Final 'Rise of Skywalker' trailer promises an emotional ride

As per usual with Star Wars trailers, the latest and apparently last one for this year's The Rise of Skywalker offered a lot of tantalizing clues and some striking imagery. We've already been treated to Rey backflipping towards what appears to be a fighter piloted by Kylo Ren.

And we've long known that Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) and The Emperor (in some form) were coming back too, so there were no surprises there.

This latest trailer -- which focuses very heavily on Rey -- suggests a returns to themes of The Force Awakens, about identity and heroism, the kind of stuff Star Wars fans geek out on. I've always thought J.J. Abrams had even harder task with this one than he did on The Force Awakens. That film had an audience eager to fall in love with the franchise again. And then The Last Jedi sort of brought back that toxic fandom that seems to prevent us from having nice things.

I really enjoyed The Last Jedi, as I've said before, and I appreciate the risks that director Rian Johnson was trying to take with the material. As much as I love the original trilogy that could be dinged as being a bit formulaic, especially when it comes to the big third act showdown.

To me, The Last Jedi rather elegantly took a different direction, subverting some of our expectations and spending more time on the intriguing elements of 'the force' which has always been some of the most exciting aspects of Star Wars. I'm not saying every single thing in that movie worked, but I'll never except that it was disaster so many people want to believe it is.

Still, the fate of this particular trilogy and its enduring reputation all seems to rest on this new movie, which is an extraordinary burden to bear. What impresses me about the trailer for this new one -- is just how moving it seems like it could be.

It's not just the shot of the late Carrie Fisher in a deleted scene from The Force Awakens that has been repurposed here

After being one of three main storylines in the last installment, Rey and her intense heavy breathing seem to re-take center stage here. I like that. As much as I like Finn and Poe, they have never emotionally resonated the way Rey has.

Besides Kylo Ren, who also figures prominently in the trailer, she is the most fully developed and realized character in this new trilogy and I am glad that the series prepares to finish where it started, with her.

Speaking of finishes, a sense of things coming to a final conclusion at least to the Skywalker saga. I was surprisingly moved by hearing Anthony Daniels, who has voice C-3PO for over 40 years now, "taking one last look ... at my friends."

I am excited for what the future of Star Wars can be, especially the upcoming TV show spin-off, The Mandalorian. And I think future installments will be liberated by not having the service the whole Skywalker mythology

Don't get me wrong -- I adore Luke, Leia and the rest. But there's a case to be made that this universe could be so much more than just a story about a single family's evolution. Maybe that's an unpopular opinion, I don't know. It definitely seems like a lot people feel very proprietary about the saga. They seem to want these films to simply echo what they loved in their youth.

For me, I want to be surprised whenever I go to see a movie -- regardless of its pedigree -- and both of these Episodes have done that for me so far, and thanks to the narrative inventions of The Last Jedi, I genuinely don't know what is going to happen next. And I like that.