Chris Terrio, co-writer of The Rise of Skywalker clarifies some of the film's debated plot points

[Jedi]

Presumably, Finn’s confession — which he never got the chance to make — is that he’s Force-sensitive?

Well, you can read that how you want to. There are some people who read it as Finn having feelings for Rey; there are some who read it as Finn trying to make that Force-related confession. What’s undeniable is that in the middle of the battle, when the source of the navigation signal is changed, Finn has a very strong sense of where it is, and that’s knowledge he couldn’t really have unless he was using the Force. So, the story is certainly pointing that way, and then, in the moment of Rey’s death… I shouldn’t use the word death because death is a complicated word there… But in the moment — it’s not a death per se — when the life is going out of Rey, Finn can feel her and her last breaths. He stops and feels Rey. Chewie and Jannah don’t understand it as they’re in the frame behind him. When Rey is breathing what seemed to be her last breaths and almost all of the life is drained out of her, Finn can feel it.

At the end of The Last Jedi, Luke sacrificed his life to save the Resistance, inspire the next generation of heroes (broom boys/girls) and spark the rest of the galaxy to rise up and fight. A year later in The Rise of Skywalker, Poe mentions twice how the galaxy is still afraid and in need of hope. Why did Luke’s sacrifice fail to provide the hope that the galaxy needed to join the fight, something Lando ultimately pulled off in the third act?

I don't want to over-explain our intentions in the film, and I'd leave it to the audience to draw causal connections between events. But, I will say this: there's no reason to think that Luke's sacrifice wasn't what inspired the galaxy. Lando rounded up the allies, but clearly something has changed in the galaxy since the Battle of Crait. The galaxy answers the call this time. I can't speak for anyone except myself, but in The Last Jedi, we are given a privileged moment with the children on Canto Bight. The audience understands — though perhaps the Resistance does not yet understand — that something is changing in the galaxy at that moment. In my mind at least, the legend of Skywalker and of his sacrifice is taking root in the consciousness of the galaxy. Again, I won't presume to decode the film, but when the galaxy answers this time around, I sure as hell wouldn't contradict anyone who draws a connection between the sacrifice of Skywalker, the final scene in TLJ, and the galaxy coming when called at the climax of TROS. It's all one story.

Since the soundtrack on Tatooine is titled “A New Home,” is Rey now living on Tatooine even though it’s a return to the isolation she suffered on Jakku?

I can say with confidence that neither the screenplay nor the film suggest that Rey is going to live alone on Tatooine. The track names on the soundtrack were at the discretion of the master himself, John Williams. I can't presume to say what John meant when he titled the piece "A New Home," but I can say that Rey's arc over three films has to do with her finding the belonging she seeks with the new family she's found inside the Resistance. The very last thing Rey would do after all that is to go and live alone in a desert. In our thinking, Rey goes back to Tatooine as a pilgrimage in honor of her two Skywalker masters. Leia's childhood home, Alderaan, no longer exists, but Luke's childhood home, Tatooine, does. Rey brings the sabers there to honor the Skywalker twins by laying them to rest -- together, finally -- where it all began. The farthest planet from the bright center of the universe, but a beautiful and peaceful place to bury two sacred objects.

Did Luke and Leia discuss Rey’s ancestry after the Battle of Crait, once Luke had passed? Their interaction on Crait seemed like their first conversation in a really long time. Plus, Luke mentioned "Darth Sidious" during his “training” of Rey in VIII, and he didn’t seem to bat an eyelash over Palpatine's granddaughter standing right in front of him.

This one I have to leave to the imagination of the viewer. But, I don't think it would be wrong to assume that Luke's Force Ghost would seek out his Force-sensitive, Jedi-trained sister.

‘Star Wars’ Co-Writer Chris Terrio Sets Record Straight on Perceived ‘Last Jedi’ Jabs

Chris Terrio dives deep into 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' spoilers, including the debates over that final shot, Kelly Marie Tran’s diminished screentime, and arguments the film is a repudiation of Rian Johnson:

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