Leaked Outline For Colin Trevorrow’s ‘Episode IX’ Suggests His Film Would Have Been Very Different From ‘The Rise of Skywalker’

It is always in your best interest to view anything on Reddit with a skeptical eye. But enough reputable sites and people have confirmed what’s been going on over there over the last day or two to merit at least acknowledging it. Filmmaker Rob Burnett got his hands on what he claimed was Colin Trevorrow’s script for his version of Star Wars: Episode IX. He described it on his YouTube page, Reddit transcribed it, and now others (including The Playlist) have verified with their sources that what’s out there conforms with what’s known about the earlier versions of the final Star Wars — which would have apparently been very different than the film that opened in theaters last month.

For one thing, it wasn’t called The Rise of Skywalker. Trevorrow’s working subtitle was Star Wars: The Duel of the Fates (named after the famous piece of John Williams music from The Phantom Menace). You can click above if you want all of the details, but here are a few of the biggest points (with SPOILERS for both the unmade movie and The Rise of Skywalker):

• While Palpatine is mentioned, he is not the villain. Instead Kylo Ren is the main antagonist
• Kylo Ren is revealed as the killer of Rey’s parents. Rey is not related to Palpatine.
• Rose is a much more important character, and she teams with Finn and BB8 to steal a Star Destroyer that helps revive the Rebellion.
• Finn leads a rebellion of mutinous Stormtroopers against the First Order.
• The Force Ghost of Luke speaks to both Rey and Kylo Ren.
• Rey fights Kylo at the end of the film with the assistance of Jedi ghosts. (Kylo still dies.)

As of this writing, Trevorrow has not publicly commented on any of this. (When another website presented what they purported to be his Star Wars script last year, he very quickly responded to that article, saying “not one thing” in it was written by him.) He left the project in September of 2017 and was replaced by J.J. Abrams soon after. Abrams wrote his own script for Episode IX with Chris Terrio. It’s very different to measure a finished film against an outline for a script no one has seen. But Trevorrow’s ideas, at least, don’t sound bad. Presumably Star Wars fans will be discussing their merits — and wondering what a “Trevorrow Cut” would have looked like — for years to come.

Gallery — All Our Unanswered Questions From Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: