The Rise of Skywalker coverage from the Summer 2019 issue of Empire. I highlighted direct quotes from J.J. Abrams in my transcript below:

Is the Emperor really still alive?

And five other burning questions about Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker.

AFTER WHAT FELT like an eternity of silence, director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy finally unveiled Episode IX last month, revealing title and trailer at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, and Empire was on hand to witness it. As you might expect with Abrams, every answer prompted a dozen more questions. Here are the most pressing…

1. IS THE EMPEROR REALLY STILL ALIVE?

“No-one’s ever really gone,” intones Luke, before a final, familiar cackle heralds the end of the trailer. After all these years, could Darth Sidious be back to finish what he started?

“It’s amazing that he got to walk out here today and no one knew,” Abrams told Empire after the panel. “The reaction that people had to him only made me grateful that all [those] who could have told and tweeted and posted didn’t. It was as much fun to watch as it was to work with him.”

Last seen plummeting down a Death Star shaft and apparently perishing in a blast of Force energy, it’s hard to imagine Palpatine survived Episode VI but then, the Death Star seemingly exploded into atoms and yet its domed carcass still appears in the new trailer so anything’s possible. Is he alive?

A Force ghost? A clone? A recording in a Sith holocron?

2. WHAT DOES THE TITLE MEAN?

Given Luke’s death in The Last Jedi it’s hard to imagine there’s much scope for rising Skywalkers in Episode IX, but Abrams insists the title is not misleading. “In coming up with the title we just looked at the film and asked ourselves, ’What are we saying?’ It feels very much like the title of this film.” The only Skywalker left (that we know of) is Kylo Ren, but could the answer be more abstract? Could ‘Skywalker’ become a more general term for future adherents to the Jedi code?

3. IS REY A FULLY FLEDGE JEDI NOW?

With the Jedi texts in her possession, Rey is now the keeper of all Jedi knowledge and has successfully repaired Anakin’s lightsaber — last seen bursting like the galaxy’s most expensive cracker in Episode VIII. But does that now make Rey a true Jedi? “There are some extraordinary things that the character and Daisy [Ridley] did in this movie,” Abrams deflected. “There are some new things you’ll see.”

4. HOW MUCH HAS CARRIE FISHER SHAPED THE STORY?

Having already ruled out a CG stand-in à la Rogue One, Abrams has already confirmed that Carrie Fisher’s presence in IX will be via unused Force Awakens footage. Rather than shoehorn it into the existing story, though, Abrams revealed that Leia’s scenes were written entirely around the available footage, shaping the film — and presumably the character’s arc — with the material they had.

5. WHEN DOES THE FILM TAKE PLACE?

While Episode VIII picked up seconds after VII ended, there’s a more protracted break before we rejoin the action in IX. Abrams wouldn’t be drawn into how long exactly, confirming only that the core cast will still be together when we catch up with them again and that they’ll stay together — joined by new droid D-O and at least one other addition — for much of the film. Daisy Ridley did suggest that there’s a long enough gap between films for Rey to have made some serious headway with her trove of pilfered Jedi tomes.

6. WHAT’S NEXT?

The Rise Of Skywalker signifies the end of a nine-film series that began in 1977, but what happens next? “We’re going to use this time as an opportunity to see where we’re going, now that we’re leaving the Skywalker saga behind,” said Kennedy. New movie series are in the works from VIII director Rian Johnson and Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, but before that we’ll see a closer focus on the small screen with The Mandalorian and a Cassian Andor series coming to streaming service Disney+.

— JAMES DYER