Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker - Every Easter Egg & Reference You Must See

16. Planetary Destruction

Planetary destruction in the Star Wars franchise has become commonplace enough to basically be a trope in its own right at this point.

A New Hope started the trend by famously having the Empire annihilate Alderaan in front of Leia's very eyes, while in an attempt to recall that moment, Abrams had the First Order destroy Hosnian Prime with the Starkiller Base's lasers.

And The Rise of Skywalker gets the three-peat by having the First/Final Order destroy the planet Kijimi with, yup, a giant laser fired from a Star Destroyer.

Come to think of it, given that Abrams' 2009 Star Wars reboot also features the instantaneous destruction of Vulcan, it almost seems like Abrams has a bit of a cinematic fetish for planetary genocide on a biblical scale.