Star Wars Episode 9 Title: What Should It Be? And When Can We Expect It?
It all started on Monday when Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels tweeted out a vague message hinting that news was on the horizon. Since we expect the first trailer for Star Wars Episode 9 to be released during Star Wars Celebration (taking place from April 11 through 15 at McCormick Place in Chicago), we didn't expect a trailer. So many people, myself included, suspected he might be talking about a title for the ninth and final installment of the Skywalker saga. The next day (yesterday), Disney was to hold an investor's meeting, which gave more heat to the fire.
But as the investors call came to an end, no new revelations were shared (not even that Disney is planning to keep Deadpool R-rated – Bob Iger had already said that over a year prior).
However, this day gave me some time to think and speculate about the title of this final film. When might we actually get it? What could it be? Let's dive in.
When to Expect the Star Wars Episode 9 Title
To help determine when we should be expecting a title reveal for Episode IX, let's look back at how Disney has handled the title reveals thus far:
Star Wars Episode IX is expected to wrap in the next month or so, and we've seen significant players on the series already announce they have finished their parts. If I were to put an educated guess here, it would be that we'll get a Star Wars Episode 9 title announcement during the week Abrams wraps production. So expect that to happen sometime before Celebration.
What Should The Star Wars Episode 9 Title Be?
Before we speculate on the title, let's take a look at the film titles released thus far:
Is There a Pattern?
George Lucas was concerned about symmetry in not only his storytelling, but also the marketing for this films. You can see that with the first two trilogies. They go in a pattern of three words, four words and four words. He also seemed to sway from one side to the other:
Episode VII: The Force Awakens continued this theme, but Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi broke the four-word pattern. Also, the title is in reference to Luke Skywalker, the light side. So it broke any recognizable pattern and symmetry to the titles, making it hard to use this past information as for help to predict this final title.
Something of the Something
There are some things here that are evident. Star Wars titles love to be the "something of the something." We've had three "something of the something" titles in the first two trilogies alone: Return of the Jedi, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. But we've yet to get a "something of the something" title from this last trilogy. This has led a lot of fans to speculate that this last title could be something of that angle.
Here are some predictions:
Balance of the Force?
Yesterday, someone on Reddit posted a supposed leak from code found on the StarWars.com website showing the title "Balance of the Force." No one has been able to substantiate this title or leak as real, and I believe it to be a fan photoshop. However, the title suggestion was the most common one I received when I put the question out on Twitter on Monday. And it does seem like a fitting and definitive title for the last installment, but I think it may lack the mystery that Abrams usually brings to the table.
The title is also the title of a Star Wars video pinball game, which leads us to believe that it won't be used. That said, I believe Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo has revealed in the past that one of the titles that was considered for Episode VII was previously employed as an unrelated expanded universe (i.e., Legends) novel, so that wouldn't preclude it from being used. In fact, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was originally the title of a 1981 Star Wars comic book.
Some Other Ideas
Admittedly, I tried to guess the title of Episode 8, and I was very, very wrong. So I wouldn't listen to me when it comes to this...but here are some guesses at the title for Episode 9:
I'm honestly not sure I love any of these ideas outside of "A Final Hope." Did we miss any good Episode 9 title ideas? Leave your ideas in the comments below.