Will Episode IX have a new villain?

If there is a new villain which I doubt there will be, but if there is then it will be a threat both to the FO and Resistance.

 

The villain will be Kylo with the Knights of Ren backing him up

 

I kind of like this idea, or some variation of it. The last battle of the trilogy could be like ROTS where Rey (and maybe her students) take on Kylo & the KoR while force ghost Luke (and maybe Yoda, Obi Wan, or even Anakin) battle the spirit of Snoke in the force netherworld

 

- I agree with the camp that thinks Snoke may not necessarily truly be gone

- If Snoke really is gone, then Kylo should be the villain. A new darkside force user would just be... too much

- I'd imagine DJ will come back, perhaps in a darker and more intense way than we last saw him

 

Kylo Ren is the perfect villain to end this trilogy with. Completely unhinged and filled with maddening anger and resentment. The best piece to me is that his anger and resentment all seems to be pointed squarely at those who love him the most. To me it would be really disappointing for them to bring in another villain to be the Big Bad. Ren should be that. Snoke was cool and I wanted to learn more about him (though I think that we will in 9), I really wanted to see Ren fulfill his destiny...and he did. Just think about it...Snoke was said to be more powerful than Vader AND Sidious (possibly combined), RenBen concealed his true intentions and killed the Master. To me that says: Kylo Ren will be the strongest Dark Sider we have seen thus far. If that is true, why bring in another villain to take over?

I agree that the KOR will return in 9. I really like the idea of them returning to find that Snoke is dead and Kylo has seized power. I'm sure if they do return Rey (possibly Finn too) will strike them down with some ease, but it would still be cool to see. Although I'd love to see Ren establish the Rule of One. No apprentice. No dark underlings besides the storm troopers of the First Order. Just Kylo Ren.

 

Pretty much how I feel. Kylo is a great villain, so there's no need to introduce another big one at this point. However since JJ created the KoR, they are likely coming back as underlings at the very least. I can see episode 9 playing out years in the future, with Rey commanding a new upstart Jedi order and Kylo commanding the Knights of Ren. Honestly, I'm not sure if Rey and the Jedi would even fully defeat Kylo and the Ren in 9. If episode 9 ends with two opposing factions of force users, Disney has a blank slate in their own universe with new Jedi and Sith, rebels and empire, etc that is not tied to old actors or existing plotlines. They can play in that sandbox with their new tv shows, spinoffs, etc. and then resolve the resistance / first order conflict in episodes 10, 11, 12 many years down the road when all the actors are older. Perhaps Ben Solo's story will be similar to Anakin's in that it will stretch over two trilogies and large amounts of time. I could see him being the big bad villain in the new star wars for a very long time.

 

Hux ursuping Kylo would be unexpected. 1) It makes him from joke to serious. Like what Jar jar was specualted to do. 2) Unexpected. A non-force user surpassing a force user? 3) Makes their past conflicts more meaningful.

Then it would be a single force user (kylo) vs his entire old army. That would be a crazy scene.

 

That works for me. The protagonists have to be facing something more than just Kylo Ren and Hux, who are all that's left at the moment. The PT had General Grievous. Whether you like the PT or not, Grievous worked out pretty well for a henchman in a third film. The Knights Of Ren could fill this function.

 

I do believe that there needs to be another villian(s) added for IX, such as the Knights of Ren. Kylo was desperate to have Rey join him, so I feel he will be looking for help - either old friends or someone new. I’m sure the First Order has other champions that we haven’t heard of yet.

In regards to the Rey vs Kylo dynamic, I don’t believe that Rey has the upper hand anymore. Rewatching TFA, their duel in the forest was weighted in Rey’s favor. Kylo had just killed his father, which left him unbalanced. He also took a direct hit from Chewie’s bowcaster(!) which should have killed him. A lucky strike from Finn had further limited his abilities.

Then, in the aftermath of TLJ throne room battle, we see them evenly matched in terms of Force power, as neither of them won the contest of the Skywalker lightsaber.

It will also help if the timeline jumps forward to a point where the rebel allies have enough people/ships to provide a credible threat to the First Order. It would be kind of cool to jump into the action like the start of ROTS and see a well established war ongoing.

 

Something I was just thinking, in terms of any time jump between VIII and IX:

Ben and Rey's Force connection.

If there is a time jump (and I personally think there should be), will Rey, as of IX, have learned to block Kylo's link at will?

Because this linkage can (and probably should) directly affect the narrative if it is allowed (by the writers, or Rey and Ben) to persist.

So, if IX is two or more years ahead of TLJ, that means at least that much time potential for one-to-many such Force-linked conversations between our primary protagonist and antagonist.

If Kylo is truly the villain as of IX, I can easily imagine such Force-linked meetings affecting his character as well as Rey, either to bring them closer or to drive them further apart.

I almost wish, at the end of TLJ, she could have asserted "Get out of my head" one more time. Perhaps the Falcon door closing was symbolic in that sense, her shutting him down Force-link-wise.

Perhaps there can be some dialogue in IX to speak to this. Maybe they're looking for Kylo at some point, and Rey says, "We haven't spoken since the Battle of Crait. I've closed my mind to him. But, I'll try."

And, perhaps if/when she does, she might be even more horrified at how truly Dark Side Ben has allowed himself to become, maybe even to the extent he nearly or successfully confines her in this Force-link in a manner somewhat consistent with the underworld myth of Hades and Persephone.

And perhaps, in that situation, Luke Skywalker could somehow return somewhat analagously in the role of Zeus in that situation to compel Ben to release her. And that's another meaningful opportunity to echo those important words Obi-Wan spoke to Anakin: "Let her go!"

 

There are a lot of things we don't know yet. For example, we do know none of the Outer Rim allies responded to the plea of the Resistance but, what if the FO obstructed them to go to help or managed to jam their call?

Other thing is that of course there will be worlds rising against the FO. For example, this would be a perfect opportunity to bring back into the game Ryloth, which we know was not part of the New Republic but will not easily bend the knee to the First Order. Just tell me Hera and Yendor are still alive and I will be tremendously happy. #BringTheGhostToLiveAction

Regarding the First Order, we know Kylo was giving Hux a really hard time but, what about the rest of the First Order? Were they all left to see - I mean in chain of command, only Phasma, Hux and Kylo Ren?? It would be interesting to see the dynamics of the First Order accepting a new leader who has not been raised in the First Order as Armitage and some others might be, the ones who spent most of their time in the Unknown Regions under the doctrine of Rae Sloane.

 

There does not need to be a new lead villain. That is Kylo. I do think we might see some new secondary villains. As others have said, the KOR would make a lot of sense. If JJ for some reason decides not to bring back the KOR, I could see Kylo having an apprentice. There will be enough of a time slip that the presence of a new apprentice would not seem out of place.

Snoke is dead. I just don’t see him coming back.

 

Ten years later...
The Supreme Leader, KYLO REN, has tightened his grip on the GALAXY. Rumors of a New Jedi Order led by Jedi Master Rey swirl as he dispatches his dark side apprentices, the KNIGHTS OF REN to hunt down Force sensitives throughout the Outer Rim.
Meanwhile, Master Jedi REY and her New Jedi Knights, employ the help of a mysterious ally to renew the fight in an attempt to bring the FIRST ORDER down and bring peace to the GALAXY....

 

I’m betting 100% on the Knights of Ren.

Since J.J is back directing the next and last film of the trilogy.

It’s just a gut feeling that he won’t introduce a completely new villain and J.J got a perfect opportunity to use the scene of the knights in Rey’s forceback in TFA .

My Wish: The grand finale between Kylo and the Knights against Rey in the rain.

 

Kylo Ren will be the main villain, or maybe Hux.

Even so, didn't Rian Johnson said that Kylo is one half of the protagonist, with Rey being the other?
I thought he was the main antagonist.
I still have trouble seeing him as a completely evil overlord though.
He does terrible things but you can also see that he isn't enjoying it.

On the other hand, Luke saw into his future and it was beyond anything he could ever imagine.
Or could he have misread that?

Either way, we'll see how he evolves as a villain.

 

rise, Hux. RISE.

might as well take over if you're gonna get killed anyway. : D

 

I'm sure Sidious will come back to life. LOL.

 

Villains of Episode 9 will be:
-Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, master of the darkside.
-General Hux and the First Order military.
-Remants of the Knights of Ren (I still believe Snoke took a couple as his personal praetorian guard- now dead).


We will get barely a mention of Snoke in Episode 9, the backstory for him will be handled in the realm of the Expanded Universe.

 

Yes. Kathleen Kennedy plays herself in IX.

 

For me personally I hope they don’t. Because when the introduced general Grevis (sp) I really didn’t give a flying flip about him his backstory nothing...he was just some weird sounding guy. Hell I didn’t feel threatened by Dukoo

So for me I hope let’s use that tension between Hux and Kylo that has been building and that will be a new direction where the enemy has all these troops and ships but their leadership can’t get it together and it implodes on themselves...

Maybe add the Knights of Ren have Kylo’s back and FO have Hux...just a thought