams' (The Force Awakens) upcoming sequel.

Eagle-eyed fan @reysrepublic spotted a Topps trading card and shared the above photo of what appears to be Smith playing a blue-skinned alien with the cryptic title: A New Face.

Both of Smith's former TARDIS companions, Karen Gillan and Jenna Coleman, have appeared in Disney stablemate the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

In related news. The final trailer for The Rise of Skywalker premieres during Monday Night Football.

What do you think? Is this Matt Smith? Let me know in the comments below.

New look at Keri Russell's mysterious Zorii Bliss

Entertainment Weekly (EW) has shared an exclusive photo of the mysterious Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell) and her helmet design evokes the art deco aerodynamics of Disney's The Rocketeer.

I'm looking forward to unboxing Hasbro's Kenner-branded vintage collection action figure (affiliate link), part of my online haul from Triple Force Friday, when it arrives from Amazon.

With only two months to go until the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Cineworld is opening a new IMAX with Laser cinema later this month in Plymouth. I'll be booking tickets to see the final chapter in the Skywalker saga as soon as they go on sale.

Daisy Ridley says 'Reylo' will be addressed in Star Wars

The sexual tension between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) continues to fuel fan speculation in the run-up to the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this December. That tension reached boiling point in director Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi.

“It does not bother me, people writing theories,” Daisy Ridley said. “It’s really fun hearing them. Plus, because I know what’s sort of going to happen, I think it’ll be really interesting to see people’s reaction to [the final film]. Obviously, there’s this whole Reylo thing and some people are very passionate about it, some aren’t.”

Ridley goes on to suggest the romantic connection is addressed in The Rise of Skywalker. “J.J. does deal it [it],” she added. “It’s a very complex issue. People talk about toxic relationships and whatever it is. It’s no joke and I think it’s dealt with really well because it’s not skimmed over.”

Original trilogy fans (myself included) all too clearly remember Luke and Leia's tangled romantic relationship and how it was revealed they were twins in Return of the Jedi. Nice one, George!

Tony Gilroy joins Disney+ Rogue One spin-off

Variety exclusively reports Tony Gilroy, who masterminded reshoots on director Gareth Edwards' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is joining the Cassian Andor live-action Rogue One prequel series for Disney+.

Gilroy will write and direct episodes of the upcoming spin-off series with Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk reprising the roles of Cassian Andor and K-2SO respectively.

Disney+ launches on 12th November with the first-ever Star Wars live-action series, The Mandalorian, from Jon Favreau (Iron Man) and Dave Filoni (Star Wars Rebels). December sees the release of the final chapter in the nine-part Skywalker saga, The Rise of Skywalker, directed by JJ Abrams (The Force Awakens). Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will then join Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to produce the next Star Wars movies.

Breaking Bad's Robert Forster has passed away

American actor Robert Forster has passed away at the age of 78.

In the wake of Star Wars' success, Forster played Captain Dan Holland in Disney's The Black Hole and was forever immortalised as an action figure from Mego. In the nineties, he starred in director Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, for which he was Oscar-nominated, and most recently appeared in Twin Peaks and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie for Netflix.

He'll always be Captain Dan Holland to the Star Wars generation! RIP Robert Forster.

Wedge Antilles returns in The Rise of Skywalker

The latest rumour surrounding Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the return of Wedge Antilles (Denis Lawson), the Rebel Alliance pilot who appeared in all three movies comprising the original trilogy.

There's no official confirmation. However, eagle-eyed fans spotted Wedge on the cover of Resistance Reborn. Planeta Cómic quickly deleted the Twitter post but not before savvy fans had saved the image and reshared it.

The fan-favourite character most recently appeared in Star Wars Rebels.

Would you be excited to see Wedge Antilles back for the final chapter of the Skywalker saga this holiday season? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Trek: Picard gets Short Treks prequel

New York Comic Con (NYCC) was filled with exciting announcements for Star Trek fans (myself included). A poignant new trailer for Star Trek: Picard dropped and Discovery's Short Treks spin-off will dovetail into the upcoming series starring Sir Patrick Stewart as a haunted Jean-Luc Picard.



CBS All Access has confirmed several Short Treks will be based aboard Captain Pike's (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise. How about commissioning a full Pike-led series? Discovery's incarnation is a fan-favourite and Mount, alongside Rebecca Romijn (Number One), instantly won me over in Discovery season two.

Star Trek: Picard premieres 23rd January, coincidentally my birthday, on CBS All Access (in the US). Amazon Prime will be streaming the series outside the US and Canada.