Disney and Lucasfilm dropped the teaser for Star Wars: Episode IX — which we now know is called Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — during Star Wars Celebration on Friday, the multi-day event celebrating the beloved science fiction franchise. And suffice to say, most fans (since there will always be the angry nerd contingency) were pleased with the payoff.
For starters, there’s gravity-defying Rey! Lando is back! So is Luke — maybe in ghost form? A new droid! It’s all very exciting. Then, at the very end, our intrepid, ragtag team of intergalactic heroes come across the wrecked husk of the Death Star, followed by the instantly recognizable laugh of none other than Darth Sidious himself, Emperor Palpatine. Looks like Rey is about to find herself in a very sticky situation!
That aside, Palpatine isn’t the only one with a distinct laugh, which is why Ryan George of Screen Rant got the brilliant idea to do a re-edit of the teaser’s final scene. “I can’t be the only one who caught the Seth Rogen cameo in the Star Wars trailer,” he tweeted on Friday.
Indeed, swapping out Rogen’s trademark stoner laugh for Palpatine’s does change the stakes a bit, and the clip quickly went viral as fans applauded the effort.
Eventually, even Rogen himself weighed in. “I’m thrilled to be a part of this,” he tweeted.
Sadly, any hopes that Rogen might actually make a cameo in an upcoming installment of Star Wars anytime soon were dashed when Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that the franchise would be taking a hiatus to reassess after The Rise of Skywalker.
“We’re not just looking at what the next three movies might be, or talking about this in terms of a trilogy,” she said. “We’re looking at: What is the next decade of storytelling?” Oh well, but what a missed opportunity.
