Star Wars: The Force Awakens introduced a new generation of heroes with Rey, Finn and Poe, and it looks as though it’s not the last we’ve seen of them.
During an interview with Empire Magazine, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy hinted that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may not be the end of the line for characters from the sequel trilogy.
“Certainly, those are not characters we’re going to forget,” she said about the heroes of the most recent Star Wars sequels. “They will live on, and those are conversations that are going on with the creative team as well.”
Although The Rise of Skywalker effectively capped off the Star Wars sequel trilogy, it left a lot of threads still hanging. What will Rey do next? Will Poe Dameron become the leader of Rogue Squadron? Is Finn going to become a Jedi?
All these questions offer big opportunities to tell more Star Wars stories. But don’t necessarily expect more movies – it could be that we see them appear elsewhere. The Mandalorian famously reintroduced the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter while setting up Boba Fett for his very own series – The Book of Boba Fett. But with a third season of The Mandalorian in the works, there are plenty of opportunities to introduce other characters.
Of course, Rey, Finn and Poe might be a bit young… but Lucasfilm is obviously keen to weave together the varying stories from the galaxy far, far away. That could mean they show up in other parts of the Star Wars universe.
Other Star Wars heroes already slated to return include Obi-Wan Kenobi and his ill-fated apprentice Darth Vader in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
Kennedy revealed it was an “emotional” time as both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen returned to their iconic roles.
“The thing that was most exciting was being on the set and watching the two of them get excited,” said Kennedy. “They hadn’t seen one another in a long time. I was surprised at just how incredibly emotional it was for each of them to find themselves back in these roles, and just realising how important Star Wars was to each of them. It was the beginning of their careers.”
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.