Looks Like Bond 25’s Script Is Getting Help From Killing Eve’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Looks Like Bond 25’s Script Is Getting Help From Killing Eve’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Another chapter of the James Bond franchise is closing soon. Barring some last minute change, the still-to-be-titled Bond 25 will mark Daniel Craig’s last mission as 007, so it goes without saying that this movie will need to stand out and wrap things up with a bang. To improve the likelihood of that happening, Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been recruited to polish Bond 25’s script.

Last September, following the departure of director Danny Boyle and writer John Hodge from Bond 25, longtime James Bond franchise contributors Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were brought in to rework the upcoming movie’s script. However, when making a major motion picture, sometimes it becomes necessary for another writer or several to join the proceedings. Scott Z. Burns hopped aboard in February to work on the script, and now Phoebe Waller-Bridge is picking up where he left off.

According to The Observer, Daniel Craig specifically requested for Phoebe Waller-Bridge to bring “her wit and quirkiness” to the Bond 25 screenplay. Craig is reportedly a fan of the other TV series she created, Fleabag (which just concluded its second and final season in the U.K.), and felt that she could do a good job with livening up Bond 25.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has recently been in New York City performing a stage version of Fleabag, and while in the Big Apple, she met with Daniel Craig about polishing the Bond 25 script to add more humor and the kind of “offbeat style of writing” she’s known for. So while the story as a whole doesn’t sound like it’ll be overhauled, tonally Waller-Bridge will be making some adjustments.

This marks the second major cinematic franchise that Phoebe Waller-Bridge gets to contribute to. Last year, she appeared as L3-37, Lando Calrissian’s droid partner in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Waller-Bridge’s other notable credits include The Iron Lady, Goodbye Christoper Robin, Broadchurch and Crashing.

Phoebe-Waller Bridge working on Bond 25 is the latest step in this movie’s long journey to rolling cameras, but assuming the changes Phoebe Waller-Bridge are met with approval, then production should finally begin in a few weeks. Cary Fukanaga of True Detective and Maniac fame was brought in to take over as director from Danny Boyle, who exited the project due to creative differences.

Aside from Daniel Craig reprising James Bond for the fifth and final time, Bond 25 will also see the return of Lea Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann, Ben Whishaw’s Q, Naomie Harris’ Eve Moneypenney and Ralph Fiennes’ Garteth Mallory, who succeeded Judi Dench’s character as M. No new characters have been announced yet, although Rami Malek is being eyed to play the villain.

Originally set for release this November, Bond 25 was pushed back to February 2020 and is now scheduled to hit theaters on April 8, 2020. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress, and don’t forget to look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what’s headed to the silver screen a little sooner.

The Lion King Official Trailer Adds Some Humor To Simba’s Stunning Savanna

The Lion King Official Trailer Adds Some Humor To Simba’s Stunning Savanna

The Lion King is one of the most popular animated movies Disney has made to date. It's almost a foregone conclusion it will be one of the studio's most popular remakes. A brand new trailer for the CGI spectacle is now here, and while it contains a lot of epic moments you'll remember from the original, it also provides us with some laughs, in the form of fan-favorite sidekicks Timon and Pumbaa. Check it out.

The trailer gives us a couple of new voices compared to the last one. Previously, the only voice we heard was James Earl Jones' which, considering he was in the original film, was something of a cheat. Now we hear Chiwetel Ejiofor for the first time as Scar. It's certainly a very different voice than that of Jeremy Irons, but no less menacing. We also get to see, but not hear, other characters like the hyenas, Nala, Zazu, and, of course, Simba himself.

Then, at the end, we hear Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen for the first time, as the voices of Timon and Pumbaa. The pair are performing a chorus of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which I guess means this is our first chance hearing any of the music in The Lion King, even though this probably wasn't the song people were waiting for.

Timon and Pumbaa sang the same song in the original Lion King as well, and seeing what we've seen before is pretty much what this trailer is all about. While some of the dialogue that we hear in the trailer isn't identical to lines from the original, many of the images are. We see Scar telling Simba to run away, and the hyenas chasing him as he does. We see Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa, walking along together in single file profile, one of the most iconic images from the animated classic.

While people certainly have fond memories of the original version, and are going to want to see their favorite parts in the remake, I certainly would like to see a little something different in the remake that will set it apart from the original, not simply have it be a complete retelling of the story as we already know. There's still plenty of space for such things to fit in between the scenes we love, and the classic moments are going to be what draws in a lot of the audience, but it would be nice to see something a little new in the trailer.

Either way, The Lion King is almost destined to be a hit. It will be the third Disney remake of 2019 following the recently released Dumbo and the upcoming Aladdin, but with a movie as popular as this one remake fatigue seems highly unlikely.

The new Lion King arrives in July.

Triple Frontier Was Surprisingly Popular With Female Viewers

Triple Frontier Was Surprisingly Popular With Female Viewers

Looking at the trailer for a film like Netflix’s Triple Frontier, you might think that the film would play best with a more male demographic. The action/drama hybrid has a lot of kinetic action that people would more typically associate with a movie suited for a guy’s night out. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as one of Triple Frontier’s producers, Alex Gartner, clued us into the fact that the film was a surprise hit with its female viewers as well.

During a recent chat with CinemaBlend, Gartner and his Atlas Entertainment colleagues/fellow Triple Frontier producers Charles Roven and Andy Horwitz touched on the film’s reception. And while the film’s impressive reach to women isn’t a total surprise, Alex Gartner further explained why he felt the film did so well with that side of the aisle:

[Triple Frontier] also played incredibly well with women. I mean, it always tested well with women. … I think that the great cast we managed to assemble drew them in, but then they really responded to the movie. I think that’s another positive of having Netflix as our partner and our platform, because I think it reached a lot of people, and maybe people who, based on the genre, might not have been reached as quickly. I found it really personally satisfying.

So not only did the absolute mountain of handsome co-stars like Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck draw female viewers into Triple Frontier, but according to Gartner, the easy access of the film to Netflix subscribers also helped. That definitely checks out, as the numbers from the film’s first month of release showed that 52 million households took the plunge into money-snatching madness that co-writer/director J.C. Chandor had provided them.

It’s not hard to see why either, as it’s the basic model that makes Netflix originals so successful in the first place. If you already have a subscription to the service and you randomly spot a brand new movie that shows Oscar Isaac leading a group of fellow war vets into a jungle heist of epic proportions, you’re already hearing the platform’s trademark “badump” before you even know you’ve clicked on Triple Frontier’s thumbnail.

That sort of expedience isn’t lost on the Atlas Entertainment gang, as Alex Gartner also expressed as much during this same conversation. In addition to his remarks about having an overwhelmingly positive female audience for Triple Frontier, Gartner also praised Netflix for allowing this sort of lightning fast audience feedback as follows:

It’s really interesting having a movie of scale really supported by Netflix premiere on their service, and I think [producers Charles Roven and Andy Horowitz] also got so much feedback, so quickly. So many people saw it so fast, and that was really really sort of satisfying to get that kind of feedback that quickly, and to have it be like Andy said, really positive feedback.

So while the filmmaking process for a Netflix Original film may not be different from that of a traditional studio release, the response time is certainly accelerated once a film such as this launches. Whether your film is a flop or a hit on Netflix, the word travels fast and the internet never forgets, which is even better in the case of Triple Frontier.

As the public response was quite enthusiastic to the film, particularly in the female demographic, one has to wonder what sort of projects will be inspired by such a surprising scenario. That’s left for the future to decide, but it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that more of the same could be on our way in the near future.

For now, you can catch Triple Frontier, if you haven’t already, by streaming it on Netflix.

Avengers: Endgame Seemingly Confirms Valkyire, More Characters Made It Through The Decimation

Avengers: Endgame Seemingly Confirms Valkyire, More Characters Made It Through The Decimation

While we learned the fate of many of the most important heroes at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a massive place full of characters that we've all come to care about. The last film didn't take the time to show us what happened to all of them, but a collection of new character posters seems to reveal that several characters whose fates were unknown, like Valkyrie, Happy Hogan and Wong appear to have survived Thanos' snap of doom. Here's the new character poster for Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie.

The posters of all the Marvel characters look basically the same. They're all simple headshots of the Marvel hero with the words, "Avenge the Fallen" written across them. However, there is one major difference. Some posters, like the ones for characters we know are alive, like Tony Stark or Nebula, are in full color. Others, for characters we know are dead, like Black Panther or Doctor Strange, are in black and white, as you see here...

If we can safely assume that all characters who get a poster in color are alive, then we can conclude that Valkyrie, Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan, and Wong are all alive, as is Pepper Potts, as their posters are all in color. Since we never saw them fade away or saw them in any scene after the snap had happened, we simply didn't know their fate until now.

Unfortunately, with the good news comes some bad news as well. Letitia Wright's Shuri, who stole the show in Black Panther has been confirmed to be dead by this method, as her poster is in black and white.

Of course, in the case of Valkyrie, one has to wonder if the poster means even more than that. Tessa Thompson's character never appeared in Avengers: Infinity War despite the last place we saw her being the same ship with Thor, Loki, and Hulk. Does the existence of this poster at all mean that Valkyrie will play a role in Avengers: Endgame? Neither Valkyrie nor Happy Hogan had any major role in Infinity War, so one has to wonder why they're getting posters now. The obvious reason is that the characters will matter in the new film. Valkyrie and Happy Hogan save the universe? I'm good with that.

All of our questions will finally be answered, and the fallen will be avenged, April 26.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Has Thoughts About Thanos' 'Powerful Poop' And Endgame Theory

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Has Thoughts About Thanos' 'Powerful Poop' And Endgame Theory

How will the Avengers defeat the all-powerful Thanos in Avengers: Endgame? If you ask the internet, the answer to that question is easy: Ant-Man will shrink down and enter Thanos’ butt, and once inside, he will return to his normal size or, if he wants to maximize the splash zone, expand into Giant-Man, thus exploding the Mad Titan. This viral theory has gained serious traction, to the point that even Josh Brolin has addressed it.

Another person who has addressed the so-called “Thanus Theory” is astrophysicist and person who tears apart science fiction movies, Neil DeGrasse Tyson. The Cosmos host has some hilarious thoughts about the obstacles such a tactic would present for Ant-Man. Neil DeGrasse Tyson said:

First, that’s nasty. Because if Thanos is as powerful and as evil as he is, he’s going to have powerful, evil poop. I would not want to find myself in that environment.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, perhaps best known for using cold logic and hard science to explain why things in movies wouldn’t work in real life, is here conjecturing about the fecal matter of a fictional alien dictator. Fantastic. He brings up an interesting point too, namely that Thanos is an extra-terrestrial and an ultra-powerful being and venturing inside him could pose some major dangers to Ant-Man.

The Avengers and Ant-Man don’t know exactly how Titanian physiology works, and Thanos especially, as a corrupted and powerful being, may indeed have 'powerful poop.' These are unknown variables, and as Neil DeGrase Tyson said on StarTalk, you don’t want to find yourself in that environment. His comments actually remind me of Armageddon. In that film the heroes too sought to destroy a threat from the inside, describing the asteroid as the “scariest environment imaginable.”

Venturing into Thanos’ butt might turn out to be a suicide mission for Ant-Man. He may be successful, but is his suit built for that? Being exposed to poop that powerful and malicious might be a death sentence, either from a biological standpoint where contact results in an incurable affliction or where the psychological trauma of seeing Thanos’ poop and the inside of his butt is too horrible to comprehend and Ant-Man’s psyche fractures beyond repair as a result of it.

Beyond the potentially fatal nastiness of this theory and strategy, Neil DeGrasse Tyson also believes that it is completely unnecessary and there are easier answers. He went on to say:

Second, why not put something else in there that expands. Why does it have to be your own self?

‘Whatever it takes’ may not need to mean that Ant-Man has to go in to Thanos himself. We have seen that the Pym tech in the films allows the shrinking and expansion of objects in addition to heroes like Ant-Man and the Wasp. So Ant-Man can just use something else to expand in Thanos instead of going in himself. See if he can borrow Stormbreaker from Thor, or maybe that Hello Kitty Pez dispenser from Ant-Man and the Wasp is still available.

Of course, that leaves things to chance, and this dirty job may be something that Ant-Man has to do himself to ensure that it’s done. You can hear all of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s thoughts on the matter in the video below.

These are just a few of the obstacles Ant-Man could face in order to defeat Thanos. We still don’t know if he has protections in place against such an incursion, and one imagines that if he is aware of it, he can utilize the Space or Reality Stone’s to render the plan useless.

Find out if this theory pans out when Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters on April 26. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the biggest movies headed your way this year, and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more sophisticated discussions such as this.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Is Opening Earlier That We Thought, But There's A Catch

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Is Opening Earlier That We Thought, But There's A Catch

Fans of Star Wars and Disney have been waiting to experience the galaxy far, far away for themselves when Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge finally opens at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. We knew the land was coming this year, but you can't book your hotel room without an exact date. Now we have it. At a Walt Disney Investor Meeting this morning Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that Galaxy's Edge will open earlier than anticipated, at Walt Disney World on August 29 and at Disneyland May 31. However, not all parts of the land will be up and running on opening day.

Previously, the Disneyland version of the land was set to open in the summer, so Disney is getting more than a month jump on that date. Walt Disney World is doing even better. It was given an opening date of late fall 2019, but now it will be opening before the summer ends. However, the Rise of the Resistance attraction will not be open on day one apparently at either location. It will open later in the year as part of a second phase of the land.

There had not been any discussion of Galaxy's Edge being opened in two phases previously. We fully expected both big E-ticket attractions to be up running when the land opened. However, it sounds like the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run attraction will be ready to go earlier, so it was either let the one ride sit idle while Disney waited for the other, or open with the land with one ride and wait for the other.

There will also be an additional catch at Disneyland. anybody wanting to visit the land between opening day and June 23 will need to make a "no-cost reservation." In order to get a reservation, you need to book a room at one of the three Disneyland hotels.

It isn't necessarily all that shocking that Rise of the Resistance is taking a bit longer. Based on the details revealed last week, the scope of the attraction is just physically massive. You can only work so fast when you have to build full size AT-ATs and realistic hallways inside Star Destroyers.

When phase two is expected to open was not revealed on the investor call. It's possible, even likely, that we could see Rise of the Resistance opening closer to the original Galaxy's Edge opening windows, so sometime this summer at Disneyland and in the fall at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

To get you that much more excited a new teaser with the official dates was also released. Check it out below.

Of course, the biggest downside may be that this means the lines for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run are going to be that much longer on opening day, and every day until Rise of the Resistance opens. With only the one big attraction available, everybody will be waiting for it.

Still, for those people who just want to be there on day one, you now know which day that will be. I'm sure a lot of people are making Disney hotel reservations right now since we finally know which days to make them for. Will you be getting to Galaxy's Edge on day one, or waiting for phase two? Let us know in the poll below.

Palpatine's Return For The Rise Of Skywalker Raises Major Questions

Palpatine's Return For The Rise Of Skywalker Raises Major Questions

At last week’s Star Wars Celebration, we finally got our long-awaited first look at J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX in the form of a teaser trailer. From Rey’s lightsaber acrobatics to the return of Lando Calrissian to the intriguing title, the trailer gave us plenty to discuss, but the moment that made Star Wars fans lose their minds came at the end of the Rise of Skywalker trailer when we heard the laugh of franchise villain and presumed dead Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine.

It was a hell of a tag to end the trailer on, and just so there's no ambiguity, J.J. Abrams confirmed to Empire's James Dyer that Ian McDiarmid's Emperor Palpatine is in the movie. This is incredibly exciting for a Sequel Trilogy that is arguably in need of a truly fearsome villain after the death of Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Yet while this cackling fan service-y reveal seemed to go a long way towards getting everyone amped for Star Wars again, Emperor Palpatine’s return opens up a whole can of worms (or Exogorth space slugs if you prefer).

Both in-story and on a macro level for the franchise as a whole, Palpatine’s return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker raises major questions that will need to be answered by the time the final credits roll in December. There is a lot to unpack and we may know more as we get closer to the film’s release, but these are some of the most obvious questions that come to mind.

Does Palpatine's Return Diminish The End Of Return Of The Jedi?

Until Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced a new Star Wars trilogy in 2012, 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi was presumed to be the chronological end of the franchise. That was fine because that film wraps up the trilogy in a narratively and thematically satisfying way. After years in service to it, Darth Vader rejects the Dark Side and kills Emperor Palpatine. In doing so, he saves the galaxy from the yoke of the Empire and his son Luke from death at the Emperor’s hands. Vader then dies as he was born, as Anakin Skywalker.

There is an argument that no matter what form he returns in, Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker diminishes that relatively perfect ending. If Darth Sidious still holds some sway in the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker’s redemptive act at the end of Return of the Jedi does not have the same level of consequence. Anakin’s sacrifice still matters, but it does not have the finality that it once did. It is no longer the final victory against that evil, but merely a smaller battle won in an even greater war.

You could say that Vader still saved Luke so that he could one day meet Rey and help her to one day finish Palpatine for good, but it’s not the same. The manner and form of Palpatine’s return will matter a lot as far as how this question will be answered, and the execution must be perfect for this not to feel like a forced return for a villain that already had a great death. If nothing else, the fact that J.J. Abrams consulted with George Lucas about the story is encouraging.

Is He Actually “Alive”?

Just because Ian McDiarmid is definitely in The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t mean that we will see Emperor Palpatine alive and interacting with the Sequel Trilogy characters in the 'present day.' All we've heard is a laugh; we haven't seen him yet. As far as we know, Sith don’t get Force Ghosts, an afterlife trade-off for the spoils they enjoy in the mortal realm. Ian McDiarmid also seemed to indicate that Palpatine is dead, at least to start off the film. Yet there are still ways that he could appear that wouldn’t undo the end of Return of the Jedi.

Emperor Palpatine could still be in the film and play a crucial role even if he isn’t a Force Ghost or resurrected. One possibility is that he could appear in hologram form. If Rey or Kylo came across a Sith Holocron owned by Darth Sidious, Ian McDiarmid’s character could impart knowledge and influence events from beyond the grave. Maybe it’s an arms race between Kylo and a Holocron versus Rey and the Jedi texts. If Palpatine appears via hologram, we would get to see him, but he would still be dead.

Another possibility that is very intriguing is that Palpatine could appear via flashback. The Sequel Trilogy has introduced flashbacks to the Saga and Palpatine flashbacks could provide further insight into this franchise villain. Flashbacks could also be used to answer some of the other questions on this list, like what connections he has to the events taking place in the film’s present.

If He's Alive, How And In What Form?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a lot of heavy lifting to do to close out this trilogy and the Skywalker Saga as a whole, and if Darth Sidious returns in physical form, that adds significant weight to that load. This Sequel Trilogy has introduced new wrinkles to the mythology, so maybe being a Force Ghost is on the table, and appearing as a hologram would be easy to do, albeit something of a tease. But an actual physical return would require a lot of explanation.

If Palpatine is alive, as our own Mick Joest suspects, there are several possible explanations. In the jettisoned Expanded Universe, Palpatine had clones made of himself as a safeguard against permanent death. The EU is gone, but Lucasfilm has shown a willingness to cherrypick certain elements from it when needed. Another possibility is that his essence went into some Sith artifact after his body was destroyed, and Kylo Ren discovers it and somehow returns him to life.

There is also the Darth Plagueis elephant in the room. Palpatine indicated to Anakin that Plagueis taught his apprentice everything he knew. Palpatine also told Anakin that he didn't know the secret to saving Padmé. This could have been a lie and Palpatine truly did know how to cheat death like his master before him, but misled Anakin because Padmé would have only divided Anakin’s loyalty. Whatever the reason, we need to know how and why he is back and where he has been this whole time.

Was Palpatine’s Return Always The Plan?

We may never know definitively, but based on things that have been said over the years and the ways in which The Last Jedi diverges drastically from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it kind of looks like there was never a definitive and overarching plan for the Sequel Trilogy. So you could be forgiven for thinking that bringing back Sheev Palpatine in Episode IX is a last minute Hail Mary to unite the fanbase and give the Sequel Trilogy the imposing villain (and path to Kylo’s redemption) it has been lacking.

Speaking with Yahoo’s Kevin Polowy at Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy indicated that Palpatine’s return has been in the works for a while, but they hadn’t decided on how exactly to bring him back. In some ways it makes sense; Palpatine was the big bad in the first two trilogies, so why not have this entire saga be about one family’s multigenerational battle against this one great evil. That may be the case, but it definitely makes you wonder why seeds weren’t really planted in Episode VII or Episode VIII.

Maybe J.J. Abrams is doing things in Episode IX that make Darth Sidious’ influence in the previous two films more obvious in hindsight (flashbacks perhaps?), but there is definitely a question about if there will be enough time to make it all work. If it was the plan all along, the execution will determine its effectiveness.

What Is His Relationship To Snoke And Kylo Ren?

If this were Episode VII, Palpatine could come back with far fewer needles to thread, but as it stands, he is returning in a Sequel Trilogy that has been focused on new, seemingly separate villains. It would be a bit strange to have Palpatine return just for one movie, so I expect The Rise of Skywalker to retroactively hint at his presence and influence throughout this trilogy. That means we need to know his relationship to the other Dark Side users we’ve met, namely Snoke and Kylo Ren.

Those two are supposedly not official Sith, but the distinction is a bit unclear. It would make Sidious look weak (and make us lament Snoke’s death) to find out that he was biding his time waiting for Snoke to fall. You havr to think he had some kind of relationship with Snoke. Maybe the late Supreme Leader was a puppet of Palpatine’s, a proxy while the Emperor worked from the shadows and regained his strength.

There is also a theory that Snoke was Palpatine, i.e. a host body ravaged by the power of the Sith Lord. Snoke’s obsession with Kylo Ren’s Skywalker bloodline and desire to make a new Vader certainly had parallels to Palpatine’s desires to turn Luke. As far as the Knights of Ren are concerned, there was a rumor that they were in “The Beyond” (Unknown Regions?) this whole time and there they encountered a new threat. If true, Palpatine’s spirit could have been out there figuring out how to become even more powerful and he finally revealed himself to the Knights of Ren.

How Do The Heroes Kill Him For Good?

With history’s greatest Sith Lord back to threaten the galaxy once more, and with the Skywalker Saga coming to a close, the heroes only have one movie in which to defeat him, and to bring closure to this saga, he must be completely defeated. But the very fact that he is back when we thought him gone means that killing him will prove quite the task though because if he didn’t perish completely after being vaporized at the end of Return of the Jedi, how do the heroes finish him off for good?

If Palpatine is a Force Ghost, we’d have to hope Luke could defeat him in that realm (this seems unlikely). If his spirit is still lingering in the galaxy, yet not able to take physical form, a la Sauron, Rey, Finn and Poe will have to figure out how to eliminate it. And if he is back in a body and knows how to cheat death, perhaps this will be a Horcrux situation where the heroes need to eliminate artifacts that his spirit could retreat into, so that when he meets his match he will be mortal once more.

One possibility is that Rey could get her Samwell Tarly on by turning to ancient texts to try and find answers to defeating an existential threat. Those sacred Jedi books have to come into play somehow. Maybe they contain a chapter titled ‘How to Kill a Sith For Good’ and finding something to do the trick, the film’s MacGuffin, will be one of the movie’s major plot points and the journey the heroes go on together.

Bringing Emperor Palpatine back shows that J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm are really swinging for the fences to unite the fanbase and end the Skywalker Saga with a bang. To that end, it is obvious that a lot of people are excited about Emperor Palpatine’s return, myself included. However, taking a swing this big is no easy thing, it comes with a lot of questions and potential pitfalls, but if they knock it out of the park it could be incredible. If nothing else, we’ve got plenty to speculate about from now until the next trailer.

Let us know your thoughts on these questions and any we didn’t think of in the comments below. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker blasts into theaters on December 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the movies you can look forward to before then, and for all the latest Star Wars news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.