'Star Wars 9' new footage: Trailer teases a crucial heist on Kylo's ship

We know that Darth Vader’s molten helmet gets destroyed in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and now, we finally know how it happens. The latest TV spot for Episode IX includes enough new footage to put that pivotal moment in context, hinting that Rey could confront Kylo Ren during a crucial heist about halfway through the movie.

It could also reveal how Rey learns to use a powerful new Force ability.

Huge spoilers probably follow for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

A new TV spot dubbed “Adventure” was added to the official Star Wars YouTube account Tuesday, and while it’s mostly comprised of familiar sequences we’ve seen from previous trailers, it sheds new light on what’s going on in the scene where Rey and Kylo Ren smash Darth Vader’s mask while it’s resting on a dark pedestal. There’s also a new look at Rey wielding what most people think is the Dagger of Mortis.

The most crucial scene begins at the 0:08 mark as Palpatine says, “Let the final battle begin.” Rey lunges at a masked Kylo Ren with a dagger in her offhand.

The final Rise of Skywalker trailer shows Rey and Kylo Ren in his mended mask smashing through the aforementioned dark pedestal to destroy Vader’s helmet. Every surface of the room is stark white, implying that this might be on the planet Kamino, where stormtroopers were mass-produced via cloning. Or it could be Cloud City from Empire Strikes Back.

This new TV spot, however, confirms that neither is correct.

Behind Rey through the window is clearly outer space, so they’re aboard some kind of ship or space station rather than a stationary facility on some planet. Given Kylo Ren’s fondness for his grandfather’s helmet, could this be Kylo’s personal chambers on his own Star Destroyer?

If you look at Rey in this particular scene, you can also see that she’s holding a knife in her offhand that’s been shown in every scene set in this place, wherever it is. The most prevalent theory is that it’s the Dagger of Mortis from The Clone Wars, an ancient relic capable of killing immortal beings (something that might come in handy against Palpatine). She’s wielding it against Kylo Ren here, but she’s not holding it in a way that suggests she wants to stab him with it.

Instead of pointing upward in a threatening manner, she has it pointed down in a more defensive, protective position. The body language implies that she’s trying to protect the object, so she’s probably in the process of trying to steal it. Maybe Vader’s helmet calls to her and gives her the Force vision that shows her Dark Rey, and that’s why she tries to destroy it here?

Rey was either captured or turned herself over to the First Order in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, so there’s no way that’s what happens again, right? A far more likely explanation is that some kind of heist happens in the middle of The Rise of Skywalker. Rey either infiltrates the ship or accidentally teleports herself to this location using the rumored Force Flash teleportation ability.

Here, Rey presumably steals this dagger from Kylo Ren before making a daring getaway to the ice planet of Kijimi where C-3PO has to die in order to translate the inscriptions on the dagger.

No matter what the explanation, Kylo Ren showing up to defend Darth Vader’s helmet complicates what we’ve previously seen in this sequence. He might not be helping Rey destroy the helmet at all. He might be actively trying to block her while she tries to destroy it.

This sequence could lead directly into another featured in the “End” TV spot released last week where Kylo Ren watches as Rey leaps from a First Order ship’s docking bay into the Millennium Falcon, except there he’s not wearing his helmet. Does Rey destroy Darth Vader and Kylo Ren’s helmets in the same scene?

We can only hope so.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released in theaters December 20, 2019.