When Lucasfilm set out to make a Episode IX.
Midway through Episode IX’s development, the studio became unhappy with Trevorrow’s story ideas and he ended up leaving the project. Abrams was brought back to round out the trilogy that he started, and his conception of Episode IX was wildly different than Trevorrow’s. So, here are 10 ways J.J. Abrams deviated from Colin Trevorrow’s original plans for Star Wars Episode IX.
Rey’s Parentage
In Trevorrow’s version of the story, Rey got a double-bladed blue lightsaber and her parentage was retconned from The Last Jedi. He kept with the idea that her parents were “nobodies,” and instead of revealing her to be Palpatine’s granddaughter, the big twist was that Kylo Ren had murdered Rey’s parents on Snoke’s command.
The “nobodies” retcon was likely an attempt by Abrams to please fans who’d all had their own theories about Rey’s parentage since he opened his mystery box in The Force Awakens and needlessly brought it into question.
Luke Skywalker’s Role
Luke Skywalker’s appearance in The Rise of Skywalker was pretty spectacular. He gave Rey the final push she needed to truly become a hero, and he lifted his X-wing out of the water, just like Yoda did in The Empire Strikes Back.
But it seems that in Trevorrow’s Duel of the Fates, he would’ve had a much bigger role. His Force ghost would’ve played a large role in both Rey and Kylo Ren’s arcs, as he helped the former to complete her training and tried to bring the latter back over to the light side.
Ben Solo’s Redemption
The redemption of Ben Solo was telegraphed from the beginning of The Force Awakens. Unlike his predecessor Darth Vader, his arc seemed to be set up as a redemption arc straight away, so there was little room for growth. In The Rise of Skywalker, Abrams took the most obvious route and redeemed Ben in the film’s final moments.
But in Duel of the Fates, Ben wasn’t redeemed. Despite the best efforts of Luke, Obi-Wan, and Yoda’s Force ghosts to bring him back to the light side, he was too far gone and remained a villain.
Regarding Rose Tico
One of the most egregious things about The Rise of Skywalker is its blatant disregard for Rose Tico and the story threads she began in The Last Jedi. Trevorrow’s version of the film would’ve given Rose a lot more to do, as a subplot involved her reuniting with Finn and heading to Coruscant to activate a secret Jedi beacon to break through the First Order’s block on interplanetary communication.
Coruscant would’ve been ruled by General Hux, now known as Chancellor Hux. This subplot would’ve both expanded Rose’s role in the trilogy and explored the effects of the First Order’s rule over the galaxy.
The Jedi And The Sith
The Rise of Skywalker rests heavily on the idea of the Jedi triumphing over the Sith. Palpatine tells Rey, “I am all the Sith!,” and Rey quips back, “And I am all the Jedi!,” before destroying Palpatine and saving the day.
However, in Duel of the Fates, the Jedi and the Sith would’ve been left in the past, following on from themes in The Last Jedi. Rey and Kylo Ren would both have expressed their interest in moving past the outdated constructs of the Jedi and the Sith, and Leia would encourage Rey to become “something new.”
Duel Of The Fates
In keeping with restarting the entire script, J.J. Abrams changed the title that Colin Trevorrow had in mind for Episode IX. The latter director’s draft of the script reportedly went by the working title Duel of the Fates, a reference to the iconic John Williams track of the same name from the soundtrack for The Phantom Menace.
When Abrams signed on and started the script from scratch, he called his version The Rise of Skywalker. Disney still used “Duel of the Fates” in the film’s marketing, but it doesn’t appear in the film itself.
Kylo Ren’s New Mask
In The Rise of Skywalker, after the destruction of his mask in The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren simply welds it back together. In Duel of the Fates, he was going to forge a brand-new mask out of a precious Mandalorian metal.
When he donned this new mask, he would be confronted by a hallucination of Darth Vader, a la Luke’s experience in the cave on Dagobah. Concept art has been released depicting this sequence, with the characters’ red lightsaber blades clashing.
Finn And The Reformed Stormtroopers
Rather than meeting a couple of ex-Stormtroopers and barely addressing the fact that the Resistance’s cannon fodder is made up of brainwashed orphans, Finn was going to lead an army of reformed Stormtroopers in Colin Trevorrow’s version of Episode IX’s climactic battle, which took place on Coruscant.
This battle sequence was also going to feature Chewbacca flying an X-wing into battle, which would’ve been much more awesome than the Wookiee getting an arbitrary medal in some lazy fan service.
Palpatine’s Role
In Duel of the Fates, Palpatine wasn’t going to be the villain. Instead, he would remain dead, but Kylo Ren would find a recorded message that he left for Darth Vader in his Mustafar castle to play in the event of his death.
This message would direct him to Palpatine’s own master, Tor Valum (it isn’t specified if Tor Valum was a different name for Darth Plagueis, but it’s possible), who was described as a 7,000-year-old Lovecraftian monstrosity. Boy, it would’ve been great to see what Lucasfilm’s design team came up with for that.
The Final Lightsaber Duel
In Trevorrow’s Duel of the Fates, the revelation that Kylo Ren killed Rey’s parents would’ve led to a climactic lightsaber duel between the trilogy’s two lead characters. This duel would’ve taken place on Mortis, a planet that exists within the mystical realm of the Force that was previously seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Some Star Wars fans have expressed disappointment that Abrams and co. made up a new ancient Sith planet named Exegol for The Rise of Skywalker, instead of using the much more visually exciting Korriban from the existing canon.
