New visions of the ending of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker have finally been revealed.
Concept art has become a huge part of the Star Wars conversation during the sequel trilogy thanks in large part to the gorgeous books by Phil Szostak. The only problem is, those books are timed to the release of the film so they never include art from the end of the films. That all gets pushed into the book for the next movie.
In terms of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker though, there won’t be a next film for quite some time. That had many fans of these books, such as myself, wondering when and how we’d see the art from Rey’s final showdown with her grandfather, Emperor Palpatine, and the galactic fleet arriving to defeat the Final Order. ILM has finally answered that question by posting a full page of excellent art from the movie’s finale — we’ve decided to highlight just a few of the best. Head here to see them all or continue on.
Mechanical Palpatine
Here are some images used to inspire the look and technology of Palpatine’s lair.
Massive Scope
The unfathomable size of Palpatine’s Exegol underground was always part of the vision.
That Finger
Different stages of Palpatine’s regeneration. But, really, that hand image is just going to haunt us.
Horses and Ships
Simply beautiful images of all the ships arriving and the transport bringing the space horses. Sorry. Orbaks.
Also — this looks almost exactly like it turned out in the actual end of the film.
And They’re Out
An equally gorgeous image of the ships leaving after victory.
All the Jedi
The uncropped version of the Rey art from the first page, the climactic moment of the film.
For more art this, get the full book here, visit the ILM page, and of course, you can watch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Disney+. If you want.