Dark Rey was one of the biggest mysteries in The Rise of Skywalker trailers. Star Wars fans were instantly intrigued when they saw Daisy Ridley with a double-bladed red Lightsaber. The look is one of the more striking images in the final installment in the Skywalker Saga and a lot of fans wish there would have been more than just the few seconds of screen time. Newly released concept art from the movie proves that the character could have had a much different look.
Concept artist Adam Brockbank posted one of his early designs for Dark Rey on social media. While she looks similar to what ended up in The Rise of Skywalker in terms of the robe, her face is distinctly different, especially when looking in her eyes. She looks darker and her eyes have a red look, which could very well be a reflection from the Lightsaber, though it is not seen in the art. In the background, we can see some floating debris.
Dark Rey looks even scarier in The Rise of Skywalker concept art than she did on the big screen. It also echoes the Star Wars franchise history by having her look a lot like Anakin Skywalker with her dark robe and menacing expression. It appears that there could have been an early attempt to make Daisy Ridley look like Hayden Christiansen’s character when he was turning to the Dark Side in Revenge of the Sith. Whether or not this was a conscious decision is unclear, since Adam Brockbank doesn’t really go into specifics about the inspiration behind his art.
Whatever the case may be, it’s interesting to see the evolution of Dark Rey from the page to the screen. J.J. Abrams went with a more pale and sickly looking version of the character, which may have been a nod to her grandfather, Emperor Palpatine. They even went in and added some razor sharp teeth, which some felt was a little over the top. Star Wars fans still have mixed feelings about Rey and her family, along with a lot of questions about the choices Abrams made to tie the sequel trilogy up.
Star Wars 9 is currently available to stream and purchase on Blu-ray. There’s not a whole lot of anything going down at the moment, so fans have been able to go back and re-watch the movie, along with the wealth of bonus features. One particular fan took it upon himself to impersonate John Boyega on social media, which caused a minor stir. Boyega was more concerned that the person wasn’t very witty when he was messaging other Star Wars fans and then revealed his thoughts on how the Skywalker Saga wrapped up. In the end, he’s proud of what they were all able to achieve. Maybe we’ll see some Finn concept art make the rounds next. You can check out the early version of Dark Rey below, thanks to Adam Brockbank’s Instagram account.
