Disney and Lucasfilm have left fans with a void. The inexplicable decision to release Solo: A Star Wars Story in May instead of December created a huge gap in Star Wars storytelling on the big screen. The result? Rumor and speculation with respect to Star Wars: Episode IX has run rampant. Just this morning we reported on a possible Episode IX title leak. If other, recent rumors are true, the Knights of Ren and a bigger, unknown menace will threaten the galaxy far, far away this December.

kinghts of ren
The Knights of Ren as they appear in The Force Awakens. (Image: Disney/Lucasfilm)

Making Star Wars has arguably been a pretty dependable source when it comes to Star Wars rumor and supposition. This time the rumors focus on the Knights of Ren. According to the website’s source, Kylo Ren’s knights have been off in the Unknown Regions somewhere designated “The Beyond.”

The Knights of Ren and a New Threat

As the rumor goes, the Knights of Ren discover a new threat lurking in The Beyond, one that will challenge Kylo Ren as Supreme Leader of the First Order. That threat will ultimately see Kylo Ren and Rey team up once again. We’re presuming, in that scenario, that J.J. Abrams would employ the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” plot device to further the story. From there, though, the article and the theory both get a little muddy. First, in terms of the unknown threat, the piece notes that fans likely assume it to be the now-Legends threat of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Vader and Thrawn battle a threat from the Unknown Regions in Thrawn: Alliances.
(Image: Del Rey Books)

To me this is a little lazy. Such a leap completely ignores a possible, new-canon threat from the Unknown Regions, the Grysk. Timothy Zahn introduced us to the Grysk in Thrawn: Alliances as a race seeking to kidnap force-sensitive children. Given the ending of The Last Jedi, such a threat is more than plausible. Plus, it connects to the Chiss and Grand Admiral Thrawn, tying various story lines together.

Red Stormtrooper
Will red trooper Major Vonreg appear in Episode IX? (Image: Disney)

The article mentions other rumors, such as an army of red Stormtroopers (something else about which we’ve already reported). The biggest speculation however centers on whether Kylo and his Knights of Ren together are the threat, or if the knights are a threat against both the Resistance and Kylo Ren.

Whether these rumors hold true, or are nothing more than speculation, remains to be seen. Hopefully we’ll get a trailer sometime between now and Star Wars Celebration to shed some light.

Star Wars: Episode IX opens this December, 2019.

Source: Making Star Wars