Secrets of the Force

by Edward Gross

  PETER HOLMSTROM

  Duel of the Fates is a proper culmination to the entire nine-film Skywalker Saga. Trevorrow honored each chapter of the series, and was clearly in tune with what George Lucas always set out to do with Star Wars. Anyone can throw up some X-Wings and TIE Fighters and go “pew-pew,” but Trevorrow understood what the saga was “About.” The conflict between good and evil isn’t a conflict between blue lightsaber versus red lightsaber—it’s a conflict within oneself between acting selfishly and selflessly. It’s there from the earliest of scripts for The Star Wars, visualized in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and fully explored in the prequels. Again, Lucas was making Vietnam in space—the bad guys in the prequels were the Jedi, who had become so entrenched in their dogmatic, self-righteous heroism that they rejected their spirituality and emotions, and were too selfish to reexamine their own place in the galaxy. Luke chose to embrace love in his attempt to redeem his father, instead of doing what his masters told him was “right” in murdering his father—putting aside his own selfishness for justice and revenge against the Empire in favor of compassion and hope. J.J. abandoned that concept in favor of TIE Fighters and X-Wings and “pew-pew,” but Trevorrow saw the value in the message.

  RAY MORTON

  As is the case with all first drafts, Duel of the Fates isn’t very polished—there are a lot of rough edges and un/underdeveloped ideas. Still, it’s a very decent start. To begin with, it picks up and carries forward the major themes and ideas of The Last Jedi, especially the notion that Rey’s parents were nobodies unrelated to the Skywalker clan and therefore Rey must define herself unbound by lineage and/or expectations. And there’s the notion that Rey has to decide if she will follow the Jedi path or go her own way as she continues to grow in her knowledge and use of the Force; Kylo Ren seeking to become the ultimate power in the galaxy; Leia grooming Poe to become a leader; Rose Tico is now a full-fledged member of the star warriors.

  It finally gives Kylo a reason to run around wearing a Vader-ish mask; and Finn something neither the writers of The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi were able to give him—a significant role to play in the story. It introduces a wonderful bit of irony at the end when Kylo—after having gone to such lengths to reach the Force wellspring—finds it dry and empty. Provides a wonderful conclusion to Rey’s story. She has the option to stay in Jedi heaven, but in the end, chooses to return to the physical world and continue to fight the good fight. This is the perfect conclusion for a hero.

  GLEN OLIVER

  But something about Duel of the Fates must not have worked. There’s a moment in which C-3PO must basically wreak violence upon another droid, which sends him into existential angst. It’s never clear if the tone of this is supposed to be dramatic, thoughtful, funny, or some combination—but it misses the mark. “I’ve done horrible things. I may never be the same,” he laments. An interesting flavor to bring to the character, and an interesting illustration of the weight of warfare. But also a precarious, slippery slope. On the other hand, a few wickedly funny moments throughout Duel are very successfully meta. This includes a line from Poe about needing to take out the First Order’s signal jammer (so the Jedi Temple’s signal can be sent). He references the jammer having no exhaust port, no oscillator, indicating the First Order has wised up to not engineering exploitable weaknesses into their technologies. “They’re onto us.” That’s pretty funny.

  RAY MORTON

  There are some pretty big problems in the piece. The idea that just a few people can hijack an entire Star Destroyer and then get away quickly and that the First Order can’t easily track it is far-fetched to the point of being unbelievable. The script’s conception of the Force as some sort of natural resource that wells up from a spring in the ground (a spring that can eventually run dry) runs counter to the way the Force has always been described previously—as an energy field generated by all living things (“Life creates it … makes it grow…”). The notion that it can be drained from one being and absorbed by another doesn’t square with this definition either. The script doesn’t know quite what to do with Poe. Instead of continuing to focus on his ongoing development as a leader, it instead sidetracks him into a sort-of-a-romance with Rey and during the end battle keeps him as Leia’s loyal second rather than finally allowing him to become the full leader she has been grooming him to be. Many of the action scenes in the piece feel rather generic. Kylo’s change of heart at the end happens much, much too quickly and seemingly out of nowhere. Had the script continued to be developed, it is likely most of its problems could have been ironed out. And if they had been, Duel of the Fates would likely have served as a suitable continuation of the first two sequels and a reasonably satisfying finale to the sequel trilogy. But this was not to be.

  * * *

  Trevorrow and Connolly penned several revisions of their initial draft. Their efforts were complicated by the death of Carrie Fisher in December 2016—given the significant role Leia played in the story, the narrative needed to be reworked considerably to deal with her absence. However, Kathleen Kennedy was reportedly not satisfied with how the script was developing, so in August 2017, English playwright and screenwriter Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Enola Holmes) was hired to take over. A month later, Trevorrow left the project, and soon after, J.J. Abrams came aboard as the film’s new director. At this point, Thorne departed and Abrams and Chris Terrio (Argo, Zack Snyder’s Justice League) took over scripting duties.

  JASON WARD

  (webmaster, makingstarwars.net)

  I was told that basically Kathleen Kennedy and Trevorrow were getting along fine. It wasn’t a bad relationship, but she just wasn’t connecting with any of their drafts. Most of the people I’ve talked to at Lucasfilm who were privy to the information said it wasn’t that bad, but it also wasn’t that good. And that it was going to need much more work. Eventually they turn in their final draft and with all of the concessions they were forced to make, it was less than inspired by the end and they decided to part ways.

  RAY MORTON

  They kept some of Connolly and Trevorrow’s ideas, although they reworked them considerably: Kylo searching for a mysterious planet—in this case, the mythical home of the Sith rather than the mythical wellspring of the Force. Kylo re-dons a mask, although in Rise he reassembles his stupid faux-Vader mask just because, rather than wearing a respirator mask because his injuries require it. Kylo learning from an ancient master—in this case, a resurrected Emperor Palpatine rather than Tor Valum. The return of Lando Calrissian. Finn running into another former stormtrooper—in this case, an entire tribe of them hiding out on an Endorian moon. Rey discovering she has the power to generate Force lightning and then using it in an ominous fashion. Kylo being redeemed by contact with a parent—although in Rise it is (the memory of) Han rather than Leia. Finn leading a ground assault, although in Rise he rides space horses across the hull of a Star Destroyer for a second, rather than leading a large ground assault on Coruscant.

  GLEN OLIVER

  If you squint really, really hard, you can sense fragments of Duel’s DNA in Rise. There are some broadly similar movements, and I suspect this is why Trevorrow shares “Story” credit on Skywalker. Texturally and substantively, however, they’re night and day in terms of vision and execution. The most notable similarities include a search for a phantom power plant. In Rise it was Exegol, the world of the Sith. In Duel it was intended to be Mortis, previously established in The Clone Wars series and instrumental to Force mechanics in general. In both cases, there was stuff on these worlds which Kylo needs to deal with in order to do his thing. Also, Mustafar appears in both scripts, briefly in both, early on in both. In both instances, it’s a waypoint to Kylo’s broader journey towards badassification. Next, Han and Ben Solo reunite in both versions in sequences which are very similar.

  A Waterworld-ish boat sequence appears in both. It’s much more strongly emphasized in Duel (there is actually full-on boat action, poorly desc
ribed and blocked in Duel—as opposed to merely using the boat as a means of transportation in Rise). Then, Palpatine appears in both. His role is much less meaty in Duel than the full-on resurrection we saw in Rise. In Duel, Palpatine’s moment is very much akin to Obi-Wan’s first appearance to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back (“You will go to the Dagobah system…”). In this case, he cameos as a recorded instruction left for Vader, which Kylo manages to activate. In the event of Palpatine’s demise, Vader was to find Palpatine’s former master and enhance his training. Kylo assumes this mantle.

  RAY MORTON

  There’s also the arrival of a Rebel fleet led by Lando just in time to save the Resistance, although in the Abrams/Terrio script it is a massive fleet of independent ships from across the galaxy (a Star Wars version of Dunkirk) rather than a small armada of space pirates. Kylo bringing Rey back from the dead by passing his Force energy on to her, after which he dies. Rey communing with deceased Jedi—although in Rise it is by hearing voices from the past encouraging her rather than a meeting in an astral plane.

  * * *

  The use of these ideas earned Connolly and Trevorrow a co-“story by” credit, along with Abrams and Terrio. Abrams and Terrio also had to incorporate Leia into the story by utilizing some unused scenes from The Force Awakens and the judicious use of doubles. Terrio and Abrams completed a script before the film went into production in August 2018, but following his usual process, Abrams continued to rework the narrative throughout production and then made many more changes during postproduction. He then made even more alterations after the film received a less than glowing response at several test screenings. As with The Force Awakens, the plot for what would eventually be titled The Rise of Skywalker was not finalized until shortly before the movie was released in December 2019.

  J.J. ABRAMS

  (cowriter/director, The Rise of Skywalker)

  Because we had worked on Force Awakens, Larry Kasdan and I and the producers talked about quite a few things. So The Rise of Skywalker was a bit of picking up where we had left off and the fact is what Rian Johnson had done in Last Jedi had set up some things that were sort of wonderful for the story. One of the things being that the cast was separated; the characters weren’t together for the entire movie, essentially. So this was the first time the group got to be together. Chris and I got together and we knew immediately we wanted to tell a story of a group adventure. There were some very specific things that we were both drawn to immediately, and we just started doing that thing that you do, which is that you say, “What do you desperately want to see? What feels right?”

  ANTHONY DANIELS

  (actor, “C-3PO”)

  I just realized something in the last few months that I hadn’t ever got before. Because I’ve been in all of them and all the spin-offs and stuff, I am so close to it … and I said it’s rather like having your nose up against a planet—you can’t see how big that planet is. And gradually now, I’m beginning to get a perspective on it, and that comes from talking to fans, to people who say what Star Wars has meant to them over the years. It’s meant something completely different to me: it’s a job, it’s kind of fun, it’s kind of awkward sometimes (as we all know), it’s not a smooth ride … But finally, I’m getting to see it almost from the other perspective, and that’s the perspective of the audience who’ve been there all this time. And I’m really glad to have survived all this long enough to get this perspective.

  OSCAR ISAAC

  (actor, “Poe Dameron”)

  [Poe’s] always been a bit of a wild-card energy in figuring out where he fits in the story and what story is being told, and I think with this one … I remember J.J. being excited about kind of dirtying up the squeaky flyboy image that he’s had for a bit and just revealing a bit more of his personality. And I think that really comes out because I’ve been taken away from my little box in space and I get to join my friends this time, and you really get to see the interaction with the three and the hope that he, in particular, brings to this one—there’s a kind of relentless, almost aggressive optimism that he has—and how that is tested and how he tries to be there for his friends, tries to push them along even when it seems quite hopeless.

  DAISY RIDLEY

  (actress, “Rey Skywalker”)

  With the physical stuff, you train and train and train and then the adrenaline helps you on the day to like, do the thing (but obviously, the stamina needs to be there for you to continue to do the thing). But I would say I was more tired emotionally because there really wasn’t a day where I was like “No, it’s just a quick scene.” Coming from the last one, which was quite heavy, even the joyous scenes I found quite strange to do, and obviously there’s a lot of other stuff that’s going on. There’s more of a, I would say, singular intention that was tiring, because as well even in the emotional scenes there’s a physical containment that is tiring. So really, I’ve not answered the question and both things were hard.

  * * *

  The Rise of Skywalker brings back all of the principal cast members from the previous two films, adding Keri Russell as Zorii Bliss, an old frenemy of Poe’s; Billy Dee Williams as fan-favorite Lando Calrissian; Richard E. Grant as the creepy Allegiant General Pryde; as well as, and most improbably, Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor.

  BILLY DEE WILLIAMS

  (actor, “Lando Calrissian”)

  I didn’t expect to be in this little adventure, but I got lucky. I ended up working with somebody I have a tremendous regard for, J.J. Abrams. I’ve been doing this for a long time—almost sixty years—and I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some pretty extraordinary people, but this I probably regard as a true, genuine highlight in my life. Lando’s a shade older, but he’s still hanging in there. When you’re doing this kind of stuff, it’s an opportunity to work with some really, really wonderful people and it’s something I really enjoy more than just making money. Don’t get me wrong, I love making money, but just to be able to hang out and play around with these ideas and with people like this.

  J.J. ABRAMS

  It was a big group scene, so there were a lot of extras. And Billy came onto the set and it just went silent and everyone’s just watching. It was so sweet to see the reaction from the people who are working on the movie, but it was, you know, honestly an emotional thing. It really was.

  BILLY DEE WILLIAMS

  Lando has never left me. He’s been in my life for like, forty years, so I had a lot of fun doing it and I was just trying to execute whatever J.J. had for me. It was relatively simple to get back into the role. I’m a very charming kind of person, so it was relatively easy for me. I love doing Lando. He’s always a fun character and bigger than life.

  IAN MCDIARMID

  (actor, “Emperor Palpatine”)

  In Star Wars they’ve been very good at dealing with unexpected moments the whole time. Secrets are a big thing and nobody really ever knows what anybody else is doing. So it has been the story of the pictures to have different scripts, false scripts, sometimes no scripts at all, false lines. An aura of mystery is always a great thing to have when you’re telling a great story, and that certainly continues apparently.

  I do have to say that in some ways I find the popularity of myself and the character a little disquieting. In one sense I feel like I failed, because you’re supposed to hate me. That is my function, to be really detestable when I say things like, “Execute Order 66.” I mean, you can’t get much worse than that, can you? But people tell me they love me, so all of the other lovable characters suddenly have a competition from the worst evil creature that cinema ever created.

  * * *

  Carrie Fisher was always supposed to play a major role as Leia Organa, but major changes had to be made after her unexpected passing. Through use of excised footage from the previous films, body doubles, and clever editing, she still has a fairly significant role in the finished film.

  TODD FISHER

  (brother of Carrie Fisher)

  I don’t want
to toot my horn on this, but I put the screw to Disney regarding Carrie. And it was totally by accident. I was at a film festival and people asked me what was going on with Carrie and the next Star Wars film. And I said, “I can tell you from the family’s perspective, from the brother’s perspective, we would love to see Carrie’s character go on. It should happen. The franchise deserves it, the fans deserve it.” So I just made a casual comment like that. Well, that got back to Disney and someone from way up at the top said, “I have no idea what he’s talking about. We have no intentions to bring her back.” And in response somebody calls me up and says, “Are you aware that Disney has totally shot you down on the whole thing?” Again, I said, “From Carrie’s brother’s perspective, her character should come back. I don’t care how we do it. We have the technology and it should happen.” Over a period of months, I just kept saying that and it happened I was out on tour doing other things and was in the press a lot. Well, I got a cease-and-desist letter from Disney demanding I stop talking about this.