Kevin Smith's 'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker' Theory Proposes A "New Religion"

Writer/director Kevin Smith is one of the biggest celebrity Star Wars fans out there, so it's no surprise that he has some thoughts about the new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer that debuted at Star Wars Celebration a few days ago.

Smith actually visited the set of The Rise of Skywalker, but he says he learned the title at the same time as everyone else and doesn't know much about the movie beyond what he saw on the day of his visit. On a recent episode of his Hollywood Babble-On show, Smith put forth a "shot in the dark" theory about the possible meaning behind the film's title:

"The last movie was The Last Jedi. What if they are telling us the f***ing title?...The way that Jedi has been used historically in these movies, including in the last movie – 'the last Jedi, the Jedis must end', all that s*** – what if that's it for the Jedis? And perhaps the new religion [are the Skywalkers]? Didn't that just give you f***ing chills? What if it's that?"

To be fair, theories very close to this one were floating around immediately after the film's title was revealed and Smith originally published this theory this past Sunday, so I'm not sure this theory should officially be "credited" to Smith himself – /Film's own Hoai-Tran Bui wrote about how the title could be alluding to the idea of Luke Skywalker's legacy living on in all of us the same day the trailer was released. Nerdist wrote a piece about this theory, and we've talked about the idea on a couple of podcasts since then, too.

And if you were reading Smith's quote and found yourself impressed that he didn't break down crying in the middle of it – something he's been frequently known to do when seeing or talking about Star Wars-related content – he came awfully close a few seconds later. When co-host Ralph Garman suggested that Skywalker might "supplant the order that existed beforehand," Smith responded:

"Wouldn't that be f***ing dope? Like, [Luke] was so f***ing important – like, I'm going to cry – to the universe, that from then on, they named the order after [him]. They're all Skywalkers."

I'm just giving Smith a hard time with the crying. It's obvious listening to him that he's genuinely moved by this stuff, and if he's ever passionate enough about Star Wars to cry about it, more power to him. It's just become so commonplace that an emotional breakdown is almost expected at this point. A headline that reads "The Rise of Skywalker Soundtrack Track Titles Revealed, Kevin Smith Bawls in Response" wouldn't be too far-fetched. But hey – love what you love!