Reylo shippers were devastated by the ending of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, in which Rey dies and Ben Solo transfers his lifeforce into her to bring her back to life, sacrificing himself in the process and mirroring the redemption arc of Darth Vader in the original trilogy. In a yet-to-be-published interview with Sariah Wilson, Daisy Ridley revealed that no version of The Rise of Skywalker – from the earliest rough cut to the second-to-last cut – ended with Ben Solo’s survival.
It’s widely known that The Rise of Skywalker’s script was changed a lot during production. At one point, Ridley was told that Rey was a Kenobi descendant before she was confirmed to be a Palpatine. But despite the accelerated shooting schedule (owing to the fact that J.J. Abrams wasn’t the first choice to direct) and the fact that Disney needed the movie to be a hit, the studio apparently didn’t enforce any changes to the director’s vision. Early last year, after the #ReleaseTheJJCut hashtag started trending, Abrams’ childhood friend Greg Grunberg (who played Snap Wexley in the sequel trilogy) shut down rumors that Abrams wasn’t happy with The Rise of Skywalker and that there was an alternate cut out there somewhere.
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According to a tweet posted by Wilson ahead of the interview’s release, Ridley said that there were only ever two options for The Rise of Skywalker’s ending: “kiss or no kiss.” Ben was always going to die – Ridley said his death was “the only thing [in the script] that never changed from the beginning” – but whether or not he would kiss Rey before dying was a difficult decision. Some fans felt that the kiss had semi-incestuous overtones since Rey added herself to Ben’s family tree in the very next scene, but this is Star Wars, after all. Ridley added that there was never any dialogue in the scene besides Rey saying, “Ben,” and then saying, “No, no, no, no,” when he dies.
Although Abrams’ vision for The Rise of Skywalker might not have been compromised, Lucasfilm did clash with Episode IX’s original director, Colin Trevorrow. After Trevorrow penned a script titled Duel of the Fates, Kathleen Kennedy got cold feet about his vision and ended up replacing him with Abrams, who threw out Trevorrow’s script and started from scratch. In the months since The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters, some tantalizing details have been revealed about Duel of the Fates: Rey really was a nobody, Finn and Rose had much bigger roles, and Luke’s Force ghost confronted Kylo Ren, who wasn’t redeemed.
While The Rise of Skywalker marked the end of the Skywalker saga, the Star Wars franchise is still very much alive. At Disney’s recent Investor Day event, Lucasfilm announced a boatload of new Star Wars projects. Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins is directing Rogue Squadron for a 2023 release while Marvel’s Taika Waititi and Kevin Feige are each working on their own secretive Star Wars movies. There are also December 2025 and December 2027 release dates set for untitled Star Wars projects and, thanks to The Mandalorian’s runaway success, Disney Plus will soon be filled with Star Wars shows.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now available on Disney Plus.
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Source: Sariah Wilson/Twitter