J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has finally arrived in theaters. The nine-part “Skywalker saga” is complete. As always, Star Wars fans are divided over the film. Most of them went in with pretty low expectations, so they were either surprised by how well it stuck the landing, considering the circumstances (i.e. the entire sequel trilogy being unplanned and passed through various wildly different creative voices), or they were glad to see that they were right and it did suck.
The movie has a lot of fan service, a lot of pandering to fans, rare moments of near-greatness, and a good measure of questionable creative decisions. So, here are 5 characters who got fitting endings, and 5 who deserved more.
Fitting ending: Leia Organa
The Rise of Skywalker was faced with a similar situation to Furious 7. A key member of a popular film franchise’s ensemble cast passed away between sequels, and the filmmakers had to somehow piece together a satisfying story arc around their character, while still paying tribute to the actor. It’s an incredibly difficult line to walk, but J.J. Abrams handled Carrie Fisher’s death about as well as anyone could’ve hoped for.
Aside from some clunky dialogue and camera angles, which can be forgiven for obvious reasons, The Rise of Skywalker gave a surprisingly satisfying end to Leia’s arc: she made peace with her son, her past Jedi training was revealed, she died surrounded by her closest friends, and she became one with the Force and joined Luke.
Deserved more: Rose Tico
When it came to Rose Tico’s role in The Rise of Skywalker, it seemed as though Disney wanted to stand defiantly in the face of the character’s racist and sexist trolls by including her, but still, unfortunately, appeasing them by seriously limiting her role.
A few months ago, at Star Wars Celebration, J.J. Abrams said, “I was grateful to Rian Johnson for so many things that he did but the greatest for me was casting Kelly Marie [Tran].” And yet, for some reason, he gave Tran next to nothing to do in The Rise of Skywalker. Rose was conceived as the everywoman that the audience could see themselves in. To see her cinematic journey end in such a mundane and uneventful way was really frustrating.
Fitting ending: Finn
Finn has struggled to find his place in the sequel trilogy because he’s a newcomer to the Resistance, reeling from his First Order desertion. In The Rise of Skywalker, he meets a bunch of other deserters and teams up with them to save the day in the final showdown.
The thing that he wanted to tell Rey throughout the film remained delightfully ambiguous at the end. Some viewers think he wanted to tell her he was in love with her; others think he wanted to tell her he was Force-sensitive. Ultimately, we leave Finn in a good place, and he deserves it.
Deserved more: Emperor Palpatine
The whole marketing campaign for The Rise of Skywalker hinged on the return of Palpatine. There were some admittedly brilliant visual concepts used in the Emperor’s reappearance, from the giant robot arm that carries him around to the Sith Throne (recycled from earlier unused concepts) to the vats of Snoke bodies. But Return of the Jedi was still a better ending for the character.
Darth Vader deserved to be the one who killed the Emperor, because he’s the one who corrupted Anakin Skywalker and led him to the dark side. Saving Luke’s life gave the moment emotional resonance. The Rise of Skywalker undoes Palpatine’s (and Vader’s) perfect ending by invalidating it.
Fitting ending: Lando Calrissian
Billy Dee Williams’ reprisal of Lando Calrissian in The Rise of Skywalker might be the best attempt by the Disney movies to bring an original-trilogy icon into the sequel trilogy yet. Williams continues to nail Lando’s smooth attitude, suave, slightly eccentric manner of speaking, and the way he carries himself.
Although Lando and Chewie arriving at the final battle’s “all is lost” moment was admittedly very similar to the “portals” scene in Avengers: Endgame, it still brought the house down. Star Wars has always been a story about hope, and Lando, Chewie, and their fleet of oppressed pilots who want to help the Resistance restored that hope.
Deserved more: C-3PO
C-3PO was given a lot to do in The Rise of Skywalker, but his arc was just a screwball comedy; it wasn’t a fitting conclusion for a franchise icon’s story. He lost his memories, then got them back. The trailers made it look like he was going to die!
If Disney eventually makes a new trilogy, Episodes X to XII (Episode IX has been promised as the final chapter, but then, so was Episode VI, and Episode III – this isn’t the first time the Skywalker saga has supposedly concluded), C-3PO and R2-D2’s journey will continue with their new owners, as this has been the backbone of the story since the beginning. But as long as Disney isn’t planning to continue the story, this was a pretty weak ending for Anthony Daniels’ articulate protocol droid.
Fitting ending: Poe Dameron
Poe Dameron has one of the clearest arcs in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. In The Force Awakens, his recklessness is his ally, but in The Last Jedi, it gets people killed, and he’s humbled by authority. In The Rise of Skywalker, we see a more democratic Poe who has taken the teachings of Holdo onboard. He still pushes back against his superiors, but he’s more open to compromise.
We find out about Poe’s backstory as a spice runner who left his friends behind to join the Resistance, just because he felt that he could help and it was the right thing to do. And we didn’t get the clichéd ending we were expecting, as his mild flirtations with Zorii Bliss don’t lead to a dramatic proclamation of love.
Deserved more: R2-D2
Although he’s technically one of the Star Wars saga’s two lead characters, R2-D2 hardly has anything to do in The Rise of Skywalker. Finn transfers the information the Resistance got from a First Order mole (who turns out to be General Hux, weirdly), but that’s about it.
George Lucas originally planned to end the Star Wars saga with R2-D2 telling the story as “the keeper of the Journal of the Whills,” 100 years or so into the future. This even seemed to be teased when Artoo had Threepio’s entire bank of memories ready to zap back into his head – the little astromech droid has been recording all of this stuff.
Fitting ending: Kylo Ren
The redemption of Ben Solo has been telegraphed since the beginning of the sequel trilogy, but Kylo Ren has always doubled down on being evil. In The Rise of Skywalker, Ben was killed, and then resurrected, by Rey. Thematically, this turned Kylo Ren into a sort of dark Christ figure. Kylo Ren’s lightsaber even looks like the Cross of St. Peter. In the end, he kills his apostles, the Knights of Ren, and returns to the light side.
As Rey dies, Ben returns the favor and brings her back to life, then they kiss (which sort of ruins the moment, because it gives into Hollywood convention and it returns to Star Wars’ familiar incestuous territory, as Rey promptly identifies as a Skywalker), and then Ben becomes one with the Force. It’s like Star Wars’ take on Romeo and Juliet.
Deserved more: Rey
Making Rey the hero who, spurred on by the Jedi of the past, defeats Emperor Palpatine and liberates the galaxy from evil rule was a strong conclusion. However, the final scene, in which Rey goes to Owen and Beru’s moisture farm to bury Luke and Leia’s lightsaber there, felt misguided and forced.
Leia never even went to that farm, so it was a strange location to choose as her weapon’s final resting place. The ending just seemed intent on eliciting nostalgia in Star Wars fans by returning to the Tatooine sunset that started it all. It didn’t really feel like a satisfying ending to the entire saga, or even to Rey’s arc.