The full script for Colin Trevorrow's Star Wars 9 has found its way online, and it's chock full of shocking story choices. Jurassic World director Trevorrow was removed from Star Wars 9 in late-2017, with Lucasfilm citing "differences in vision." Speculation ran rampant surrounding why the filmmaker was actually removed from the project, with some pointing towards the critical and commercial failure of his passion project, The Book of Henry, while others claimed that it was because he'd become hard to work with in the aftermath of the success of Jurassic World. However, the most likely reason seems to be that Lucasfilm and co. were simply unhappy with the script for his Star Wars 9, which would have been titled Duel of the Fates.
J.J. Abrams was hired shortly afterwards to come and completely overhaul Star Wars 9, which would ultimately be released as The Rise of Skywalker. Despite this, the film was still met with an incredibly divided reaction from the fanbase and an overall negative reception from critics, who felt that the film played it too safe and was bogged down by fan service. There were also accusations that the movie backpedalled on several of the decisions from Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, which divided Star Wars fans but was critically acclaimed.
Now, after months of leaked concept art and story details, the full screenplay for Colin Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates is online, and it is radically different than the finished product. Some information from the script has leaked previously, but the full script provides additional context as well as even more reveals as to what the story would have been like. While there are some elements that were worked back into The Rise of Skywalker, for the most part, Trevorrow's Star Wars 9's original story was filled with unexpected story choices and would have made for a much bolder and daring (albeit flawed) vision than what we got.
The Resistance is Crushed (Mostly)
While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker starts out with an opening crawl revealing that Palpatine is (somehow) still alive and broadcasting a sinister message to the galaxy, Trevorrow's Star Wars 9 opens with a message that is effortlessly more ominous. Taking place a few years after The Last Jedi, The First Order has almost entirely suppressed the threat of Resistance throughout the galaxy, setting up a capitol on the planet Coruscant, and using communications jammers to totally silence communication between star systems. General Hux has now become Chancellor Hux, presiding over the downtrodden citizens of Coruscant by way of massive holograms, similar to Snoke. Executions are a daily part of life, and the Resistance has been reduced to mere hundreds.
It's a dark opening, one that takes the sequel trilogy's conflicts to a desperate low unseen before in Star Wars. Trevorrow takes stark advantage of the new status quo set up at the end of The Last Jedi and cranks it up to 11, making the circumstances for our heroes look more dire than ever.
The Heroes Steal A Star Destroyer
As part of the First Order's iron grip on the galaxy, massive orbital rings surround certain planets and moons that have been occupied. These deploy entire fleets of Star Destroyers from space to anywhere, and emphasize the power held by the First Order. The opening action sequence of the film shows Rose, Finn, Poe, and Rey desperately attempting to destroy one of these orbital rings surrounding Kuat, a moon turned into a mining colony. However, since this is Star Wars, the plan goes horribly awry and our heroes are forced into a corner needing a quick exit. They find a lightly occupied Star Destroyer refueling on the orbital ring and steal it, with Rey using the Force to mind-wipe the crew. This turns out to be a majorly unexpected victory for the ragtag Resistance, as the Destroyer is filled to the brim with Imperial weaponry and vehicles.
Kylo Ren is Horribly Disfigured
During all of this, we find out that Kylo Ren has traveled to Mustafar, to the decrepit and decaying location of Vader's castle. It's here that he accesses a Sith holocron left for Vader by none other than Emperor Palpatine. The villain is still dead in Trevorrow's Star Wars 9, but he leaves Vader a holocron detailing the location of Tor Valum, the Sith Lord who trained Palpatine, in the event that Vader succeeds in turning Luke to the Dark Side. All the while, this holocron reads Kylo's DNA and determines that he's not Vader, sending a blast of Force Lightning into his face which horribly scars him. This event causes him to don a new mask made of Mandalorian metal, and further pushes him along a path of embracing the Dark Side.
Another Resistance Planet is Destroyed
Our heroes bring the Star Destroyer back to Korilev, a small rainforest planet that the Resistance has made their temporary home in Trevorrow's Star Wars 9. Unbeknownst to them, however, the Destroyer is tracked by Chancellor Hux and the First Order, who deploy several Star Destroyers to attack the planet. One of them, Hux's personal ship the Finalizer, is equipped with a planet busting super-weapon, which he uses to decimate Korilev. It's a sudden and shocking scene, one that sets the heroes on the move and once again reinforces the underdog nature of the Resistance.
Rey and Poe Become Intimate
The main heroes are split up in the aftermath of Korilev's destruction, with Finn and Rose on a mission to find an ancient Jedi beacon below Coruscant, one that will allow them to restore communication to the galaxy. Poe is tasked with taking Rey to find a powerful Force Sensitive on the planet Bonadan, one who will lead her to the mythical Force planet Mortis, where she's seen a vision of a final battle between her and Kylo. On the journey, they're stalked by a unit of Stormtroopers, and Rey actually kisses Poe in order to help them blend in. It's the culmination of several moments in the Star Wars 9 script that tease at a romantic connection between Rey & Poe, a pairing somewhat unexpected for the characters in the sequel trilogy.
The Knights of Ren Have The Darksaber
While Rey and Poe search for the Force navigator on Bonadan, the Knights of Ren are in hot pursuit, tasked with hunting down Rey. Like The Rise of Skywalker, Trevorrow's script doesn't reveal much information on the Knights of Ren, who in this version are made up of Jaedec Ren, twins Ott and Lorl Ren, and leader Hattaska Ren. However, the one big piece of information that we do know about them is that Hattaska Ren is in posession of the Darksaber, a mythical weapon that's appeared in The Clone Wars, Rebels, and most recently, The Mandalorian. He uses this weapon in an epic swordfight against Rey on Bonadan, and while she surprisingly kills them all in their first battle, they manage to make a big impression in a short amount of time.
Kylo Ren Trains With (And Then Kills) Tor Valum
After recovering from his facial disfigurement, Kylo sets a course for Remnicore, an ancient Sith planet and home of Tor Valum, an alien of unknown origin. Valum is the being who trained Sidious himself, and after some convincing he agrees to train Kylo in the ways of the Force. Their training takes many different forms (with a sequence that references Luke's training on Dagobah by having Kylo fight a specter of Darth Vader), but the final lesson that Valum imparts on Kylo is how to actually drain the life essence from a being by using the Force. It's an incredibly powerful skill, and one that Kylo uses to betray his new master, killing him and absorbing his power for his own.
Finn Leads a Stormtrooper Uprising on Coruscant
Finn and Rose are initially successful in their attempt to light the Jedi beacon, allowing Leia to send a message across the galaxy rallying them to war. However, the First Order tracks them down and attacks the Jedi Temple where the beacon is held, capturing Rose and leaving Finn to wander the streets alone. He comes across a Stormtrooper named RK-514, who he tases and tries to reason with him to abandon his programming and choose a new name for himself. Later, after Finn convinces the oppressed citizens of Coruscant to take up arms against the First Order and lead an insurrection in the streets, RK-514 (now Rafe) arrives with a squadron of stormtroopers, all deprogrammed, ready to fight for Finn and his cause.
It's a powerful scene, one that brings Finn's character arc full circle in a way that The Rise of Skywalker simply doesn't. While Abrams introduced Jannah and other First Order deserters in his version of the film, Trevorrow's Star Wars 9 actually makes Finn responsible for turning Stormtroopers against their former masters, giving him an instrumental role in the inevitable downfall of the First Order.
Kylo Ren Reveals That He Killed Rey's Parents
Kylo and Rey both find their way to Mortis, and end up confronting each other outside the steps of an ancient Force temple. It's here that Kylo once again attempts to persuade Rey to join his side, by revealing the truth of what happened to her parents: he and the Knights of Ren were forced to execute them under Snoke's orders. Snoke was searching for Force Sensitive children, and rather than having her captured, Rey's parents chose to die instead of give up their daughter. While this reveal would have caused some problems in the timeline of the sequel trilogy, it also stays faithful to Rian Johnson's reveal in The Last Jedi that Rey is ultimately a nobody, someone of unremarkable origin.
General Hux Commits Seppuku
Finn's insurrection on Coruscant only grows, thanks to the arrival of both the Resistance as well as an armada of smugglers and space pirates, led by none other than Lando Calrissian. The heroes are able to turn the tide of war and actually repel the First Order, liberating Coruscant and its people. Hux, who watches this all from his comfy building in the Capitol, loses faith in his cause and retreats to his personal chambers. Its here where he removes an antique purple lightsaber (possibly implied to be Mace Windu's) and impales himself on the blade. Hux's arc in Duel of the Fates certainly would have been more interesting than his treachery in The Rise of Skywalker, with Trevorrow's Star Wars 9 even including earlier scenes of Hux desperately trying and failing to use the Force. His suicide would have been the perfect ending for a villain underscored by his towering ambition as well as his jealousy and insecurity.
Rey Is Blinded and Kylo Dies Redeemed (Sort-Of)
In the heat of their final battle on Mortis, Kylo Ren actually gains the upper hand on our hero and slashes her across the face with his lightsaber, blinding her. This is an incredibly shocking moment in the script, one that feels truly harrowing in comparison to the lack of stakes in The Rise of Skywalker's final battle. Rey eventually finds her footing, guided by the presence of Luke, and fights Kylo blindfolded, something she practices much earlier in the script. She gains the upper hand and almost kills the villain, until he uses his Force drain ability to absorb her energy.
Across the galaxy, Leia feels the disturbance in the Force and reaches out to her son, desperately pleading with him to come home. Ben senses his mother and has a change of heart, reversing the Force drain and healing Rey by using the last of his life essence. The scene is startlingly similar to Kylo's final scene in The Rise of Skywalker, yet this time, it doesn't culminate in a misguided kiss between them.
Rey Starts a New Jedi Academy
The film ends with a flashforward of Finn and Rose on the planet Modesta, retelling the story of the film to a group of children, including Broom Boy from The Last Jedi. These children are eventually revealed to be Force sensitive, and in the process of being trained by Rey, who has outgrown the teachings of the previous Jedi by embracing the duality of emotions inside of her. This is both a direct extension of the themes of The Last Jedi as well as totally unexplored ground in the mainstream Star Wars franchise, as we've never had a cinematic Jedi hero embrace the teachings of both the dark and the light. It's a bold vision for the future, one that feels right at home with the other shocking and daring choices made by Colin Trevorrow in his version of Star Wars 9. While the script isn't perfect by any means, it's unique and exciting, two things that The Rise of Skywalker ultimately failed to be.