Some new concept art from The Rise of Skywalker has made its way online. The image in question was shared by artist Adam Brockbank, who worked on developing the movie in the early stages. As this art reveals, one of Rey’s biggest moments from Episode IX almost took place in a radically different location. Coruscant, to be exact.
The scene from the first trailer for the movie, in which, Rey runs away from Kylo Ren’s Tie Whisper before backflipping over it and cutting off its wing, took place on the desert planet of Pasaana. It was more of a dry, vacant wasteland. However, in the early stages, Adam Brockbank envisioned this happening on the once-bustling city planet of Coruscant. But as we can see, in his version of the planet in the sequel trilogy, the planet as we knew it from the prequel trilogy has been devastated. Brockbank shared the image with the following caption.
“That moment… but on a devastated Coruscant. Development stage concept…”
Coruscant was a major fixture in George Lucas’ prequel trilogy and was introduced to audiences in The Phantom Menace. It was the epicenter of the Galactic Republic, as well as the Empire in the years that followed once Palpatine took over. Many major events during the Clone Wars and throughout the history of the galaxy took place there. The skyscraper-covered planet also housed the Jedi Temple and Archives for many, many years during the height of their power. But that all ended when Order 66 was executed at the end of Revenge of the Sith, which saw most of the Jedi hunted down and killed.
Not a whole lot from the prequels was touched on in Disney’s trilogy, which started with The Force Awakens in 2015. While there are many out there who love the prequel trilogy now, there was a time when the movies were widely hated by the fanbase. As such, it’s not too surprising that Disney opted to shy away from referencing those movies. But the notion of showcasing Coruscant during the First Order’s rule would have been an interesting way to bring everything full circle. Ultimately, director J.J. Abrams decided to go another way with it by bringing us to an entirely new planet.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker proved to be a divisive movie. Critics were harshly divided on the follow-up to The Last Jedi, which was also quite divisive. Though J.J. Abrams’ second entry in the franchise proved to be financially successful, taking in more than $1 billion at the global box office. Disney has since taken a break from the movies to focus on small screen efforts, such as The Mandalorian on Disney+, as well as other live-action Star Wars shows that are in development. A new mystery Star Wars movie is currently dated for December 2023, with further installments scheduled to follow in December 2025 and December 2027. Be sure to check out the art for yourself from Adam Brockbank’s Instagram.
