Star Wars Writer Says There Could Have Been a Whole Movie Before The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker finally hit theaters everywhere last month, and it's been one of the more divisive films in the franchise. Currently, the movie is up on Rotten Tomatoes with the second-worst critics score for a live-action Star Wars movie, earning a surprising 54%. However, the film is fairing better with moviegoers and currently has an 86% audience score. Recently, Chris Terrio, who wrote The Rise of Skywalker (as well as Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League) spoke to IndieWire about the movie and admitted that there probably could have been a whole other movie in-between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

"We probably could have written a whole movie that was just a lead up to Kylo Ren going to get the wayfinders, Kylo Ren trying to take on a Henry the Fifth story, right?," Terrio shared. "Where he now is the king, and he had to sort of earn the throne. And now, how will he perform as Supreme Leader? … At the beginning of the film, yes, he's out to destroy any threat to his power. He's searching for this legendary world that might be the source of the voice, but quite literally, the galaxy hears a broadcast, which is the voice of Palpatine, and then in the course of the first scene, we learn that Kylo Ren literally has heard in his head the same thing. If you look back at the scenes in 'Episode 7,' where Kylo Ren is sort of fetishizing the [Darth Vader] mask and stuff, you think slightly differently about those on re-watch after learning that Palpatine has been every voice Kylo Ren has ever heard."

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars a returning Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, and Greg Grunberg. New cast members include Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, and Dominic Monaghan, and the returning veteran actors are Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, and Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor. According to J.J. Abrams, Leia is featured in the film using unreleased footage of Carrie Fisher from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

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