J.J. Abrams might have promised not to retcon anything from Star Wars: The Last Jedi before he began work on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, however, the filmmaker's second Star Wars movie seemed to move in a different direction from its predecessor, seemingly changing a few of the things that Episode IX established.
Speaking in an interview with Awards Daily about his writing process working on The Rise of Skywalker, scriptwriter Chris Terrio talks about some of the challenges he had to face working on the film after the release of The Last Jedi.
According to the screenwriter, one of the main challenges following Episode VIII was the redemption of Ben Solo (Adam Driver). How could The Rise of Skywalker redeem Kylo Ren when he had been turned into the main villain in The Last Jedi?
"We felt that right from the beginning, when J.J. [Abrams, director] established Kylo Ren in Episode VII, there was a war going on inside him and that he had been corrupted by something bigger than himself and had made bad choices along the way," the writer explained, "J.J. and I felt we needed to find a way in which he could be redeemed, and that gets tricky at the end of Episode VIII because Snoke is gone. The biggest bad guy in the galaxy at that moment seemingly is Kylo Ren."
It would have also been interesting had Abrams continued to explore Kylo Ren as the main villain of the franchise. We would have loved to see more of the character's inner conflict and see him struggle with his call to the light. Instead, The Rise of Skywalker decided to turn Palpatine into the villain to make it easier for Kylo Ren to find redemption.
What would you have wanted for Han Solo and Leia's wayward son? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently screening in cinemas.
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Star Wars: Episode IX