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While Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker didn’t exactly wow critics or fans with its cobbled-together story, it did deliver when it came to interesting cameos. Chances are, we’ll be dissecting the film for some time to come, but a few of the more prominent celebrities who made their own appearances include Lin-Manuel Miranda (who played a Resistance Trooper), Kevin Smith (perhaps the biggest nerd director of our time), and Jeff Garlin, of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame.
Speaking of cameos, there’s one celeb whose mysterious role has been kept a secret, until now. In late 2018, we reported that music sensation Ed Sheeran would be getting his own cameo in The Rise Of Skywalker, but details on his appearance were kept under wraps. However, it looks like the cat’s out of the bag now. As reported by CinemaBlend, the official Star Wars Twitter account recently shared an article from Oh My Disney titled “7 ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker” Easter Eggs You Might’ve Missed.’
This list, which also detailed cameos from franchise composer John Williams and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, reveals that Ed Sheeran played an alien member of the resistance, which can be seen above. It’s worth noting, at the time of writing, neither Disney nor Ed has confirmed this tidbit of news, but seeing as how it was shared by the official Star Wars Twitter account, it’s highly unlikely that this is a false claim.
While Sheeran’s cameo in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker was silent, he has taken on more substantial roles in the past. He appeared alongside Hamish Patel and Lily James in Danny Boyle’s Yesterday, and who could forget his appearance in HBO’s Game of Thrones?
Remember when we all went crazy for that glimpse of Dark Rey in the second trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? We always knew it wasn’t teasing some actual evil turn from the heroine, but we thought it might be the set-up for something with some significance to the plot. As it was, Rey’s vision of her dark self only appeared in one brief scene. However, some newly uncovered concept art reveals that the notion of Rey going in a darker direction genuinely was considered at one stage.
A glut of concept art for unseen sequences from Episode IX have surfaced online, and among the most interesting pieces are these that reveal a tense battle between Rey and Kylo Ren that we never got to witness in action. Typically, Kylo is the much fiercer fighter, but in these images, Rey’s the one who’s not holding back, unleashing her full Palpatine potential. One image sees her about to slice Ren’s head off with his own lightsaber, and in another she’s Force-choking him, borrowing a move from Kylo’s grandpappy Vader.
Presumably, there was never a version of the movie where Rey kills Kylo, joins Palpatine and evil reigns supreme, so this deleted sequence must’ve ended with Rey coming to her senses and letting her enemy go. Perhaps this was an alternate version of their fight on board the wreckage of the Death Star. That culminates with Rey managing to land a fatal blow, though only after Leia’s death distracts Kylo. What’s more, Rey uses Force-healing to prevent his demise. So, quite the opposite turn of events from those depicted in this concept art.
Daisy Ridley has spoken about her enjoyment of getting to play “the worst” aspects of Rey, which does suggest she might’ve filmed more material as Dark Rey that never made it into the finished version of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Looks like this is just going to further fuel those calls for Disney to release an alternate cut of the movie.
Before Captain Marvel debuted in cinemas around the world (going on to earn a cool $1.1 billion in the process), a very vocal corner of the Internet placed a target on Brie Larson. And they were relentless in their campaign against her.
These online trolls tried their best to ‘review bomb’ Captain Marvel in the hope that it would sink the film’s chances at the box office. Of course, they were totally unsuccessful in their efforts and the numbers really speak for themselves, showing everyone that Carol Danvers’ MCU debut, while not hugely memorable, was still a solid first solo outing for the heroine that cemented her place as one of the franchise’s new leads moving forward.
And now, just to show that she’s the one with the last laugh, Captain Marvel has taken a shot at all those trolls in the pages of Avengers #29. Seen below, the comic sees the team battling against the Heralds of Galactus. Carol, in particular, is taking on Firelord and drops a cheeky reference that should make sense to most MCU fans.
For those who haven’t clued in, upon making her debut in the franchise, Larson was criticized for portraying the hero as too serious and too grim, with the trolls crying out that she needed to smile more. Of course, the actress herself has since responded to these criticisms in her own clever way, and now Marvel has taken a shot at the haters as well via Avengers #29.
Of course, even despite all the controversy that continues to swirl around Larson and her portrayal of the heroine, it seems the studio has full faith in her to lead their cinematic universe into Phase 4 and beyond. Indeed, we already know that Captain Marvel 2 is in early development and with Carol said to be popping up in various other films and TV shows as well to rub shoulders with some of the other characters before her second solo outing, it seems that the haters will just have to get used to having her around.
Innovation, surprise and humor – three things you won’t find to be very prevalent in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
At least, that’s according to what the critics have been saying over on Rotten Tomatoes, with the film’s current score on the website standing at a measly 52%. That puts it as the worst-reviewed Star Wars movie in the entire saga, with even The Phantom Menace managing to snag a 53% rating. Ouch!
To date, 469 reviews have been counted by Rotten Tomatoes for The Rise of Skywalker, and the official consensus reads as so: “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination, but concludes this beloved saga with fan-focused devotion.” And frankly, that’s a pretty accurate assessment of the Sequel Trilogy-closer.
To put things into further perspective, here’s how the rest of the entries in the saga have fared: The Empire Strikes Back (94%), The Force Awakens (93%), A New Hope (93%), The Last Jedi (91%), Rogue One (83%), Return of the Jedi (82%), Revenge of the Sith (80%), Solo (70%), and Attack of the Clones (65%). Of course, you could argue that The Clone Wars movie is technically the worst-reviewed film of the franchise, with a shockingly low 18%, but we’re only talking about the live-action efforts here. And when it comes to those, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is indeed at the bottom of the pile.
But as we all know, some movies just take time to find their fanbase and there’s every chance that in 5-10 years, people will look back on the pic and feel more fondly about it. Or maybe not. In any case, it currently stands as a wildly disappointing end to the Skywalker saga and will no doubt have Lucasfilm thinking very, very carefully about how to proceed with the franchise from here on out.
Tell us, though, do you think the pic deserves a score or 52%, or are the critics being too harsh? Sound off below with your thoughts.