Disney and Lucasfilm have released the first Star Wars 9 trailer for the highly anticipated concluding chapter of the new Star Wars trilogy. The title for the new film is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

It all began in 2015 with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in which screenwriters J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt concocted a brand new Star Wars story in which the galaxy is under threat from the Empire-like First Order, Han and Leia's son Ben (aka Kylo Ren) is the next Sith lord in line to take up the evil throne, and a young orphan named Rey (Daisy Ridley) displays immense Force powers.

We know pretty much nothing about the story for what is expected to be the final chapter in this new Star Wars trilogy, but Abrams co-wrote the script with Oscar-winning Argo writer (and Batman v Superman co-writer) Chris Terrio and is back in the director's chair. In August 2015, before The Force Awakens had even been released, Lucasfilm announced that Jurassic World helmer Colin Trevorrow would co-write and direct Star Wars 9. Trevorrow worked on the screenplay with his frequent co-writer Derek Connolly for a couple of years, but in September 2017 it was announced that Trevorrow was leaving the film over creative differences. That's when Abrams took over and rewrote the script from scratch.

This teaser trailer begins with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) voiceover noting that this is Rey's fight now, and she's going to have to use all her skills at her disposal to bring down Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. Story-wise, Abrams appears to be pulling things back to Force Awakens territory after Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi: We see Kylo Ren putting his helmet back together, there's a strong nod towards the Emperor, and even the title could be taken as a suggestion that he's throwing out Johnson's whole "Rey's parents don't matter" answer. I enjoy Force Awakens, I love The Last Jedi, and I'm largely optimistic about this movie, but I will be very disappointed if The Rise of Skywalker ends up being some course-correction following Episode 8. We'll see!

Check out the first Star Wars 9 trailer below. The cast is anchored by Original Trilogy actors Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams, with Carrie Fisher appearing posthumously using footage that ended up on the cutting room floor from The Force Awakens. Also returning are John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, and Billie Lourd, with Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Matt Smith, and Dominic Monaghan marking new additions. And yes, John Williams returns once more to compose the score. Star Wars 9 opens in theaters on December 20th.

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