Movies

'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker' Ending Changed During Production, Kathleen Kennedy Talks About The "Blueprint" To Bring Palpatine Back, And More

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker ending
By Ben Pearson

With so much conversation centering on J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker over the past few days, we've searched the galaxy far and wide and gathered some of the best and most interesting bits we could find. So in addition to all of /Film's more in-depth coverage, keep reading to learn about how the film's ending changed during filming, why Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy chose that title, their thoughts on Palpatine's comeback, see how one fan's cut of the new trailer involves actor Seth Rogen, and more.

CinemaBlend points us to this interview with star Daisy Ridley, who reveals that the ending of the movie changed on the fly when "a slightly different beat" was added. What was it, and what was the original ending going to be? Stay tuned as everyone speculates, and hopefully someone eventually gets a straight answer out of Abrams once the film opens.

Speaking with Fandango, Abrams explained how he aimed for this film to culminate in a reflection of the entire saga, not just a single movie.

So in the words of Han Solo, "It's true...All of it."

This Reddit post points us to this old video from 2016 that points out that Palpatine's voice can be heard during Rey's "Forceback" vision in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, providing the tiniest hint ever that he could still have a larger role to play in this saga.

This short video is worth a watch, with Abrams teasing again that this film "resolves nine movies," John Boyega talking about grilling Abrams over details about how Palpatine could return, and most interestingly, Kennedy saying that Palpatine's appearance has been "in the blueprint for a long time," indicating that this was something they've been building to since The Force Awakens.

Kathleen Kennedy and JJ Abrams

Speaking of Kennedy, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she's currently plotting the next 10 years of Star Wars films:

"We knew we were going to close this up, we knew that even before we started The Force Awakens. We are looking at the next saga. We are not just looking at another trilogy, we're really looking at the next 10 years or more. This [movie] is the culmination of the Skywalker Saga; it's by no means the culmination of Star Wars. I'm sitting down now with Dan Weiss and David Benioff...and Rian Johnson. We're all sitting down to talk about, where do we go next? We've all had conversations about what the possibilities might be, but now we're locking it down."

That mirrors some older comments from Disney CEO Bob Iger, who recently told Bloomberg Television (via Heroic Hollywood) that there will be a "hiatus" of Star Wars films after The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters.

"We have not announced any specific plans for movies thereafter. There are movies in development, but we have not announced them. But I think we're going to take a pause, take some time, and reset because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Stars Wars movies, but again, I think we're going to be in a period where there will be a bit of a hiatus."

/Film contributor Bryan Young has a great Twitter thread about the parallels between the teasers for The Phantom Menace and The Rise of Skywalker, and how they seem to be communicating with each other across time. Definitely worth reading the entire thing.

Here's Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson joyous reacting to the new teaser. That guy is just the best.

One of Lucasfilm's event coordinators revealed a previously-hidden section of a banner at Celebration.

Kylo Ren helmet Star Wars The Rise of SkywalkerInverse has a cool piece about how the lines on Kylo Ren's new helmet are actually a reference to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which is the practice of repairing cracks using substances like gold and silver to emphasize the damage.

And finally, while the actual trailer ends with Ian McDiarmid's instantly-recognizable laugh as the Emperor, Uproxx points us to this tweet from a fan who replaced it with Seth Rogen's equally-recognizable laugh instead. Naturally, Rogen was "thrilled," and this is probably the closest he'll get to a Star Wars movie (outside of maybe a stormtrooper cameo).

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