The first draft of Duel of the Fates was a damn good starting point. It tied directly into the themes of the previous movie and worked hard and mostly well to serve the important characters. It certainly had some issues as well. Rey and Kylo's duel at the end is too disconnected from the other battles going on, Poe has little to do, and Rey combining the light and the dark is, let's say, an awkward fit with the current conception of the Force. The first two of those things, at least, could have been worked out in subsequent drafts. Except Carrie Fisher died. Her character's role was not huge in the first draft, but it was pivotal. It's hard to write around Carrie's death without making the story weaker. It might even be impossible. It's likely why Lucasfilm eventually abandoned Duel of the Fates altogether and brought in first Jack Thorne and then Abrams and Terrio. Her death basically required a full reset.
And I'm getting annoyed all over again by the whole "they should have had a plan" narrative. Firstly, while I totally understand the impulse, that's not a good way to write a story. It locks you into decisions that might not make sense anymore after you've come up with better ideas. Secondly, just having a plan does not guarantee any type of quality. The showrunners of Game of Thrones knew at least part of the ending well in advance, but that didn't help make the final season any better received. Lastly, it's especially frustrating in this instance because, as far as I can tell, Lucasfilm did have a plan and that plan caused issues for the final film. From leaked information about earlier drafts and interviews with people involved, it seems that Lucasfilm wanted at least two things* from filmmakers in Episode IX:
The second point is basically what led us to Palpatine (though the first probably played into that decision as well). While he was still in charge of Episode IX, Colin Trevorrow made it clear that he was approaching it as the culmination of all 9 films. J.J. Abrams said something similar as did the producers Kathleen Kennedy and Michelle Rejwan. It's a pretty abstract idea, and not inherently a bad one, but the way it was handled (bringing back ol' Sheev) was not good for the film. It appears that Trevorrow and Connolly's way of fulfilling this point was by having Rey embrace the dark side and the light side. That kind of clashes with how the Force has been thought of, but I get the idea. The grand conclusion of the whole saga would essentially end with the dark side being eliminated as a threat for all time. But Lucasfilm has many people with a deep understanding of Star Wars which may have led to some hesitation about this particular ending. And Carrie Fisher died, weakening the script elsewhere as well. So Trevorrow and Connolly are dropped, Thorne is brought in and does... something (oh how I'd love for his script to leak since we know so little about it), it's not deemed good enough either so he's dropped, and in come Abrams and Terrio. They're given those two bullet points and, pretty naturally, come up with Palpatine as the solution to both. The Emperor makes the whole saga feel tied together since he appeared, or was at least mentioned, in each of the first 6 films and was an antagonist in all of them, and also gives Kylo a big bad to turn against to demonstrate his redemption. There are numerous problems with this (how did Palpatine survive, how would Kylo actually be redeemed, why would Rey care about any of this, etc.), but it fulfills both points. Then trying to plug those leaky bits leads to more issues and so on and so forth until you get the final film.
* It's possible that Lucasfilm also wanted Leia to appear in the movie in some capacity. The character was in the second draft of Duel of the Fates, which was written after Carrie Fisher's death, and of course, appeared in the final film. It's unknown if she was in Jack Thorne's version beyond likely appearing in some family photos in the Solo home. There's also one Leia-related item that pops up several times: her lightsaber. It appears in the second Connolly/Trevorrow draft, Thorne's draft, and the final film. That could have been something from Lucasfilm or it could have been something that Connolly and Trevorrow came up with and subsequent writers liked and thus kept around.
According to The Art of The Rise of Skywalker, many of the controversial decisions in The Rise of Skywalker were made before The Last Jedi hit theaters. Palpatine was already back, Rey was likely already related to him, Poe was given a checkered past, Finn got a new character to pal around with, and Rose had little to do. All of that happened before the public saw The Last Jedi.
I wrote a summary of the first draft and illustrated it with leaked concept art, though I don't know if I'd call it "quick" lol.
And I'm getting annoyed all over again by the whole "they should have had a plan" narrative. Firstly, while I totally understand the impulse, that's not a good way to write a story. It locks you into decisions that might not make sense anymore after you've come up with better ideas. Secondly, just having a plan does not guarantee any type of quality. The showrunners of Game of Thrones knew at least part of the ending well in advance, but that didn't help make the final season any better received. Lastly, it's especially frustrating in this instance because, as far as I can tell, Lucasfilm did have a plan and that plan caused issues for the final film. From leaked information about earlier drafts and interviews with people involved, it seems that Lucasfilm wanted at least two things* from filmmakers in Episode IX:
- It had to redeem Kylo (this happens in literally every version of the story we're aware of)
- It had to feel like a conclusion not just to the sequel trilogy but to the entire Skywalker saga.
The second point is basically what led us to Palpatine (though the first probably played into that decision as well). While he was still in charge of Episode IX, Colin Trevorrow made it clear that he was approaching it as the culmination of all 9 films. J.J. Abrams said something similar as did the producers Kathleen Kennedy and Michelle Rejwan. It's a pretty abstract idea, and not inherently a bad one, but the way it was handled (bringing back ol' Sheev) was not good for the film. It appears that Trevorrow and Connolly's way of fulfilling this point was by having Rey embrace the dark side and the light side. That kind of clashes with how the Force has been thought of, but I get the idea. The grand conclusion of the whole saga would essentially end with the dark side being eliminated as a threat for all time. But Lucasfilm has many people with a deep understanding of Star Wars which may have led to some hesitation about this particular ending. And Carrie Fisher died, weakening the script elsewhere as well. So Trevorrow and Connolly are dropped, Thorne is brought in and does... something (oh how I'd love for his script to leak since we know so little about it), it's not deemed good enough either so he's dropped, and in come Abrams and Terrio. They're given those two bullet points and, pretty naturally, come up with Palpatine as the solution to both. The Emperor makes the whole saga feel tied together since he appeared, or was at least mentioned, in each of the first 6 films and was an antagonist in all of them, and also gives Kylo a big bad to turn against to demonstrate his redemption. There are numerous problems with this (how did Palpatine survive, how would Kylo actually be redeemed, why would Rey care about any of this, etc.), but it fulfills both points. Then trying to plug those leaky bits leads to more issues and so on and so forth until you get the final film.
* It's possible that Lucasfilm also wanted Leia to appear in the movie in some capacity. The character was in the second draft of Duel of the Fates, which was written after Carrie Fisher's death, and of course, appeared in the final film. It's unknown if she was in Jack Thorne's version beyond likely appearing in some family photos in the Solo home. There's also one Leia-related item that pops up several times: her lightsaber. It appears in the second Connolly/Trevorrow draft, Thorne's draft, and the final film. That could have been something from Lucasfilm or it could have been something that Connolly and Trevorrow came up with and subsequent writers liked and thus kept around.
According to The Art of The Rise of Skywalker, many of the controversial decisions in The Rise of Skywalker were made before The Last Jedi hit theaters. Palpatine was already back, Rey was likely already related to him, Poe was given a checkered past, Finn got a new character to pal around with, and Rose had little to do. All of that happened before the public saw The Last Jedi.
I wrote a summary of the first draft and illustrated it with leaked concept art, though I don't know if I'd call it "quick" lol.
