Colin Trevorrow states recently leaked Star Wars 9 concept art is not from his version of the film. Prior to leaving the project due to creative differences with Lucasfilm, Trevorrow spent time developing a movie called Star Wars: Duel of the Fates. As one might imagine, there are a number of differences between Duel of the Fates and J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker, which premiered in theaters last month. Many of these have already been reported on, including making Kylo Ren (not Palpatine) the main villain, expanding Rose Tico's role, and keeping Rey a nobody. In some respects, viewers feel Duel of the Fates would have been a proper Last Jedi sequel.
In the aftermath of this information coming out, leaked Star Wars 9 concept art made the rounds online. These pieces featured imagery said to be in Trevorrow's version, such as Rey's new double-bladed lightsaber and Kylo Ren meeting a creature known as the Oracle. However, despite any similarities, it appears that those illustrations were not from the Duel of the Fates days and were made after Trevorrow was already gone.
Responding to IGN's coverage of the concept art leak on Twitter, Trevorrow took the time to clarify that while he did work with some of the Star Wars 9 concept artists, the pictures aren't from his version. Take a look at his post in the space below:
This means the drawings seen are only from The Rise of Skywalker's development, implying any parallels that exist between them and Duel of the Fates are coincidental. Though Abrams and his co-writer Chris Terrio started with a clean slate when they took over Star Wars 9, it's possible some of their ideas were (unknowingly) similar to what Trevorrow had in mind - which might explain Trevorrow's story credit on The Rise of Skywalker. It's also important to keep in mind concept art isn't necessarily indicative of deleted scenes or ideas that were seriously considered. Artists do have the freedom to come up with a plethora of variations on a concept to give the director numerous options to choose from. For example, there's Last Jedi art of multi-colored porgs and a bald Kylo Ren - neither of which are in the final film. Abrams simply might have been curious to see what Rey looked like wielding a double-bladed lightsaber as he was determining what weapon she should have.
Regardless, there's no denying some of the pieces would have made fascinating scenes onscreen, such as Kylo interacting with an imprisoned Chewbacca, Rey seeing Obi-Wan's Force ghost, and whatever the Oracle creature was. It'll be interesting to see what behind-the-scenes secrets are revealed in the upcoming Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker book, perhaps providing context as to why certain illustrations never made it past the conceptual stage. Fans may never know the full story about what happened on Star Wars 9 (i.e. why Duel of the Fates was scrapped), but any bits of insight into Rise of Skywalker will be appreciated.
Source: Colin Trevorrow