Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 10 Ways It Sets Up Episode IX

On a story level, Star Wars: The Last Jedi might be the most subversive movie in the history of the franchise.

Questions are answered in unexpected ways, characters make big, bold decisions, and as it turns out, Luke's line from the main trailer "this is not going to go the way you think" was spoken to us, the viewers, the people who've spent years theorising and speculating.

Given this unpredictable turn Star Wars just took, you'd think it would prove impossible to guess exactly how Episode IX will shake out, but The Last Jedi, though it focuses on wrapping up several threads from Episode VII, creates several new ones on which Episode IX could pull.

The sequel is exactly two years away so Disney and Lucasfilm have a lot of time to hash out a story plan, and based on where The Last Jedi leaves the universe and its characters, there are a lot of things that are likely to happen next.

From returning characters to love triangles and that final Canto Bight scene, The Last Jedi sets up a large-scale, hopeful, and emotionally-complex end to the modern Star Wars trilogy. Spoilers ahead!

After The Force Awakens, one of the biggest complaints fans had was the use (or misuse) of Captain Phasma, a high-ranking First Order stormtrooper.

Pre-release material hyped her up as the next memorable Star Wars sub-villain, a path well-worn by the likes of Darth Maul and Jabba The Hutt, but in reality, Phasma was more like a Boba Fett - an underused sideshow in a cool costume.

The Last Jedi was expected to rectify this and give Phasma a lot more to do, but astonishingly, she may have even less screen time here than she did in her debut, showing up to fight Finn before falling through the floor to her apparent doom.

But did she actually die? We're never explicitly shown her dying - there's no corpse, and no verbal confirmation - and she's cheated death once before, after escaping the destruction of Starkiller Base in Episode VII. Could she return for Episode IX?

Well, yes. Fans won't be happy that Phasma has been underused again, but by not confirming the character's death, director Rian Johnson has left the door open for Episode IX's J.J. Abrams to finally give Phasma the movie subplot she deserves.

Yes, he'll need to explain how she survived (again), but Phasma's outfit looks tough and sturdy, much more so than the regular Stormtrooper garb, so it can probably withstand a lot of damage.