Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was not the easiest movie to bring to the screen for Disney. After a lot of production upheaval – including a director switchover and a whole heap of reshoots – the conclusion to the Skywalker saga limped onto cinema screens last December. And it wasn’t met with much acclaim.
Initially, fans rallied behind the release of an “Abrams cut,” but with that looking unlikely now, folks just want some deleted scenes. At the very least.
The home release of TROS was unique in that it didn’t feature any cut footage, something that has angered many, as can be seen from this Change.org petition calling for Lucasfilm to release the movie’s deleted scenes. Created by user Sith Loyalist, here’s how the write-up for the petition goes:
“The home video for the final entry to the beloved Skywalker saga has been released. In an unprecedented move, the deleted scenes were no where to be seen. This is the first time in star wars history that the home video of a main instalment in the saga has released without any deleted scenes. This is a petition on behalf of the star wars fandom for Walt Disney to release all the deleted, extended and alternate scenes for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
There are a couple of heated replies in the comments, too, from those who back the cause. “I’ve been a fan since the originals,” said one. “We deserve the right to experience [the film] how we would like.” Another made a pretty bold claim to back up the petition as well, saying: “Walt Disney himself would have wanted this. He knew that the story’s creative process is a critical part of understanding the final product.”
At the time of writing, this Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker petition is on its way to reaching 300 signatures, so it’s not far off its current goal of 500. It remains to be seen whether it’ll really go viral, though, and hit the thousands or even hundreds of thousands that it usually takes to get these kind of fan campaigns noticed.
