Produced by Lucasfilm and Abrams's production company Bad Robot, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), and the final episode of the nine-part "Skywalker saga".

[a] Its cast includes Carrie Fisher,[b] Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, and Billy Dee Williams.

Set after The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker follows Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron as they lead the remnants of the Resistance in a final stand against Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and the First Order, who are allied by the resurrected Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine.

Palpatine unveils the Final Order—a Sith armada of Star Destroyers—and offers it to Kylo if he finds and kills Rey, who is continuing her Jedi training under Resistance leader Leia Organa.

Poe Dameron and Finn deliver intelligence from a spy in the First Order that Palpatine is on Exegol; Rey reads in Luke Skywalker's notes that a Sith wayfinder can lead them there.

Billie Lourd,[c] Greg Grunberg, and Harrison Ford reprise their roles as Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix, Temmin "Snap" Wexley, and Han Solo, respectively.

[18] Hassan Taj and Lee Towersey perform the role of R2-D2, while Dave Chapman and Brian Herring return as the puppeteers of BB-8,[18] and director J. J. Abrams also provides the voice for D-O.

[33] Martin Wilde, Anton Simpson-Tidy, Lukaz Leong, Tom Rodgers, Joe Kennard, and Ashley Beck appear as the Knights of Ren.

[18] Amanda Lawrence reprises her role as Commander Larma D'Acy, while Vinette Robinson plays her wife, Pilot Wrobie Tyce.

[34] Billy Howle and Jodie Comer briefly appear as Rey's parents, Dathan and Miramir,[33][35] while Tom Wilton and screenwriter Chris Terrio briefly appear as the performer and voice for Aftab Ackbar, the son of Admiral Ackbar, respectively;[36][37] and Mike Quinn and Kipsang Rotich return as the performer and voice of Nien Nunb, respectively.

[18] Denis Lawson and Warwick Davis briefly reprise their roles as Wedge Antilles, a veteran of the Rebel Alliance; and Wicket W. Warrick, now the leader of the Ewoks, respectively.

[33][38][39] Actors making reprisal vocal cameos include: Hayden Christensen and James Earl Jones as Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, Andy Serkis as Snoke, and the voices of several past Jedi, including Ewan McGregor and Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi (the latter via digitally altered archive audio), Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus, Olivia d'Abo as Luminara Unduli, Frank Oz as Yoda, Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, Jennifer Hale as Aayla Secura, Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, and Angelique Perrin as Adi Gallia.

[45] However, these plans did not come to fruition and instead Kasdan co-wrote Episode VII - Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with Kinberg serving as a creative consultant.

[55] Trevorrow collaborated closely with Johnson whilst developing his script and even requested a scene featuring Rey and Poe be shot for Episode VIII -The Last Jedi.

[56][57][58] After the success of The Force Awakens, which became the highest-grossing film of 2015, Episode IX was put into production in February 2016, which Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger vaguely reported.

[8][9][93][e] In flashback scenes, digital de-aging was used for the appearance of Luke and Leia through the use of facial shots of both characters from the Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi respectively.

[105] Early rumors from Making Star Wars claimed Smith was set to portray a "dark side acolyte" who gets possessed by Palpatine.

[113] The crew on The Rise of Skywalker had three fewer months than they had to work on The Force Awakens leading to Maryann Brandon being sent in to cut on set a third of the way through production.

[85] Additionally, the story events of the Disneyland themed area Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge precede the film, including the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run motion simulator, which features Chewbacca.

[153] Unlike most studio films, Disney reportedly did not hold test screenings for The Rise of Skywalker, instead only showing it to Abrams' friends and family, as well as a terminally-ill fan.

[165][166] It went on to debut to $177.4 million, which was the third-highest opening ever for a December release and the 12th-best of all time, and it was also noted that Saturday (which saw a 47% drop from Friday's gross) was the busiest shopping day of the year, likely affecting ticket sales.

[167][168][169] However, Deadline Hollywood did write that "we can't ignore the less than platinum B+" audience exit scores, which could affect the film's legs (box office longevity) moving forward.

The website's critical consensus reads, "The Rise of Skywalker suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination, but concludes this beloved saga with fan-focused devotion.

[181] Richard Roeper, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film three stars out of four, writing that it "rarely comes close to touching greatness, but it's a solid, visually dazzling and warmhearted victory [for] quality filmmaking.

It wraps up the trio of trilogies begun in 1977 in a confident, soothingly predictable way, doing all that is cinematically possible to avoid [upsetting the] tradition-minded quadrants of the Star Wars fan base.

"[184] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle described the film as "a disappointment" and wrote, "For all the movie's faults, it's likely that most people will consider The Rise of Skywalker and accept the trade: Sit through a so-so 110 minutes to get to a strong half hour.

"[186] The BBC's Nicholas Barber praised the film's acting and wrote, "The Rise of Skywalker has been lovingly crafted by a host of talented people, and yet the best they can do is pay tribute to everything [George Lucas] did several decades ago.

The reduced role was interpreted by some critics as a concession to fans who disliked her character;[192] Tran had been a target of racist, fatphobic and misogynistic online harassment following the release of The Last Jedi.

[167] Months prior to the film's trailer release, the "Want to See" percentage was review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes, dropping the score as low as 5% within a day.

[199] In a November 2021 interview by Empire, Kathleen Kennedy indicated that the Lucasfilm team had been having conversations regarding the future of the sequel trilogy's characters.