Quick Answer
When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrived in theaters in December 2019, director J.J. Abrams was handed a job that bordered on unfair.
He had to wrap up the Sequel Trilogy, conclude the entire nine film Skywalker Saga, and somehow steady a fanbase still split down the middle by Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. Sitting in 2026, with seven years of distance, Disney+ shows like Andor, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka reshaping the galaxy, and the immediate heat of opening weekend long burned out, the question is finally worth asking calmly.
The impossible task of Episode IX
When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrived in theaters in December 2019, director J.J. Abrams was handed a job that bordered on unfair. He had to wrap up the Sequel Trilogy, conclude the entire nine film Skywalker Saga, and somehow steady a fanbase still split down the middle by Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi.
Sitting in 2026, with seven years of distance, Disney+ shows like Andor, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka reshaping the galaxy, and the immediate heat of opening weekend long burned out, the question is finally worth asking calmly. How does The Rise of Skywalker actually hold up?
The pacing problem that never aged out
The most consistent criticism of The Rise of Skywalker in 2019 was its pacing, and time has not been kind. The first act in particular still plays like a video game fetch quest, jumping from Pasaana to Kijimi to Kef Bir at a speed that gives the audience no room to breathe.
Subplots are introduced and resolved within minutes. Emotional beats that needed to land, like Chewie's apparent death, are walked back almost immediately. The film clearly had two and a half hours of plot stuffed into a two hour twenty two minute runtime.
The retcons that still sting
Abrams' mandate was clearly to course correct away from The Last Jedi, and the seams show.
- Rey Palpatine: The reveal that Rey was the Emperor's granddaughter undid one of the most powerful ideas in the Sequel Trilogy, that the Force can rise in anyone, regardless of bloodline.
- Rose Tico sidelined: Kelly Marie Tran's character had roughly 76 seconds of screen time. After the targeted harassment Tran faced in 2018, the silence read as capitulation rather than creative choice.
- "Somehow, Palpatine returned": The line is now a meme, and rightly so. Resurrecting the saga's biggest villain in an opening crawl, with no setup in two prior films, remains the single biggest narrative shortcut in modern Star Wars.
- Finn's arc: Hints at a wider Force sensitivity for John Boyega's character were dropped in for the trailer crowd and never properly paid off on screen.
Where the film still works
For all the script problems, dismissing The Rise of Skywalker entirely is intellectually lazy. Several elements remain genuinely excellent.
- Ian McDiarmid: Returning as Palpatine, McDiarmid attacks the role with absolute relish. He is the most watchable thing in any scene he occupies.
- Adam Driver: Kylo Ren's arc closes with the best acting in the trilogy. The wordless conversation between Ben Solo and the memory of his father remains one of the most genuinely moving moments in the entire saga.
- John Williams' score: His final Skywalker score is masterful, weaving leitmotifs from across nine films with grace.
- The ocean duel: The fight between Rey and Kylo on the wreckage of the Death Star, soaked in spray and crashing waves, is some of the best practical and digital effects work in any blockbuster of the last decade.
How Disney+ has changed the conversation
One genuinely interesting twist is how the streaming era has filled in the gaps. The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have given the post Empire galaxy texture and political weight that the films never managed. The First Order's rise feels slightly more earned in retrospect because the broader narrative now exists.
That recontextualization helps, but it does not rescue the film. It just makes the missed opportunity sharper.
The takeaway: a flawed but fascinating finale
In 2026, The Rise of Skywalker reads as a beautifully shot, gorgeously scored, often entertaining blockbuster that fails as a saga ending narrative. It is the cautionary tale of what happens when a multi billion dollar trilogy is built without a unified story plan.
Visually brilliant. Narratively hollow. A fascinating, frustrating, occasionally moving piece of pop culture history that the Star Wars community will keep arguing about for decades to come.
What the Film Got Right
The Rise of Skywalker delivered moments of genuine emotional payoff for long term fans, including the Force dyad sequences, Kylo Ren's redemption arc, and the visual restoration of classic Star Wars iconography. Even its harshest critics tend to acknowledge those highlights.
Where It Stumbled
- Compressed pacing that left major plot beats underexplored.
- Reversals of choices made by The Last Jedi rather than building on them.
- A villain return that felt unearned to many viewers.
The 2026 Reassessment
Seven years later, opinions remain split but more nuanced. Younger fans who grew up with the sequels often defend the film, while older audiences continue to debate the trilogy's overall direction. The lasting takeaway is that planning a trilogy in advance matters as much as any single film's execution.
