The long, long, long-awaited trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi dropped Monday night in the middle of a football game, and the film’s director Rian Johnson wasn’t kidding—the thing is “gooooood.”
There’s Rey and Luke training on Ahch-To; Kylo continuing to struggle with his anger problems; Finn and Captain Phasma duking it out; a bunch of sick-ass space battles; and a glorious, lingering shot of the late Carrie Fisher.
Videos by VICE
But all that aside, the trailer seems to suggest a major arc in the new movie: Rey’s potential fall to the Dark Side. Now, sure, the trailer’s editing could be an elaborate misdirection, but if it’s not, we may see her snuggling up with Supreme Leader Snoke before the trilogy is done.
The trailer crams a lot into two and a half minutes—plenty to dissect for the next two months until the movie hits theaters—but here’s a quick breakdown of some of the most interesting bits.
Rey’s Force Ability Spooks the Hell Out of Luke
It doesn’t look like the training sessions are going too great. Yes, Rey’s lightsaber skills are coming on strong and she is obviously very force-powerful, sending cracks splitting through a boulder in one shot—but it’s a power that terrifies Luke.
“I’ve seen this raw strength only once before,” he says, presumably referring to his nephew, Kylo Ren. “It didn’t scare me enough then.”
From the look on Luke’s face, he’s afraid that Rey is going to go the way of Kylo. He leaves her gripping the side of a cliff as she angrily stares after him.
We Finally See Snoke in the Flesh
The only time we saw Supreme Leader Snoke in The Force Awakens, he was a giant blue hologram. Now, we get our first look at the guy and, damn, he is Palpatine-levels of pale and could probably use some time basking in the light of Tatooine’s two suns. Also, do his crooked eyes screw with his depth perception, or is there some Dark Force power to deal with that?
In the trailer, Snoke appears to have Rey in a Force choke hold. He tells her to “fulfill [her] destiny,” borrowing a line from the Emperor when he was trying to flip Luke back in Return of the Jedi. The parallel is definitely intentional.
Porgs!
Porgs are the new Star Wars equivalent of minions. They’re basically bird-Ewoks with abnormally large eyes and they’re definitely just there to inspire a line of stuffed animals. Get used to hearing that chirping noise, because you’re about to hear it every time your nephew squeezes the Porg toy he gets for Christmas.
Kylo Can’t Pull the Trigger
Kylo Ren is still Top Dog in the First Order, overseeing the construction of a fleet of AT-ATs and leading an attack on the Resistance in his TIE Silencer. But it looks like he’s continuing to struggle between the Light and Dark Side. In the trailer, he lines up a shot to take out his mother, Leia—but he can’t seem to pull the trigger.
Later, Rey says she’s looking for someone to “show [her her] place in all this,” and Kylo offers his hand. Could Rey and Kylo wind up venturing out on their own and straddling both sides of the force, like a couple of Grey Jedi?
This Is Definitely a Pokemon
Gotta catch ’em all!
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens December 15. Tickets are already on sale.
