Each movie in the main Star Wars Skywalker saga begins with an opening crawl; a block of text that sets up the story.
While the crawls reveal to viewers what the political tensions in the galaxy are, they don’t actually refer to specific characters all that often – in fact none were named in the crawl for The Phantom Menace.
But Luke Skywalker – very narrowly – holds the record for the most mentions in a Star Wars opening crawl; a feat revealed on Reddit by user u/chuffkubazdro.
In a post that has been 100% Upvoted on the Star Wars Speculation board, they added that Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) is just one mention away from matching him.
So if Luke is not mentioned in the crawl for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but Leia is, then they will be the joint record-holders at the end of the saga.
Here is the list:
1. Luke Skywalker – four mentions (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi)
2. Princess Leia/General Leia Organa – three mentions (A New Hope, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi)
3. Count Dooku – two mentions (Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith)
=4. Senator Amidala – one mention (Attack of the Clones)
=4. Palpatine – one mention (Revenge of the Sith)
=4. General Grievous – one mention (Revenge of the Sith)
=4. Darth Vader – one mention (The Empire Strikes Back)
=4. Han Solo – one mention (Return of the Jedi)
=4. Jabba the Hutt – one mention (Return of the Jedi)
=4. Supreme Leader Snoke – one mention (The Last Jedi)
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Interestingly, the main characters of the new trilogy – Rey, Poe, Finn and Kylo Ren – have never been mentioned in an opening crawl.
Legacy characters like Lando Calrissian, C-3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca and Yoda are also without mention.
The Reddit user speculated: “I think we’ll certainly get a Luke mention again, and also Leia (she’s the leader), but I also think Supreme Leader Kylo Ren will get a mention and also a first mention for Rey.
“4 sounds like a lot but I’m sticking with that.”
Star Wars 9 is out in December and key details are still unknown, although it’s speculated that D23 later this month will see new information being revealed.
What is known is that Palpatine will feature in some, currently unknown capacity – after his evil laugh was heard in the initial trailer, and JJ Abrams confirmed he has been on set.
It’s also known that Fisher’s Leia will be seen one final time thanks to archive footage. The beloved actress died in 2016.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is out on December 19 in the UK.