Kylo Ren Channels Darth Vader in Eerie New Rise of Skywalker Poster

Darth Vader has a major presence in the latest look at Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It’s no secret that Kylo Ren is a big fan of his grandfather. The new promo image from the movie shows Ren with his reconstructed helmet while wielding his custom Lightsaber. However, upon closer inspection, his cape is giving a huge nod to the Star Wars franchise. When looking at the cape, one can easily spot Darth Vader’s charred helmet thrown into the design. But what does it mean?

There has been a lot of talk about redemption in The Rise of Skywalker ever since Rose Tico actress Kelly Marie Tran brought it up at the D23 Expo. Since then, and even before so, there were rumors about Kylo Ren potentially changing his allegiance and working with Rey to take down Emperor Palpatine, much like his grandfather did in Return of the Jedi. Obviously, this has not been proven, but the promotional material for the movie sure seems to hint that Darth Vader will play a larger part of this story than we’ve seen in this latest trilogy so far.

When looking further at Kylo Ren’s cape, it appears to be torn, frayed, and fading away. While this is only promotional art, this could be further proof of the redemption theories in Rise of Skywalker, or maybe Ren is really looking to let go of the past this time around. We’re definitely getting mixed messages here with letting go of the past and the return of the Darth Vader imagery, along with the reconstructed version of Ren’s own helmet. Regardless, J.J. Abrams and the Lucasfilm team are keeping everything under wraps for as long as humanly possible. Thankfully, a new trailer is on the way, so we’ll have some new clues to help fill in some of the gaps.

With Emperor Palpatine back, it’s unclear where The Rise of Skywalker is going in terms of storytelling. Since we’ve been teased with the voice so much, there has been a lot of speculation about the villain not having that big of a part in the movie, especially since J.J. Abrams introduced his return right from the beginning. Regardless, it’s exciting to know that Palpatine will be included in the final installment of the Skywalker Saga.

The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th, which is coming up quick. It’s the end of the decade and the end of the Skywalker Saga at the same time. As for how it’s all going to come to an end, that is still a mystery, which is a good thing as Star Wars fans try and wait as patiently as possible for the long-awaited movie to open in theaters. While we wait for that new trailer to drop, you can check out the latest image of Kylo Ren with his Darth Vader tribute below, thanks to the Star Wars Stuff Twitter account.