Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the sequel trilogy’s attempt to land the plane: Palpatine returns, Rey faces a heritage she did not choose, and “somehow” becomes a question about power, resurrection, and whether evil can remake the world without being remade by it.

In this Mythic Mind Movies conversation, Dr. Andrew Snyder (professor of philosophy and theology) and guests walk through the final mainline Skywalker-saga film. Andrew names it his favorite of the sequels (a low bar, he admits) for the moments of heart that TFA’s echoes and The Last Jedi’s meander rarely deliver. The talk turns on Palpatine as the voice behind Snoke and Kylo, Rey’s claim to stand with all the Jedi against “all the Sith,” and how grasping at unlimited life (Hideous Strength / Númenor-shaped patterns) ends up consuming the grasper.

Topics include sequel-trilogy endings, Palpatine’s return and cloning legacy, Rey and Kylo’s dyad, sacrifice and memory, production polish vs script holes, and whether “I am all the Jedi” carries real spiritual weight or only fanfare.