'Star Wars: Episode 9' Trailer Release Date 2019: Why It's Definitely April

Heading into the 2018 holiday season, hopes were high that Disney would bless us with an early trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX. As you likely know, that didn’t happen, and in the bright light of January 2019 it’s time to face a harsh reality: The Episode IX trailer probably won’t come until April.

The strongest argument for an April trailer release date is simple: history. The first trailer for Episode VII: The Force Awakens may have come earlier as Disney began to build hype for the return of the franchise, but Episode VIII: The Last Jedi featured a more restrained rollout. The first trailer arrived at the annual Star Wars Celebration in April, roughly eight months before the movie’s release.

At this point, there’s little reason to expect that Episode IX will break from the pattern. That means we could wait four long months for the first trailer, but there’s a bit of good news as well: The title could be revealed very soon.

If we follow the Last Jedi pattern, it suggests the official title for Episode IX could be announced by the end of January. The Last Jedi title was revealed on January 23 via a short blog post on the official Star Wars website. So it’s not too absurd to think something similar could happen again this month.

In the meantime, there’s no shortage of possible titles for Star Wars: Episode IX floating around online, and some are pretty convincing. We even rounded up our nine favorite guesses last month in a single video.

Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019.