Star Wars 9 Rise of Skywalker: HUGE clue on how movie ENDS – Kathy Kennedy drops bombshell

The new film, now officially titled Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due out in December – ending the sequel trilogy and the entire nine-part Skywalker saga.

Plot details are obviously being kept generally under wraps, but Kennedy has hinted at the kind of note the film will end on.

Speaking to Good Morning America at Star Wars Celebration, she was asked to sum up the entire film in one word, and said: “Hope.”

She elaborated: “This is the epitome of good versus evil, and there is a lot of conflict in this movie.

“But I think where it goes, and what the resolution is, is very hopeful.”

So whatever the specifics of the story are, it seems fans won’t be left feeling particularly bleak at the end of the film – rather the credits will roll on something of an optimistic note.

Probed on whether Episode 9 can possibly live up to the hype, Kennedy insisted: “I think it will absolutely live up to the hype.

“We have all poured our heart and soul into making sure it lives up to the hype.

“I think the story is pretty great.”

Meanwhile, director JJ Abrams opened up on why the team waited so long to divulge the movie’s title.

“It felt like there were a series of Star Wars movies that came out pretty close behind this one,” he said, perhaps alluding to the perceived rush-release of Solo: A Star Wars Story soon after Episode 8: The Last Jedi.

“We didn’t want to feel like we were getting lost in that,” he added.

“We felt like it was kind of better to wait until the right moment.”

The first teaser trailer, revealed on Friday, also promised the exciting return of Emperor Palpatine, played by Ian McDiarmid.

Of course he was last seen, in chronological terms, meeting a sticky end in the insides of the Death Star in Return of the Jedi, so how exactly he appears remains to be seen.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is out on December 19 in the UK.