Star Wars reveals what Rey, Finn and Poe have been up to ahead of Rise of Skywalker

As ever with Star Wars movies, there's a huge amount of secrecy around The Rise of Skywalker's plot.

We've had two trailers – two-and-a-bit if you include the D23 footage – but we're not really any closer to understanding how the movie will unfold, or where we'll find our heroes when we meet them again.

However, we do know that there's been a time jump (rumoured to be one year) since The Last Jedi, and a new canon comic series has filled in some of the gaps of what Rey, Finn, Poe and the rest of the Resistance has been up to.

The four-part series Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Allegiance is part of a series of official books and comics by Lucasfilm, centred around events leading up to the climactic chapter in the Skywalker Saga.

Journey To Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker - Allegiance

£14 at Amazon

Allegiance is split into two storylines: one involving Finn and Poe attempting to secure weapons for the Resistance, and the other with the rest of the gang heading to Mon Cala to secure some allies.

Finn and Poe's storyline is the more straightforward one as they head to the moon of Avedot. There, it's believed that the New Republic had a cache of weapons "confiscated by pirates" that's been forgotten about.

The problem for the duo is that they've attracted the attention of a trio of bounty hunters who track them to Avedot to capture Finn alive and take him to the First Order. A fight breaks out and when they both seem cornered, BB-8 saves Poe by blowing up some of the weapons cache, before Poe stages a daring mid-air rescue for Finn.

They don't get all of the weapons, but they "got most of" them to help the Resistance in their fight against the First Order that we'll see in The Rise of Skywalker.

As for the rest of the Resistance, it's revealed that they're currently hiding out on the Garbage Planet of Anoat because the pollution blocks the First Order's long-range sensors.

Rey's a bit frustrated by it all and is having random fights with Anoat's creatures, while struggling with her use of the Force and her place in the Resistance.

"Do you understand what it's like to lose the one thing that made you special? To realise so many sacrificed themselves believing you were chosen for something greater, and you turned out to be a disappointment?," she tells a creature who definitely can't understand her.

Luckily, Leia has an idea to take her mind off things as she asks for Rey, C-3PO, R2-D2 and Rose to join her on a trip to Mon Cala, where she hopes to pay tribute to Admiral Ackbar and bring the Mon Calamari and the Quarren into the Resistance.

They're met at gunpoint, but the Admiral's son, Aftab Ackbar, saves them and takes Leia to pay her respects to his father and to ask for help from King Ech-Char.

It doesn't quite go to plan though as some rogue Quarren, led by Chadkol Gee, are wary of getting into drawn into a battle with the First Order. They attack Rey, Rose, Chewbacca and C-3PO and by fighting back, Rey and co are arrested.

Rey volunteers to fight to the death in an ancient rite of challenge to clear their name, unaware she'll have to battle a droid. The droid malfunctions and begins to attack the crowd, so Rose shoots it to save the day, but her actions mean they are exiled from Mon Cala.

Before that happens though, a Quarren rebel working for Chadkol Gee blows up their shuttle. Fortunately, none of them are harmed and it leads Leia to try one last time to ask for the Mon Calamari and the Quarren's help.

"Now is the time for us to come together. The time to rekindle old alliances that once fought back against imperial aggression. The time to do so again against a new oppressor," she tells the King.

He agrees to help the Resistance with ships, before they're faced with yet another challenge. Chadkol Gee has already contacted the First Order and they arrive at Mon Cala in force.

Distraught by his advisor's actions, General Nossor Ri sacrifices himself to buy Leia, Rey, Rose, Chewie and the droids time to get to the other side of the planet, and escape from the First Order into hyperspace.

General Hux is obviously not best pleased and Allegiance ends with his threat to Mon Cala: "It seems Mon Cala has chosen not to remain neutral after all. Let's show the rest of the galaxy what happens to those who side against us."

That doesn't bode well for the planet which could be set for an Alderaan-esque destruction, especially as we see the First Order brutally massacre other races that have helped the rebels earlier on in Allegiance, such as the planet of Tah'Nuhna.

If Mon Cala does get destroyed, that could be what firmly brings the Mon Calamari and Quarren into the fight. In the final Rise of Skywalker trailer, it does look like Aftab Ackbar is there.

It's unclear how much time will have passed between the end of Allegiance and the start of Rise of Skywalker.

But the comic series has already planted the seeds of the internal debate that Rey will face in the new movie. She's frustrated throughout Allegiance about not living up to her potential and her Force abilities, so could this be what tempts her to the Dark Side?

What's more, the mission of the Resistance to gain as many allies to fight back against the First Order could be another sign that the theory about Palpatine's plan could be true. Will the "coming together" of the rebels be their "undoing"?

We don't have too much longer to wait, fortunately.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is released in UK cinemas on December 19 and US cinemas on December 20.

Disney+ Sign up for Disney+

Shop at Disney+

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

£4 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Complete Box Set [Blu-ray] [2019] [Region Free]

£100 at Amazon

Century Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Expanded Edition) by Rae Carson

£2 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars - The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray] [1977] [Region Free]

£33 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV-VI) [Blu-ray] [1977] [Region Free]

£33 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Force Awakens [Blu-ray] [2015] [Region Free]

£9 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Last Jedi [4K UHD] [Blu-ray] [2017]

£10 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Rogue One: A Star Wars Story [Blu-ray] [2017] [Region Free]

Now 12% Off

£11 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Solo: A Star Wars Story [4K] [Blu-ray] [2018] [Region Free]

£20 at Amazon

Digital Spy is launching a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Ian Sandwell

Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.