If you’re heading to see the new Star Wars film this weekend, there is a specified reference you might not realize — until you played Fortnite‘s promotional Star Wars tie-in occasion, seemingly.

Just a warning, in scenario it was not evident, I’m going to be spoiling the opening crawl of Rise of Skywalker. So if you want to go into the film completely unspoiled, click off now. I’m significant.

This is your *SPOILER* warning.

Nonetheless in this article? Ok.

In the opening crawl of Rise of Skywalker, we’re instructed that the galaxy has listened to a mysterious broadcast from the prolonged-lifeless Emperor Palpatine threatening revenge. You never listen to this broadcast in the motion picture, and this is ample context to be acquiring on with.

That reported, you could hear the broadcast in Fortnite if you joined the exclusive weekend Star Wars occasion.

All over again, even if you read the broadcast, it in all probability wouldn’t add considerably to your understanding or satisfaction of the movie. It’s a voice that appears a good deal like Ian McDiarmid’s Palpatine spouting sinister mumbo jumbo about revenge, victory, and how “the Day of the Sith” is at hand. (Didn’t the revenge of the Sith come about some six flicks ago, buddy? Do check out and maintain up.) I’m with Polygon author Owen S. Excellent, who speculates it was probably some thing that was recorded for the movie and then fished from the slicing area ground to spruce up the party.

Once more, I can’t strain enough how mind-boggling it is for me that Fortnite is apparently part of the official Star Wars canon now.

This is one particular of these tales that feels like it sums up the full yr for me: Fortnite currently being an unlikely-but-pivotal portion of the cultural zeitgeist just one additional time. It just about feels like this was secretly the explanation for Epic and Disney both of those heading so considerably out of their way to plug this reasonably unexciting tie-in event — it even got a plug at the Video game Awards, which I’ll remind you was also how the new Xbox was revealed. And supplied how numerous people play Fortnite, it in all probability was not a stretch to say the galaxy fundamentally did all listen to the concept.

Function-goers also bought to see about a moment of footage from Increase of Skywalker. Once again, very little earth-shattering: just Finn, Rey, and Poe being the world’s best goshdarn RPG party in place. They also been given lightsabers, which appears like a complete good deal additional fun to me.