Star Wars Episode 9 is said to be the culmination of the Skywalker saga. The story began over four decades ago when Luke and Leia were revealed to be siblings, descendants of Anakin Skywalker – aka Darth Vader himself. Eight movies later, Luke and Leia have become staples in the pop culture zeitgeist, with many fans not quite ready to say goodbye.
Does this potential title hint at a perfect farewell to Leia?
Warning: potential spoilers for Star Wars Episode 9 ahead.
The rumoured title, which stems from a leak reported to Aint it Cool, is “Star Wars Episode 9: Skywalkers.”
Their source added: “Yep, that’s plural. And it does make sense in the context of the story.”
There are many ways in which this highly unlikely title could be taken, and one is as a nod to Leia herself.
The untimely and tragic death of Carrie Fisher meant Leia never got to reach her full potential.
Way back in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, Luke told Leia: “In time you’ll learn to use [the Force] as I have.”
When Leia had her space-flying scene in The Last Jedi, many fans were delighted to see the General tap into her birth-given force sensitivity.
But due to Fisher’s death, Leia’s force abilities would not be explored further.
However, the title could also reference Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), another living Skywalker.
Kylo Ren could return to the light side and reclaim his Skywalker name, but that requires fans to undertake the mental gymnastics of forgetting his father was Han Solo, and his birth name was Ben Solo, not Ben Skywalker.
Setting aside being pedantic about names, this theory also still leaves us with only one Skylwaker progeny.
Unless Rey (Daisy Ridley) turns out to be Luke’s daughter.
This is a highly unpopular theory, and also rests on Luke not recognising his own daughter which many find implausible.
Another option is Leia and Kylo Ren are the last Skywalkers, and somehow Leia will be able to reach her full Jedi potential through the use of previously unreleased footage from The Last Jedi.
The concept of future generations of Skywalkers flies directly in the face of what we already know:
Star Wars Episode 9 is definitively the end of the Skywalker story.
Star Wars has never had a single word subtitle to date, so the likelihood of the movie being called Skywalkers seems slim.
Star Wars Episode 9 is out in cinemas on December 19, 2019.