For better or for worse, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently playing in theaters as the last movie in the saga, though some fans are still wondering what the film could’ve been had Colin Trevorrow managed to reach an agreement with Lucasfilm and stay on to direct the pic.
J.J. Abrams combined cinematic action with nostalgic comebacks to bring the story of the Skywalkers to its definitive end. But as is the fate of every Star Wars movie, the final entry has proven to be very divisive among fans. Many people, especially The Last Jedi loyalists, hate the fact that the ninth movie backtracked from everything Rian Johnson set up in the previous installment. But according to a leak that made waves on the internet last week, Trevorrow’s initial version of Episode IX (titled Duel of the Fates) would’ve stayed true to those foundations.
Now, another big leak has hit the web with pieces of concept art from both versions, depicting many scenes that didn’t end up in the final cut. You can check some of them out below:
As previously reported, Trevorrow’s version would have seen our heroes confront the First Order one last time in the planet-city of Coruscant. As such, some of the leaked concept art depicts the old Jedi Temple and strange wolf-like creatures. Other illustrations, meanwhile, feature similar scenes to what we saw in the movie, though it looks like many concepts were left behind in the development process.
Regardless, Abrams’ final version of the pic seems rushed, to say the least. And with writer Chris Terrio confirming that they could’ve done a whole film before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, we can’t help but wonder how differently things would have turned out if the director had more time to develop his vision, which, unlike Trevorrow’s original version, included the return of Emperor Palpatine as the main antagonist of the movie.
