Star Wars: When Does The Rise of Skywalker Take Place?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker still has many mysteries to solve, including who the “Skywalker” of the title might be and how the heck the Emperor is back. While we still don’t know the answers to those questions, a cover story from Vanity Fair has given us just a few more details about the movie that should keep us busy, such as the names of two new planets and two characters. 

Also revealed is when in the Star Wars timeline The Rise of Skywalker takes place. According to Vanity Fair, the movie is set “about a year” after the events of The Last Jedi, which picked up right after The Force Awakens. Episode IX‘s time jump means that Rey, Finn, and Poe are a little farther along their journeys and that they’ve already gone on a few missions together. 

Rey’s training is almost complete when The Rise of Skywalker begins (not unlike Luke in Return of the Jedi), which explains how she’s able to do all that badass stunt work featured in the movie’s marketing. Her final task to become a full-fledged Jedi, according to Vanity Fair, is to revive the Order itself. 

Poe has taken on a more significant leadership role in the Resistance, something that was teased in The Last Jedi. General Leia spent a lot of time counseling Poe in Episode VIII and it sounds like the mentoring paid off. As Oscar Isaac explains, Poe has learned to work better with others, including Rey and Finn. 

“There has been a bit of shared history that you haven’t seen,” Isaac told Vanity Fair. “Whereas in the other films, Poe is this kind of lone wolf, now he’s really part of a group. They’re going out and going on missions and have a much more familiar dynamic now.”

Unsurprisingly, Finn is now an official member of the Resistance, no longer willing to run away from a fight with the First Order.

“I think he’s just an active member of the Resistance now,” Boyega said. “Episode VIII, he couldn’t decide what team he was fighting for. But since then he’s made a clear decision.”

One thing that remains unclear is how Finn’s love life has progressed since he shared a kiss with Rose Tico at the end of The Last Jedi. Speaking at Celebration Chicago, Boyega said this: “Finn is single and willing to mingle!”

We’ll just have to wait and see how his relationship with Rose (and Rey) has evolved at the start of The Rise of Skywalker. 

The Sequel Trilogy has been much lighter on time jumps between installments than its predecessors were. There was a 10-year jump between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith took place three years after that. Meanwhile, The Empire Strikes Back picked up the story three years after A New Hope, and Return of the Jedi jumped to a year later for the conclusion of the Original Trilogy. In comparison, all of the Sequel Trilogy has taken place over about a year and a few months. A LOT has happened in a very short timeframe. 

We’ll know for sure where everyone stands when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters on Dec. 20.

John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9.