Dark Rey Nearly Kills Kylo Ren in Cut Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Scene

Much was made of Rey’s possible turn to the dark side of the Force after she appeared looking very Sith-like in a black robe and wielding a red, dual-bladed lightsaber in a trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. With the film now in theaters, we know that “dark Rey” turned out to be only a vision that appeared to Rey rather than a villainous turn for the heroine. But newly-revealed artwork that appears in the hardcover The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker book shows that at some point the film’s creators considered having Rey go a bit darker.

The artwork shows dark Rey with lightsaber poised to finish off her rival in the Force, 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.

If the other films in the Skywalker saga are anything to go by, killing an enemy in anger is a sure step down the path towards the dark side. Anakin Skywalker executing Count Dooku was a milestone marker in his fall. Luke Skywalker ultimately avoided the same fate by refusing to strike down Emperor Palpatine.

Before The Rise of Skywalker released, star Daisy Ridley touched on how it was fun to get to play Rey’s dark side in the film. “It’s fun to play someone’s best version, and then the worst,” she said. “It’s an amazing thing to do as an actress, but we can’t do it often… I felt very good.”

The new artbook revealed some other scenes that were considered from the film. Around the same time, a version of Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly’s original script for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker surfaced online. The original ideas for the film were quite different. 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.

But this is not the film that made it into theaters. The film that was released is pacing behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the box office and has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of any film in the Skywalker Saga. We’ll never know if these previous versions of the film would have fared any better.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now playing in theaters.