Star Wars 9: Did SNOKE give a big Rise of Skywalker hint in Force Awakens? Kylo Ren is key

JJ Abrams is returning to helm the concluding third of the sequel trilogy – and the ninth and final part of the whole Star Wars Skywalker saga.

Ever since its unveiling back in April, the title – The Rise of Skywalker – has kept fans talking.

To whom does the title refer? Is it Luke, who died in 2017’s The Last Jedi? Is it Rey? Is it Kylo Ren? Or is it something else altogether?

Now, posting to Reddit, one fan may have found a big clue.

In The Force Awakens – the first part of this trilogy, also directed by JJ Abrams – there’s a line spoken by Supreme Leader Snoke to Kylo Ren that may prove telling.

He tells Kylo: “If Skywalker returns… the new Jedi will Rise.”

Luke only returned to the (literal) front line for the Resistance via Force Projection in The Last Jedi, finally facing Kylo – his nephew.

With discussion raging as to whether or not Kylo can be redeemed in this final movie, will he be the Skywalker who rises after all?

MORE: Daisy Ridley makes Rey’s parents promise

It certainly would make that Snoke line all the more poignant – given that it would be the very thing his mentor was warning him against.

On the other hand, however, some fans have drawn attention to the fact that redemption for Kylo – real name Ben Solo – won’t be so easy.

He is, after all, responsible for a LOT of death and destruction; not to mention the murder of his father, Han Solo.

But if the “new Jedi”, whoever that may be, do indeed “rise” in Episode 9, it appears that Snoke will have been right.

Snoke, too, was killed in The Last Jedi – much to the dismay of some fans who were keen to see him further utilised.

But with Emperor Palpatine thought to be returning in some capacity, it seems we won’t be without an overarching Big Bad altogether.

Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey, has spoken about an “epic” fight scene she shot with Adam Driver, who plays Kylo.

“This fight, it was November, we had water being thrown at us—I’m not gonna complain about the cold, I’m just not gonna do it — so it was like a real thing of stamina,” she told the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“It felt really epic, and it felt epic even at the time. One can only imagine what it’s gonna look like.”

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