'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker': New TIE Fighter Revealed, Knights Of Ren Backstory Is Coming

Since Star Wars didn't have a full fledged panel at Comic-Con, we're relegated to picking up details on The Rise of Skywalker that came from panels covering other corners of the galaxy. In this case, the Lucasfilm Publishing panel had a couple details that Star Wars fans will be happy to hear about.

First up, in the upcoming Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker book bonanza, there will be a new four-issue comic book miniseries from Marvel entitled Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren, which will reveal the backstory to the Knights of Ren that many have wanted to hear. Plus, a tease of the upcoming visual dictionary for The Rise of Skywalker has revealed a brand new TIE Fighter. Get details on both of those revelations and more.

After the initial announcement was made at Comic-Con, author Charles Soule took to Twitter to share the news of Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren with everyone else, and it even included the first piece of artwork from the comic.

As just announced, I am writing THE RISE OF KYLO REN – a limited series comic launching in December, just before Episode IX.

You know the one story everyone's dying to see, about Kylo and the Knights of Ren? That's this.

You're not ready (hell, I barely am.) pic.twitter.com/CiBehByvy1

— Charles Soule (@CharlesSoule) July 20, 2019

The title Rise of Kylo Ren likely refers to both his growth in power on the dark side of the Force and his eventual rise to what Supreme Leader Snoke referred to as master of the Knights of Ren. This band of characters has been shrouded in mystery every since being mentioned by Snoke in The Force Awakens. And let's not forget they were also spooted in Rey's vision at the sight of the destruction of the Jedi temple where Luke Skywalker was training a new legion of Jedi.

We know the Knights of Ren will finally play a sizeable part in the Star Wars saga since they were featured in photos on set shot for Vanity Fair's cover issue. At the time, there was a mention of Kylo Ren coming to blows with the Knights of Ren, but it was later corrected after the story had been online for a few hours, so we're not sure what to believe. Either way, we'll know much more about the Knights of Ren and how Kylo Ren became their leader after this comic book series is released just before The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters. Speaking of which...

The second cool reveal from the Lucasfilm Publishing panel gives us a look at a new vehicle that we'll see in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Since we've already gotten a glimpse of the new Sith Troopers that will be in the movie, it only makes sense that we get a look at a new TIE Fighter as well.

Below, you can take a closer look at the image of what is called the TIE Dagger, featured at the top of the above cover for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary (released by StarWars.com), which will be hitting shelves the same day the movie arrives in theaters:

The wings have a design somewhere between a TIE Defender and a TIE Interceptor. They're triangular without any bends in the wings, but they don't seem to be perfectly perpendicular to the body of the TIE Fighter. Instead, they seem to angle out away from the body ever so slightly. But that could just be the perspective of the photo. But there's one other interesting details here too.

If you look close at the wings of the TIE Dagger, they appear to be a dark red. Since the Sith Troopers have full red Stormtrooper armor, could they also have their own TIE Fighters? We're not sure what purpose the Sith Troopers serve yet, but it would only make sense for them to have a ship which ties (no pun intended) with their armor. Hopefully this means we'll get to see the TIE Dagger in action instead of just sitting in a docking bay somewhere.

Hopefully there will be plenty more to learn about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker next month when Lucasfilm heads to The D23 Expo towards the end of August. We'll be there covering all the big announcements, so be sure to stay tuned. Otherwise, The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters on December 20, 2019.