Expectations are sky-high for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. As director J.J. Abrams shared at a press conference alongside his sprawling cast, this entry in the beloved franchise is set to conclude not just this most recent trilogy but the entire nine-movie saga that’s followed the Skywalker clan. But according to director Ava DuVernay, who moderated the hour-long press conference, Abrams and the entire team have delivered on what she noted was a visual feast, as well as an emotional ending that’ll leave fans more than satisfied.
DuVernay was effusive about the entire cast, crediting Daisy Ridley’s physicality as Rey and John Boyega’s charisma as Finn. But she saved her most enthusiastic endorsement for the actor in the cast who’s one of her favorites: Oscar Isaac. “I think he can do anything,” she gushed, prompting the Guatemalan-Cuban-American actor to quip back that he’s free to find more work now that the Star Wars gig is done. (Honestly, a DuVernay-Isaac project already sounds like a dream: Make it happen, Universe!)
Isaac talked a bit about his swashbuckling swagger in Episode IX and, of course, about what DuVernay dubbed “the greatest bromance in the galaxy.” “It’s juicy!” Isaac added. The chemistry between Boyega’s Finn and Isaac’s Poe Dameron is undeniable. And to hear both actors tell it, it was there from their first read-through when Boyega sweetly walked into Isaac’s dressing room and asked to run lines. “So we were in the dressing room like butt-to-butt, and we ran the scene,” Isaac shared, clearly embellishing a back-to-back stance with his signature sexual innuendo. “And we’ve been in that, uh, position ever since!”
With sparks like that flying off-screen, it’s no surprise Finn and Poe are the galaxy’s most shipped couple. Here’s hoping The Rise of Skywalker lets the two spend more time together than they did in The Last Jedi, which had most of its cast out on their own separate adventures.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters December 20, 2019.