As we get closer to the holiday season there is one movie on the mind of cinephiles: Star Wars. The beloved space opera will pick back up this December with The Rise of Skywalker, with J.J. Abrams returning to the franchise to wrap up the current trilogy, as well as the nine-film Skywalker Saga. The generations of fans are eager to see how the story ends, with little bits of information slowly being revealed as the blockbuster approaches. Episode IX will reportedly have an epic lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren, and it sounds like filming that sequence was a grueling experience.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker marks Anthony Daniels' final performance as C-3PO. The upcoming movie will give that droid far more screen time, putting him on an epic adventure alongside the trio of new heroes. Daniels is currently doing press for his new book I Am C-3PO - The Inside Story, and recently spoke to French outlets about the filming process for Episode IX, specifically the lightsaber battle that's been shown in the trailer and poster. And it turns out it took days in the rain to get that sequence together.
Anthony Daniels was on set when Rey and Kylo Ren clashed lightsabers again, and it sounds truly grueling. The highly anticipated duel took a whopping six days to film, with Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver enduring some harsh weather as they went through the motions of their fight choreography. The teaser for The Rise of Skywalker shows them fighting on a planet with water, with wave after wave crashing into the Force sensitive character. And those waves were real. What's more, the filming occurred in November, so the pair of actors were apparently freezing as they filmed the Episode IX battle.
Anthony Daniels' comments (via Star Wars News Net) peel back the curtain behind production on major film releases like Star Wars. While each movie is expertly crafted and visually exciting, the reality of filming is far less glamorous. Long hours are standard, and sometimes cast and crew are forced to deal with the elements. That seems to be the case with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, although the first glimpse at that lightsaber duel looks thrilling.
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It should be interesting to see exactly how Rey and Kylo Ren's lightsaber duel goes down, and how their relationship changes throughout the course of J.J. Abrams' upcoming blockbuster. Their dynamic has been teased as a major thread of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, building on the events of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. Episode VII gave the two characters a psychic connection, and it seemed like Rey might succeed in bringing him back to the Light Side. But Ben Solo ultimately became the Supreme Leader of the First Order, while Rey re-joined The Resistance.
Fans will be able to see for themselves when Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th, including C-3PO's final bow. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies, and you can catch up with 3PO's story by reading the Star Wars comics.
