Star Wars: Rey Faces the Tusken Raiders in Rise of Skywalker Concept Art

Newly revealed concept artwork from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker reveals a planned callback to the Skywalker legacy during Rey’s return to Tatooine. The return takes place at the end of the film, with Rey visiting the moisture farm where Luke Skywalker grew up and making the decision to claim the Skywalker name as her own. Artist Adam Brockbank revealed artwork that had Rey discovering Tusken Raiders within the abandoned domicile. “Rey’s return to Tatooine. Thought it would be great for her to discover sand people fighting over salvage..,” he writes. “Just turning on the lightsaber is enough..” Star Wars fans will remember Anakin Skywalker’s massacre of the Sand People in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Luke Skywalker’s encounter with them, necessitating a rescue by Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the original trilogy. You can see the artwork below.

Brockbank previously revealed concept artwork showing “Dark Rey” putting on the helmet of Kylo Ren, dating back to early pre-production on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, indicating that, at this point, there was some consideration given to having Rey take Kylo Ren’s place on the Dark Side of the Force.

Much was made of Rey’s possible turn to the dark side of the Force after she appeared looking very Sith-like with a black robe and a red, dual-bladed lightsaber in a trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Dark Rey turned out to be only a vision that appeared to Rey rather than a full-on villain turn for the heroine.

Concept art revealed previously in The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hinted that there had been plans for more from Dark Rey and her relationship with Kylo Ren. The artwork showed Dark Rey with lightsaber poised to finish off Kylo Ren. Across a handful of art pieces, Rey can be seen approaching Supreme Commander Kylo Ren, putting the lightsaber blade to Ren’s neck, and Force choking Kylo Ren.

The Rise of Skywalker artwork also revealed some other scenes that were considered for inclusion in the film. A version of Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly’s original script for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker also surfaced online, revealing that some of their original ideas for the film were different from what the film became. Luke Skywalker had a larger role to play in the film. Emperor Palpatine had no role to play and remained dead (and was not related in any way to Rey). Darth Vader even had a role to play, facing off with his grandson, Kylo Ren.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now available on Disney+.