Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director JJ Abrams has explained why he felt it necessary to include the second Death Star in the upcoming sequel.
In a lengthy interview with Entertainment Weekly, the filmmaker explained that having the likes of Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) engage with the remnants of the iconic super-weapon felt symbolic.
"It felt like going into the haunted house, the place that you have to go to," he said. "This is a story of people having to grapple with the burden the prior generation dumps on those that follow. So literally returning to this wreck of the past and having to fight it out felt like an obvious metaphor, but also felt incredibly cinematic."
The second Death Star – a larger, more advanced version of the original planet-zapper – was introduced in the original trilogy's final instalment, Return of the Jedi.
Owned by Emperor Palpatine, it was destroyed when Lando Calrissian and several other Rebels flew inside its superstructure and collided with its reactor core (seriously, Empire, get someone to look at your access points).
At the time, it was assumed that its destruction resulted in the deaths of Darth Vader and his mentor Palpatine. However, the latter is set to appear in the upcoming sequel, with his presence teased in The Rise of Skywalker's trailers.
As well as hearing Palpatine's voiceover in the full-length version, Rey and Kylo Ren can be seen confronting one another in the Emperor's former throne room.
During the interview, Abrams also touched on how the movie didn't have to resort to using special effects to include the late Carrie Fisher's Leia Organa. Instead, it uses discarded footage which was shot during the filming of The Force Awakens.
"Saying Leia had passed away, or that she was off somewhere else, felt like a cheat," he said. "Then I remembered we had these scenes that we hadn't used from Episode VII. It was like finding this impossible answer to this impossible question.
"Suddenly we had classic Carrie in these amazing moments. So when you see in the movie, it's her, she's there. It’s not like there's some crazy digital trickery. She's just in the movie."
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a release date of Thursday, 19 December in the UK and Friday, 20 December in the US
