According to Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Trevorrow stepped away from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker before his first script draft was completed. Like the majority of Disney's Star Wars movies so far, Star Wars 9 had a bumpy journey to the big screen. Trevorrow was initially hired to co-write and direct the film with Derek Connolly, following their success with Jurassic World in 2015. However, some two years later, they stepped away from the project, citing creative differences with Lucasfilm.
Artistic disagreements with Kennedy and the other heads of Lucasfilm were the only issue Trevorrow had to deal with during his time writing Star Wars 9. Carrie Fisher was originally meant to play a large role as Leia in his version of the film, but her tragic death in late 2016 meant those plans had to change. Then, in the months that followed, the Trevorrow-directed The Book of Henry bombed at the box office, further leading some to question his ability to handle the finale to the Star Wars sequel trilogy. As it turns out, though, Lucasfilm knew things weren't going to work out with Trevorrow earlier than previously indicated.
In a NYT piece on The Rise of Skywalker's development, Kennedy is quoted as saying Trevorrow and Connolly hadn't even finished their first Star Wars 9 script draft "when we realized it just wasn’t heading in the direction we’d been talking about". The powerhouse producer-turned Lucasfilm president went on to describe Trevorrow's departure from the project as "very amicable", adding it "happens quite frequently in the development phase".
Everyone who's worked on Star Wars 9 at some point is staying tight-lipped about Trevorrow's vision for the project - and why, exactly, it didn't gel with what Lucasfilm had in mind - for the moment, lest they spoil anything about The Rise of Skywalker's plot before it opens. This isn't the first time it's been indicated Kennedy and Trevorrow were not happy with his story for the movie, but here it comes in the form of more official confirmation. It's all a bit like water under the bridge by now, admittedly, what with Trevorrow having moved on to direct Jurassic World 3 next and Lucasfilm having brought The Force Awakens helmer J.J. Abrams to steer The Rise of Skywalker into port instead. Still, once the film's been out for a while, it would be interesting to learn more about how Abrams' Star Wars 9 differs from Trevorrow's ideas.
Recently, Trevorrow did reveal Emperor Palpatine's return in The Rise of Skywalker was Abrams' doing and not his own. But again, because of the mystery surrounding Palpatine's role in the film, it's difficult to discern what that says about the former's Star Wars 9 script draft and how it was angling to bring the Skywalker Saga to the close. Trevorrow and Connolly are receiving story co-credit on The Rise of Skywalker, so they are going to have some formal recognition for their contributions at the end of the day. How much of their unfinished script draft is reflected in the final film result, well, that's a question that will hopefully be answered (partly, if perhaps never fully) somewhere down the line.
Source: NYT
