Regardless of which side of the fence you find yourself on in regards to The Rise of Skywalker, one thing is known – it had a very interesting production and post production. The final film we saw in theaters was significantly different than what was originally conceived of by J.J. Abrams and crew. They deleted many scenes and concepts. However, we know about them thanks to production art from various sources. But if you’re wondering what a “J.J. cut” of Episode IX might have looked like, then Marvel Comics will have you covered very soon.
Marvel Comics
According to an interview with the comic’s writer Jody Houser for StarWars.com (via SlashFilm), Marvel Comics’ forthcoming adaptation of the film will include several new scenes and longer versions of existing ones from the film. Houser said “I think one of the great things about adaptations in other mediums is you do get the chance to build out elements of the story there may not have been time or a place for on the screen. Giving light to new scenes gives the creators in these other mediums a chance to add to the story, rather than just translating it for the page.”
These scenes could possibly involve things like Kylo Ren’s meeting with a mysterious oracle, which would show how he learned the location of Vader’s Wayfinder device. This and other lost moments recently surfaced via The Art of the Rise of Skywalker book. So with the inclusion of these scenes, could we finally see Finn actually tell Rey that he’s Force sensitive? Will we also see excised scenes of Rose Tico’s? I for one would really like some mention of who the heck Grandma Palpatine was.
I imagine we could see more scenes explaining things like the Sith Eternal cult, the planet Exegol, the Sith Fleet, and other things the movie left pretty vague and mysterious. Although, with some of those I’d be surprised if we got that much more of an explanation than the recent Visual Dictionary already gave us. But it would be way less awkward in a comic book for a character to just stop in the middle of a scene and give a giant exposition dump. That’s just a staple of the medium.
Marvel Comics
This is a tradition that goes back to the original Marvel adaptation of Star Wars way back in 1977. The writers and artists from that comic were basically working from concept art and script pages, not the final film that everyone eventually saw in theaters. So there were references in the comics to things that later changed. These included a humanoid (but still alien) Jabba the Hutt. The word “Sith” made in into print in the comic adaptation decades before anyone spoke it on film. But it was a word in the original shooting script.
The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comic adaptation will drop its first of five issues in May, from the creative team of Jody House, with art by Will Sliney, and cover designs by Phil Noto.
Featured Image: Marvel Comics / Lucasfilm