A newStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerimage has been revealed, and ittechnicallygives us a new look at a brand new character, while also revealing pretty much nothing at all.Keri Russellmarked a curious addition to theStar Wars 9cast just as filming was about to begin, reuniting the Emmy-nominatedThe Americansactress with herFelicitycreatorJ.J. Abrams, who returned to co-write and direct this final chapter in the Skywalker saga.
Russell plays a character named Zorii Bliss, and in this new image she’s seen holding… something.EW, which debuted the image, posits it could be a coin or data storage device, and she appears to be handing it toOscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron. Indeed, we know for certain that Zorii is an “old friend” of Poe’s, and Isaac reveals to EW that the character is neither First Order nor Resistance:
“She has a little bit of a checkered past and maybe some questionable morals, but she’s really an old friend of Poe’s. I think the entrance of Zorii is there to describe more of who he was, y’know, in a very intimate way and a familiar way, and the friends are sort of like, ‘What do you mean, you know him?'”
More shading to Poe is certainly a good thing. The character was famously supposed to be killed off inThe Force Awakensduring the crash landing with Finn, but after Isaac expressed his displeasure to Abrams before signing on to the project, the filmmaker called him up and said they had changed the story to keep Poe alive. InThe Last Jedi, Poe’s story most closely intertwined with that of General Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern), and while Poe was used tremendously to sort of underline the silliness of the “macho”-driven nature of how these stories usually go, we didn’t learn too much more about him as a character.
It appears that may change inThe Rise of Skywalker, although I have to be honest, I’d be 100% fine if they just stopped revealing or teasing anything about the film from now on. The movie comes out in two months. I’m going to see it. You’re going to see it.A lotof people are going to see it. I don’t think we need any additional convincing to go and check this one out in theaters, especially since it’s being set up as the conclusion to the entire Skywalker saga that began withA New Hope. Alas, the Disney marketing machine is about to kick this thing into high gear.
For a closer look at all thingsStar Wars, check outour extensive timeline of events.Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeropens in theaters on August 25, 2025.
