Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Concept Art Shows Dark Rey on a Fallen Coruscant

Newly revealed Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker concept art offers a glimpse at a version of Dark Rey with a very different look. Concept artist Adam Brockbank shared a few pieces he worked on during the development of The Rise of Skywalker. The film featured the so-called “Dark Rey” in a force vision where Rey sees a version of herself that has fallen to the dark side of the Force. The moment foreshadows her connection to Emperor Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith called Darth Sidious. Brockbank shared his first attempt at imaging Dark Rey, which looks pretty close to how most people might imagine “Daisy Ridley, but make her dark side” would look.

But the second idea is something different. It borrows from Galadriel, the Lord of the Rings character that projected a similar vision when tempted by the One Ring. Instead of traditional Sith black, this Rey wears white and stands over the Coruscant as ash falls. It’s an interesting take. The white — reminiscent of Darth Vader’s redeemed white life support suit from a Star Wars What If…?-style story — suggests Rey doesn’t recognize her darkness.

We’ve seen other versions of Dark Rey in the past. More concept art revealed a scene in which Dark Rey seems about to kill Kylo Ren. The hinged lightsaber she wields made it into the design of a Jedi in Star Wars: The High Republic. Before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opened in theaters, Daisy Ridley, who played Rey, admitted it was fun to indulge in the character’s dark side.

“It’s fun to play someone’s best version, and then the worst,” Daisy Ridley told Adoro Cinema and other journalists. “It’s an amazing thing to do as an actress, but we can’t do it often. … I felt very good.”

While Ridley has stepped away from Star Wars since The Rise of Skywalker, she has said that she’ll never rule out returning to her role as Rey. “I mean, never say never,” Ridley told Empire Magazine. “I’m always open to a revisit. But also the beautiful thing is it’s this wonderful, huge universe with all of these stories that have yet to be told. I think there’s a lot of cool things to be made before any potential revisit.”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available on home media and is streaming on Disney+.