Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – 5 most shocking moments

5. The Identity of the Spy

The Resistance storyline of the film starts off with Finn receiving intel about Sith Wayfinders. A spy in the First Order has been feeding Resistance sources with information, but who that brave person happens to be is unknown.

Well, the spy is a familiar face, but nonetheless a surprising one, as Finn and Poe soon find out. The pair board a First Order Destroyer to rescue Chewbacca. Despite their valiant efforts, they get captured and are scheduled for “termination”. Overseeing their execution is General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), whose rivalry with Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has led to him being demoted. Turns out Hux is holding a big enough grudge against Kylo to become a double agent.

This is a huge shock to anyone, considering how hard Hux was towing the party line throughout the previous two films. But if the new trilogy has shown us anything, it’s that the First Order is full of querulous children, and Hux acting out against Kylo is very in keeping with the character.  The film takes place one year after the events of The Last Jedi, but it’s unclear as to how long Hux has been helping the Resistance. He certainly seemed to be a good actor on Star Wars Resistance. But how Hux was able to hide this knowledge from Kylo is a plot hole – unless we are to assume that Kylo is so distracted that he doesn’t sense Hux’s betrayal.

Admittedly, the entire First Order spy plotline was severely underplayed and mostly forgotten for much of the film. The writers pulled it back out of the hat less for shock value than for some much-need levity. At least Hux got a temporary moment of redemption by saving our heroes’ lives before he was promptly killed off. Hux was terrible at his job, irrespective of what job he was given.