'Star Wars' director explains 'The Rise of Skywalker' title

Earlier this week we raised our lightsabers to the official first teaser trailer for the highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode IX movie. The chilling first look revealed the film’s official title, The Rise of Skywalker, which sparked questions, rumors and theories from fans.

Director J.J. Abrams sat down with ET Live during the Star Wars Celebration event in Chicago to dish the details on the film’s name.

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The film’s trailer premiered on Friday before finally surfacing online, featuring scenes from Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and more while building up even more anticipation for the film.

The film’s title brought forth questions and theories from avid Star Wars fans, a title which Abrams says holds a lot of responsibility.

“The title feels like it’s the right title for this movie and I know it’s provocative and asks a bunch of questions, but I think when you see the movie, you’ll see how it’s intended and what it means,” he tells ET Live.

“But in the flow of titles, this movie had a very weird responsibility. It had to be the end of not just three movies, but nine movies, and the idea of having to incorporate the stories that have come before, strangely, is the story of the movie.”

He adds, “Which is to say it’s the characters in the film inheriting everything that’s come before in previous generations, whether it’s sins of the father, whether it’s the wisdom they’ve acquired, and the question is can this new generation… are they up to the task? Can they stand up to what they have to? So in a way I feel like we, coming into this movie, have inherited a lot, and the question is ‘can we do enough’?”

The film is slated to hit theaters December 20, 2019.

Are you excited for the upcoming Star Wars film? What did you think of the first official teaser trailer? Sound off in the comments below!

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