The Skywalker Legacy

Debs Paterson's 2020 documentary records the making of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. With contributions from J. J. Abrams, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver and John Boyega, it describes how the close of a nine-film series was prepared. Footage from the set, practical effects work and the costume workshops are its most concrete sections. The limit of this kind of production applies here too: the film was made by Disney and never enters the real problems of the process. Script changes, the change of director and studio arguments about the direction of the series stay entirely outside. The section on using existing footage after Carrie Fisher's death is the most affecting and most honest part. Who it's for: Star Wars fans and viewers curious about large-scale production. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a critical assessment of the final film, or wary of documentaries that function as studio promotion.