Explaining John Wick, The Continental, And The Rules The Assassins Follow

Explaining John Wick, The Continental, And The Rules The Assassins Follow

Last weekend, action fans flooded movie theaters to check out John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the latest adventure of Keanu Reeve's increasingly iconic, deadpan, dog-loving assassin. The John Wick films are known for incredibly slick choreography and memorable action sequences, but one thing that never gets much attention is the surprisingly complex mythology. John Wick may go around tallying up head shots left and right, but even he has a strict set of rules that he needs to follow.

Obviously the main draw for a John Wick movie is action over the story, but the films place such emphasis on the hitman's world that it's tough to ignore. There's a unique mythology at play here, as John Wick's word is populated by secret clubs, assassin hotels and a whole network of goods and services purely for people of the underworld.

Each film expands the lore, but it doesn't give any real explanation. It lets the audience try to figure it out before moving right into the next action scene.

It can be kind of confusing, but that's where we come in! John Wick likes to throw a lot of seemingly random rules at you, but when you piece them all together, it starts to make some sense. Here are some of the most important aspects of John Wick's underworld and how it works.

The Baba Yaga

It makes sense to start right at the beginning with the man himself. John Wick's backstory is never really brought up in detail, though Parabellum tries to shed some light on the subject.

While the movie doesn't spend a lot of time explaining, it's implied that John Wick was raised by Angelica Houston's The Director, the leader of the Ruska Roma. In addition to teaching ballet, she apparently trains orphans to become assassins, and John Wick (whose real name is Jardani Jovonovich) eventually became her most successful student.

Basically, John was one of the greatest assassins who ever lived. He was so deadly that he earned the nickname Baba Yaga, which means The Boogeyman. John Wick spends an unknown amount of years racking up the kill count, building his reputation, and meeting a ton people.

The movies make it seem like basically every assassin knows who John Wick is. However, one day he falls in love with a woman named Helen and decides to get out of the life, something that is implied to be very hard to do and no one has ever done.

Apparently, you can't just leave the underworld, so John had to undergo an "impossible task" to earn his freedom. We don't know what he did, but it involved killing a lot of people. He succeeded and left his old life behind to start a new one with Helen. It didn't last long however, and that's where the first John Wick begins.

Assassins Have Unbreakable Vows

In John Wick: Chapter 2, we learn that John didn't complete his impossible task on his own. He needed help from an Italian crime lord named Santino D'Antonio. In order to secure this help, John offered his marker, which is the underworld's version of an unbreakable vow from Harry Potter.

The marker is essentially an amulet with a bloody fingerprint inside. If someone gives their amulet away for a favor, it means that they are making a blood oath to do any task the person asks of them in the future. If someone like John Wick gives away his marker, then that means you basically have the world's greatest assassin in your pocket for one favor.

If you give away your marker, then the debt must be honored. You have to do whatever it is that the person asks. The assassin world takes this very seriously, and it's one of the only two unbreakable rules. John Wick tried to break it and his house was burned to the ground as a result.

The Continental

One of the major locations of the John Wick films is the Continental, and it's more than just a fancy New York City hotel. The building caters exclusively to assassins and all its amenities are geared toward their specific purposes. For example, instead of recommending a nice restaurant, the concierge will point you to the secret backdoor of your target's safe house.

The Continental is a branch of worldwide hotels, and each one is run by a manager. Ian McShane's Winston runs the New York location, Halle Berry's Sophia is in charge of the Casablanca Continental and Julius looks after the Rome Continental. It's implied that each Continental offers the same services and follows the same guidelines, but the day-to-day stuff depends on the manager.

The most important thing about the Continental is that absolutely no business can be conducted on hotel grounds. In other words, no assassin is allowed to kill another assassin inside the hotel. It's the No. 1 rule of the underworld, and if broken, it's punishable by death or being labeled as "excommunicado."

That means that the assassin loses all access and privileges to the Continental's underworld resources. That's a major setback for any professional hitman, but it becomes a real headache if they have an open contract on their head. John Wick dealt with that exact scenario after he killed Santino in the Continental, as the High Table doubled the contract that was already out on him.

The Goods And Services

The life of a professional killer is dangerous and there are a number of resources scattered around the world to help assassins. For instance, a seemingly ordinary doctor's office can be a late night emergency room for a quick patch up if a mission goes wrong. Or you can visit a historian and get old blueprints or maps to find secret pathways to a seemingly impenetrable fortress. Even taxi drivers are in on it.

Assassins can also find the best guns and ammunition to fit their specific needs. There are also tailors who will custom make bullet proof suits to help protect the killers who still want to look damn good. All of these services are pretty much hidden right in the open, but a well-connected assassin knows the best spots.

All of these services don't come free. The underworld has its own special form of currency in the form of gold coins. If an assassin kills their mark, they get rewarded with coins, which can then be spent at the Continental or any other underworld establishment. A skilled assassin like John Wick will tally up enough coins to save for emergencies and keep secret stashes in convenient places.

The High Table

All these rules had to come from somewhere, and in the underworld, the High Table is the highest authority. Not much is known about the group, but they are a council of crime lords who oversee all the wheeling and dealings. They set the rules and if anyone breaks them, then they decide the punishment through an agent called The Adjudicator.

Basically everyone in the underworld works for the High Table in some form or they are at least expected to serve when called. For example, the Continentals all answer to the Table.

The only person that we know of who is ahead of the High Table is the Elder, who lives out in the middle of dessert and does... something. His job is pretty unclear, but he's the only one who can reverse a decision made by the Table. Only a few people know who he is or how to find him.

We don't know the identity of anyone currently on the High Table, how many members there are or what their origins are. However, they seem to be fairly disliked by the people who have to answer to them, and John Wick is especially not a fan by this point. The High Table essentially marked him for death, and he's been a frequent source of trouble.

It's not every day that an action franchise comes along that tries to build its own unique world. The star of John Wick is unquestionably the action, but part of the reason that these movies are so popular is that it's a cool world. Nothing is every really explained and literally everyone seems to know who John Wick is, but that does help to make the world feel lived in.

At the end of the day, you don't want your action movie to spend five minutes explaining the bureaucracy of the hitman's job when you could be watching a sword fight on motorcycles. However, it's still fun to piece it all together once the gunfire dies down.

The John Wick franchise will continue with the release of Chapter 4 on May 21, 2021.

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The Hellboy Reboot Producers Already Have Ideas For Sequels

The Hellboy Reboot Producers Already Have Ideas For Sequels

Next month, a brand-new take on Hellboy will be hitting theaters. Unlike Guillermo del Toro's version, the 2019 Hellboy takes a bit more direct inspiration from the comics and takes several cues from a storyline called The Wild Hunt. Hellboy has some stiff competition in April, but should the film do well enough, producer Lloyd Levin said that there are already a couple sequel ideas mapped out, but not in any way that's set in stone.

In the new film, Hellboy (David Harbour) takes a trip over to Great Britain to battle the Blood Witch Nimue (Milla Jovovich). The story involves everything from dragons to undead armies to Excalibur to flaming crowns. Most of these were elements in a comic book storyline called The Wild Hunt, which serves as partial inspiration for the reboot.

As such, there’s some direction to take the story, should Hellboy be greenlit for a sequel. All of it is pretty much right there in the comics written by Mike Mignola, which served as the DNA of the establishing the reboot. So, while there is nothing etched in stone, producer Lloyd Levin told Collider that they have an idea where the story would go in a sequel.

Not in a No. 2 will be this and No. 3 will be that, but you can tell yourself. If this starts with The Wild Hunt, the track is laid from there in the comic books where you could go.

Hellboy doesn’t just take from one aspect of the comics. While there is plenty of The Wild Hunt in there, the story also has Hellboy boxing demons in Tijuana, which is from Hellboy in Mexico. The story also draws from Darkness Falls and The Storm and the Fury, and is more like a collage of stories, according to director Neil Marshall.

One thing it isn’t is a greatest hits. It’s a coherent story but it certainly dips into several different stories that Mignola put together, so I suppose it’s a collage of sorts, but we made a through-line that connects everything.

According to Levin, Mignola was involved “in the genesis” of the movie. Mignola and fellow Hellboy comic writer Chris Golden even wrote a draft of the script together. To keep things in the spirit of the comics, the movie shot for an R-rating because the comics don’t really get shy when it comes to violence. Per Levin:

The comic books themselves are R rated. There’s buckets of blood, there’s beheadings, there’s an intensity that equates naturally and organically to the R rating.

You can see a comic book accurate Hellboy in, well, Hellboy, out in theaters on April 12. To learn more about the film, here is what we know so far.

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10 Great Movies Coming To Netflix In June 2019

10 Great Movies Coming To Netflix In June 2019

Every month brings its own share of treasure with the periodic updating of the Netflix streaming roster. But taking a look at what’s headed our way in June, it’s hard to think of a month that beats some of the stuff that’s headed our way. In particular, there’s 10 titles coming into view that have us looking to update our queues on a basis frequent enough to be considered addictive.

If you’re curious about the total incoming lineup for June, head on over to our complete rundown. Otherwise, it’s time to head into the future, and see the Netflix streaming titles we’re ready to watch at the push of a button.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Right out of the gate, June was going to be a winner the moment that Netflix announced Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was going to become a part of their line-up. A film that has a legitimate claim to the title of “Best Spider-Man Film Ever,” the adventures of Miles Morales and a slew of other Spider-People blew everyone’s minds upon its release towards the end of last year. Now, after all of the awards and all of the hoopla has died down, it’s time to start it up again with an even wider audience to reach this time around.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

For years, Steven Spielberg refused to direct A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, a project that started with Stanley Kubrick’s vision of a robotic retelling of Pinocchio. With Kubrick conspiring with Spielberg to flesh out his vision for the story of Haley Joel Osment’s David, an automaton who could truly love, the idea would eventually become a reality once the legendary mind behind A Clockwork Orange passed away. The end result is a vision worth of Stanley Kubrick’s faith in Steven Spielberg being able to do the project, and remains one of his most underrated films in his canon.

Network

Some movies call the shot years, or even decades, before the events they predict come to be in reality. Network is one of those films, as writer Paddy Chayefsky’s biting satire of sensationalism in the news media seems more like a tragedy than a dark edged comedy in our trying times. With the Broadway adaptation starring Bryan Cranston being nominated for several Tony awards, and set to close its blockbuster run in the beginning of June, it feels like the right time to bring the film version of Howard Beale’s antics, with Peter Finch in the role he made famous, back to the world of streaming services.

Good Night, And Good Luck

While we’re on the subject of journalism, director George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck will also be available on Netflix’s streaming library in June. Based on the true story of television news anchor Edward R. Murrow, and his team’s investigation into the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, David Strathairn stars as Murrow in an all-star cast that includes Clooney, Jeff Daniels, Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr. A biopic that remains compelling all the way through, Good Night, and Good Luck is a firm reminded of how important the practice of journalism is, no matter what the era.

Small Soldiers

Joe Dante is one of those directors who has a stable of films so unique, they could only have been made by him. And in the fine tradition of Gremlins and The ‘Burbs, Small Soldiers is another one of those gems that stand out in his line of proudly weird films. With two factions of warring toys tearing apart a sleepy, suburban town, the film was one of Dreamworks’ earliest motion pictures in theaters, debuting shortly after its launch. But even with the late ‘90s era it incorporates into key moments of the film, Small Soldiers is still a ‘50s inspired sci-fi romp, much like most of the director’s other films.

The Dark Knight

It’s starting to feel like Netflix likes to add and subtract The Dark Knight from their lineup as often as people change their car’s air fresheners. And who can blame them? The second entry in the Christopher Nolan-directed Dark Knight Trilogy pits Christian Bale’s Batman against the late Heath Ledger’s Joker, with the soul of Gotham City at stake in their battle of wits. It’s been over a decade since it first debuted, and yet The Dark Knight still holds up to the test of time. Whether you watch it as a standalone experience or pair it with the also-returning Batman Begins, a perfectly good flashback is waiting for you in your own personal box office.

50/50

With Long Shot currently in theaters, moviegoers are enjoying director Jonathan Levine’s deft hand at portraying laughter and emotion in equal turn. And whether you’re already a fan of his work doing such feats, or have just become accustomed to them in your own time, 50/50 is another good reminder of how good he is at what he does. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Long Shot co-star Seth Rogen, the film is modeled the true story of Will Reiser, who, much like his fictional surrogate played by Gordon-Levitt, was struck with cancer in his mid-20s. At times hysterical and at times devastating, the film is an entertaining ride that will require tissues, but rewards you with deeply felt jokes at the same time.

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch

Illumination has tried its hand at adapting the works of the late, great Dr. Seuss in the past, with The Lorax being a previous claim to fame for the animation powerhouse. With last year’s Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, the studio was able to not only outdo its high water mark in the world of Seussian magic, it also put a pretty fresh spin on an old classic. With Benedict Cumberbatch’s Grinch, we not only get to see more of what turned him into such a sourpuss, but we also see more of an effective transformation than we’ve ever seen before. As cute as it is funny, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch can still be enjoyed outside of the festive holiday time frame, as long as you keep an open mind.

Carrie

If Tabitha King had never fished the manuscript for Carrie out of the trash, we’d never have gotten the best-selling novel from Stephen King’s hand. Nor would we have ever gotten the classic film adaptation that director Brian DePalma would eventually terrorize teenagers with in the ‘70s. Featuring young Sissy Spacek as the shy girl who would eventually become a psychokinetic terror, the slow burn of her transformation is something that horror fans still admire to this day. Also, if you’ve ever wanted to hear John Travolta shout, “Git ‘er done,” you’ve got that added bonus coming your way if you choose to watch Carrie.

Cabaret

Maybe it’s because FX’s Fosse/Verdon has been diving into the creation of director Bob Fosse’s most iconic works, alongside a dissection of his darkest demons in life. Maybe it’s even the sort of darkening clouds that our culture feels have been upon them for some time. Whatever the reason, having Netflix bring the film version of Cabaret to its streaming lineup sounds like a fantastic idea for this moment. A film that delivered Fosse his resurrection as a filmmaker, it’s a dark and glitzy musical that shows the rise of Nazism in early Germany, with an increasingly dismal tone. If you’re looking for a purely good time, steer clear of this story; but if you’re not afraid to go places most musicals won’t, Cabaret will greet you with a warm wilkommen.

While there’s plenty of fresh air and sunshine headed our way in the next month, consider these upcoming Netflix addtions as the best ways to spend those rainy days that keep you cooped up inside. Or they could even be fantastic distractions for a day when it’s perfectly fine outside, but you’re in that special mood of movie watching.

Keep in mind, these titles are subject to change, so you may need to double check the availability of these films periodically. Also, if you want to see what the best and brightest titles from May’s incoming lineup happened to be, head over to last month’s rundown and fill out your queue! We’ll see you here next month, when we look at the top tier titles from July’s fresh batch of films.

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Watch A Supercut Of Every John Wick Kill

Watch A Supercut Of Every John Wick Kill

John Wick, a.k.a. Baba Yaga, is the most feared assassin in the criminal underworld. If you interfere with his mission, you’re going down and almost certainly won’t get back up. With John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum finally hitting theaters this weekend, we’ve put together this supercut video of all the people John Wick has killed onscreen so far. Alas, you’ll still have leave the carnage he unleashed during his Impossible Task to the imagination.

From shooting adversaries in the head to stabbing them with a pencil, there’s no shortage of ways for John Wick to slay someone. By the video’s end, Keanu Reeves’ deadly character has racked up 202 kills. Needless to say that number will rise once John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum comes out.

All of this bloodshed could have been avoided had Iosef Tarasov and his buddies had just refrained from breaking into John Wick’s house to steal his car and kill his dog, the one thing his recently deceased wife left him. John had already killed enough people to fill up several lifetimes, and he’d spent the last four years living in bliss and far way from darkness.

But no, these idiots unwisely came into the picture, and with the grief of losing Helen still fresh on his heart, John Wick dished out hell on Iosef, his father Viggo and anyone remotely connected to them… well, except Kevin Nash’s Francis. He correctly decided to “take the night off” when John offered the opportunity.

Of course, that’s just covering the first movie, which ended with John Wick bringing a new dog back home. At the beginning of John Wick: Chapter 2, after he retrieved his stolen car, John was content to return to his quiet life, but Santino D’Antonio, the man who helped John with his Impossible Task, got in the way.

Santino demanded John make good on the marker he gave him, blowing up John’s house when the protagonist initially refused to comply with his demands. Making matters worse, even after John traveled to Italy to kill Gianna D’Antonio, Santino opened a $7 million contract on John to wrap up loose ends. The only way John saw fit to end this was to gun Santino down on Continental grounds, which is a big no-no in this crowd.

Which brings us to John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, where John is now on the run because assassins are after the now-$14 million contract Santino’s associates on the High Table have put out. Making matters worse is that John has also been declared excommunicado, meaning he’s lost all his underworld privileges and access.

So how will John Wick fare against this latest round of people trying to kill him? In the eyes of his friend Winston, the odds are about even. It’s already clear that John will manage to get out of New York, but it remains to be seen just how many bodies he’ll drop both in the Big Apple and elsewhere in the world.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum opens in theaters on May 17, but if you’re wondering what movies are hitting the silver screen after that, be sure to browse through our 2019 release schedule.

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Who Suicide Squad 2's New Characters Will Reportedly Be

Who Suicide Squad 2's New Characters Will Reportedly Be

The new Suicide Squad movie is so buried in secrecy and confusion that nobody seems to be quite sure what the new movie actually is. Is it a sequel? Is it a reboot? Is it called Suicide Squad 2 or is it The Suicide Squad? The only thing we know for sure is that James Gunn has written the new film, and while the movie clearly is written in the same continuity as the first Suicide Squad film, as it will include at least a couple of the same characters, it now appears that the rest of the team will be entirely different.

Margot Robbie and Jai Courtney will be returning to the new film in their respective rolls of Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang, but it now looks like they will be the only familiar members of the brand new team. Previously, it had been announced that Idris Elba would be taking over the role of Deadshot from Will Smith, but it now appears the plan is for him to take on an entirely new character.

It's been reported that David Dastmalchian was recently cast, apparently to play Polka-Dot Man. Beyond that, THR says that the rest of the new team will be made up of the characters of Ratcatcher, Peacemaker, and King Shark.

Ratcatcher is a character who has the ability to train and control rats. Traditionally, the character is a former actual rat catcher of Gotham City named Otis Flannegan, but based on the pronouns being used, it seems the plan is gender swap the character and make Ratcatcher female.

The Peacemaker is a man named Christopher Smith who is so committed to the cause of peace that he's willing to use (non-lethal) violence to achieve it. The rumor that Peacemaker would be part of Suicide Squad 2 has been around for a while. The word is the role was originally written for Dave Bautista, but due to conflicts, it seems fellow WWE alum John Cena might be circling it now.

King Shark is literally a humanoid shark. One assumes he'll be taking on the role of the Suicide Squad's muscle, since it doesn't appear Killer Croc is returning. Perhaps this will be Idris Elba's role in the film. If not, there is at least one more character we don't know about.

And then there's Polka Dot Man, who is a minor villain from the Batman rogues gallery, who tended to commit crimes with polka dot themes. He also wears a polka dot costume where each dot can be removed and used a different sort of weapon.

This is certainly an eclectic cast of characters, but that's part of what makes the Suicide Squad so interesting. And if there's anything we've learned about James Gunn's history with comic book characters, he has the ability to take an odd group of strange characters and bring them together in a way that isn't just fun and exciting but also oddly heartwarming. If anybody can make this team work its James Gunn.

The Suicide Squad is currently in pre-production and is set for release in August of 2021.

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Avengers: Endgame Death Pool Quiz

Avengers: Endgame Death Pool Quiz

We're super excited about the new Avengers movie coming out soon -- SO excited that we decided to make an Avengers: Endgame Death Pool!

Do you think you know what's going to happen in Avengers: Endgame? Prove it by taking our quiz and enter to win!

What Is The Avengers: Endgame Death Pool?

The idea of a "death pool," for those who might not be as familiar, is to guess whether or not different people will be alive at the end of an event.

In this case, that event is the upcoming Avengers: Endgame! Infinity War set the precedent that there would be heroic casualties in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the name Endgame brings an ominous vibe suggesting not everyone is going to make it out alive - but who will and who won't? That's the guessing game we're playing here.

We have a survey below where you can make your guesses about who survives, consisting of the main and side characters from the Marvel universe who will probably be in the movie. We also have some extra questions to really test your MCU knowledge.

The Rules

We will give five points per correct guess on a main character, and one point per correct guess on a side character.

If a character does NOT appear in the movie, then the correct answer is however we saw them last.

We also have in the survey some extra five-point questions about what might happen in the movie to give you even more of a chance to prove how good you are at predicting the future.

And finally, we have one final tiebreaker question that is unlikely to have very many ties. In the case where there does end up being a tie on the main questions, the person with the closest guess on this one wins! If there are STILL ties after this question, then there will just be multiple winners.

The quiz will close at 11:59PM CST on Sunday, April 21st.

You can get started if you keep scrolling to the questions section below. Don't get dusted! And no using the Time Stone.

Prize

One lucky winner will receive their very own Marvel Legends Series Infinity Gauntlet like the one shown in the video below.

We ask for a valid email address and optional social media handles in the quiz so that when the results are in and we figure out who the winner is, we can send you the gauntlet and give you shoutouts on our social media channels!

We hope you have fun with this and share with all your friends if you want to see who can make the best guess!

The Quiz!

If the survey didn't load, you can take it by clicking here to visit the survey directly!!!

Thanks again for participating in our Death Pool!

Where To Do Some Research

If you're trying to get an edge on the competition, you may want to read up on all of the news that we've written about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There have been trailers, news stories about the actors coming and going from the franchise, news about the Marvel Phase 4 movies and more!

Find our Latest Marvel News Here.

Check out our MCU Timeline Infographic here.

See our video from Sean about a crazy Avengers: Endgame theory about the snap.

Subscribe to the CinemaBlend YouTube Channel to see upcoming Endgame videos that might shed more light on some things!

Maybe these six powerful moments from the Endgame trailer have some importance?

The list of upcoming Marvel Phase 4 Movies sounds like it could definitely help.

That's all the links we're going to give out so easily, though. For the rest, you're on your own! Good luck!

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The True Story Behind This Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker 'Wrap' Photo

The True Story Behind This Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker 'Wrap' Photo

Since today is Star Wars Day, it seems fitting to gather round the cantina for the true story of that instantly iconic "wrap" photo from the set of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker. Director J.J. Abrams shared the image on February 15, back when we had no idea what the title of the film would be. He announced that filming had wrapped on Episode IX, meaning filming had wrapped for the entire Skywalker Saga. Abrams posted an emotional group hug photo of new trilogy stars Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), and Oscar Isaac (Poe):

Turns out, though, that photo was not from when they wrapped filming. It was just a beautiful set photo taken from earlier in the shoot, and showed how much the stars appreciated each moment filming the final chapter in this saga.

The three stars in question explained the real situation behind the photo in interviews with Yahoo. Here's Daily Ridley's answer when asked about the "wrap" hug photo:

That wasn't when we wrapped, that's how much we love each other. The day of wrap we were in London, and John wrapped just before me. And I was a hot mess. 'Cause it's like, the character and everything, but the group of people I've been able to work with, I've been so lucky. I said to them this morning, ‘Imagine if we didn't like each other?’

Oscar Isaac expressed a similar sentiment on the non-wrap photo, and revealed that he was happy his character Poe got to spend more time with John Boyega's Finn in The Rise of Skywalker (something that has already been teased in the first trailer):

That was towards the end of filming in the desert, we still had a bit to go back in London. I just think that's an example of how close we got, and how much we genuinely love each other. For me, one of the great things about this film is I got to work so much more with John Boyega, and I just really love him deeply as a person. So I think that comes across. It will come across in the film.

Yeah, of out of everyone, Oscar Isaac seems the most emotional in the photo. It did leave fans reading into their expressions, trying to figure out what might've just happened before this shot. John Boyega talked about it just being an ordinary moment in extraordinary circumstances:

An ordinary moment just goes to show every day just felt emotional. I guess there was a sense throughout the whole film that this was the last one. So we'd hug each other after a long day when we struggled and we achieved a lot.

J.J. Abrams also talked a bit more about wrapping The Rise of Skywalker, comparing that last day to his last day filming Episode VII - The Force Awakens. As you can imagine, there was more emotion in finishing Episode IX, because everyone was very much aware that it was the final film in this story. It's the end of the nine-film Skywalker Saga. Not that Abrams has finished making the film -- as director, when filming is finished, he heads straight into post-production with editing and visual effects work.

Since the movie is ultimately called The Rise of Skywalker, that has led to a lot of speculation as well. Are there any Skywalkers in that photo above, which J.J. Abrams used to mark the end of filming? As far as we know, no, but there may be twists ahead. Luke Skywalker himself, played by Mark Hamill, is meant to return despite dying in The Last Jedi, and Emperor Palpatine appears to be rising as well, despite being killed in the original trilogy.

Prepare for plenty of surprises, and probably a lot of emotion, when Episode IX arrives in theaters December 20. Here's everything we know so far about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

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