Stills from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker deleted scene feature Kylo Ren with Darth Vader's mask. Presented as the primary antagonist of the sequel trilogy, it didn't take long before Kylo Ren's real lineage was revealed. Fans learned in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that he's Ben Solo - Han Solo and Leia Organa's son who went rogue following a fallout with his uncle Luke Skywalker - meaning, he's also the grandson of Anakin Skywalker.
Kylo's obsession with his grandfather's villainous persona was evident from the beginning of the new trilogy. In The Force Awakens, it's revealed Kylo's in possession of Darth Vader's deformed mask. The last time the public saw that headpiece was during Vader's burial on the Forest Moon of Endor, following the events of Return of the Jedi, after his redemption. Throughout the sequel trilogy, Kylo treated the helmet almost as if it's a religious artifact - using it to supposedly communicate with his dead grandfather. He was a devoted Sith relic in general, but he was particularly attached to things that had connections with Vader. And as Kylo Ren reach peak evilness, becoming the Supreme Leader of the First Order, he continued to keep the helmet near him for some sort of guidance, as seen in The Rise of Skywalker.
A fresh batch of stills from the movie's deleted scene reveals Kylo having a moment with Vader's helmet. The villain didn't have much time to sit in his quarters and talk to the relic in The Rise of Skywalker. He was quite busy dealing with clone Emperor Palpatine, leading the First Order, and chasing Rey. At the beginning of the movie, he has a brief moment with the helmet while he connected to Rey, but that was the only interaction. The new stills appear to be from the same scene. Check out the images (via Imgur) below.
The Rise of Skywalker left several loose narrative threads at the end, including how Kylo got his hands on Vader's mask in the first place. Considering that Luke was the only one present at Anakin's burial at the end of Return of the Jedi, he was the last known person to have access to Vader's body and any of his belongings. There are a couple of theories floating online as to how Kylo acquired the relic, but given what's officially known, there's a chance that he stole it from Luke before he left his training to become a Jedi.
Kylo Ren's no longer around, it's curious if fans will see Vader's helmet again in future Star Wars narratives. While a duel in Kylo Ren's quarters resulted in him and Rey accidentally knocking off the mask, fans still want to know how it got to him in the first place. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was the final entry of the Skywalker Saga, which means that any new content moving forward may not center around Kylo, Rey, or any of the new characters fan's love. Whether or not Lucasfilm ever explains how Kylo Ren got a hold of his grandfather's headpiece remains to be seen.
Source: Lucasfilm (via Imgur)