Filmmaker Colin Trevorrow talks about the heartbreak of not being able to push through with filming Star Wars 9. Tapped to helm the final installment of the sequel trilogy, Trevorrow was in the middle of writing the script for the movie when Lucasfilm announced that the director was exiting the project due to creative differences and was eventually replaced by J.J. Abrams. Months after The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters, Trevorrow opens up about what went down during that time, admitting that losing the job was disappointing.
Production for Star Wars 9 was hampered with a string of issues. Aside from the massive pressure to deliver being the final installment of the sequel trilogy and the Skywalker saga as a whole, things got trickier following the untimely death of Carrie Fisher - whose Leia was supposed to be front and center of the threequel's narrative. Unfortunately, The Rise of Skywalker divided fans, with some dubbing it as a major disappointment, causing fans to wonder what the film would've been like had Trevorrow stayed.
On the filmmaker's side, he, too, was disappointed that he wasn't able to helm Star Wars 9 as he talked about during "Directors on Directing" panel at the ongoing Comic-Con@Home event. Trevorrow, who's in the middle of helming Jurassic World: Dominion, opened up about the whole experience, saying that it was "traumatic" for him, having poured so much into the movie only to ultimately walk away from it. Here's his full quote.
That was just an experience that obviously you can imagine, as with all of these things, it can get to the point of being traumatic when there's something you care about that much and you've invested that much in it. But that’s one of the things you accept when you take on any role in film and especially when you become a storyteller: There are going to be heartbreaks, there are going to be crushing disappointments, there’s going to be victories, and hopefully they balance out in the end.
Shortly after The Rise of Skywalker, a slew of information about Trevorrow's scrapped Star Wars movie, supposedly titled Duel of the Fates, made their way online. That included a version of his script, giving the public an idea of what his plans were for the trilogy capper. Intriguingly, many thought that what he was planning was so much better than what ended up canon. Of course, it's difficult definitively say that it would've been a better movie than The Rise of Skywalker considering that rewrites could've still happened, not to mention that things can change during the execution of the script. However, judging the story purely on what's in Trevorrow's Star Wars 9 script, there are people who are convinced that it's a more cohesive story than what hit theaters.
Specifics on what led to Trevorrow and Lucasfilm parting ways while working on Star Wars 9 will more likely never be revealed. Granted that there's an official statement, the presser was carefully worded to prevent any more controversy. Regardless of what went down between them, hearing Trevorrow talk about losing a project that he was very passionate about is saddening. At this point, chances of him boarding another movie or TV show for the famed franchise are slim to none. That doesn't mean, however, that will never find his way back to the space opera.
Source: Comic-Con@Home