While Abrams’ ambitious addition to the Star Wars film series attempted to tie up a ton of the universe’s loose ends, it also left a lot of questions in its wake — ones that may never be addressed in the future.
Despite the fact that the film wrapped plenty of plotlines — iniluding Rey’s parentage (rather than being the child of “nobodies,” she’s actually the granddaughter of the famous Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine); Kylo Ren’s real journey (thanks to an assist from his late father, he turned back to the Jedi Order and became Ben Solo once more); and Palpatine’s role in the entire trilogy (he was the one working behind the scenes, not Supreme Leader Snoke) — it still left plenty up in the air. A lot of these lingering questions relate to Palpatine (how did he even have a son (Rey’s father), and how did he manage to resurrect himself at all?), but other queries (like how C-3PO even learned Sith and who all of those Sith ghosts in Palpatine’s chamber were) will likely never get answered at all.
The Rise of Skywalker has faced a fairly bleak critical mass, with many believing that the entire thing is either fan service or a clumsy attempt to completely erase the events of The Last Jedi. Still, trying to make his film complex and engaging might have been Abrams’ most noble goal. Whether or not that goal fully succeeded with critics and fans, however, is yet another unanswered question.
Written by: Looper