STAR WARS: EPISODE IX Confirmed to Be Set a Year After the Events of THE LAST JEDI and a New Stormtrooper Is Rumored

It’s been rumored for awhile that J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX would have a time jump. That time jump has now been confirmed by John Boyega, and he says that the next chapter of the Star Wars saga will be set one year after the events of The Last Jedi.

The news coms from the latest issue of Empire Magazine, which was posted by Star Wars Stuff:

John Boyega has confirmed that Star Wars: Episode #IX takes place ONE YEAR after the events of 'The Last Jedi'. [Empire Issue] pic.twitter.com/wC8iOV9Bv6

— Star Wars Stuff (@starwarstuff) December 22, 2018

Having a time jump like this makes sense. All of the Star Wars film in the original and prequel saga films had time jumps as the story progressed. Time jumps between Star Wars films just seem natural.

Making Star Wars is also reporting that we might see a new “elite” trooper in the movie. It’s called the Red Dead Trooper, and it described as being “pretty much a solid red Stormtrooper with black stripes.” The site adds that “The trooper does not appear to be one of the red pilots from Star Wars Resistance,, but it almost sounds like they were developed together.” They add:

“The trooper is not just a First Order Stormtrooper painted red either, as the helmet is different. Ironically, we did hear the trooper was a pilot but for all we know these are like Death Troopers and they can fly ships too. We also can’t confirm there are more than one in the film at this time.”

The time jump is one of the first confirmed rumors for Episode IX, but there have been plenty of other rumors for fans to chew on. We’ve heard The Knights of Ren will be a part of the story, Kylo Ren will be getting his helmet reforged, there will be a new droid character, and that the first trailer might drop by the end of the month.

It will be interesting to see in the end what rumors end up being true about Episode IX and what ones end up being false. There always seems to be a good mix of the two.

Regardless of the CIA type secrecy that Lucasfilm tries to enforce on these Star Wars films, there’s always some info that ends up leaking, because there are moles within the organization that need to be smoked out.

The movie stars Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Anthony Daniels, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Mark Hamill, Billie Lourd, Lupita Nyong’o, Daisy Ridley, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Carrie Fisher, Naomi Ackie, Keri Russel, and Billy Dee Williams.

Star Wars: Episode IX is currently set to be released on December 20th, 2019.