A Star Wars Fan Animated Colin Trevorrow’s Rumored Star Wars Script, And Wow

Rey and Kylo Ren in Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker
(Image credit: (Lucasfilm))

Ready for some major FOMO? Colin Trevorrow’s own version of Star Wars: Episode IX, which is called Duel of the Fates has only been talked about even more since the release of J.J. Abrams’ The Rise of Skywalker. The final chapter in the Skywalker Saga divided fans, and many are hoping to seek comfort in what could have been from the rumored Duel of the Fates script and concept art that leaked over a month ago. Now those of us who skipped out on the extra reading can watch this fan-made animated version. Check it out:

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Back before J.J. Abrams got ahold of the last Skywalker Saga episode, Jurassic World filmmaker Colin Trevorrow was tapped to write and direct his own version. There’s some significant changes to Episode IX here and Mr Sunday Movies gives fans a fun way to visualize and digest it. And answer the question: would we have liked Duel of the Fates better than Rise of Skywalker?

As the animated short shows, the movie would have had the main gang infiltrating an Imperial shipyard at the beginning. Once Finn, Poe, BB-8 and Rose Tico get in trouble, Rey would come to the rescue in disguise. As the video quips, Rose Tico would have a ton more to do than the 76 seconds she got in the over-two-hour epic shown on the big screen.

Another big change here is that Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker would have had more of a presence as well. He would have been a Force Ghost who seems to haunt Kylo Ren when he pleases. And instead of associating himself with Emperor Palpatine, who was the main villain of The Rise of Skywalker, Kylo Ren would be on a journey to find the Emperor’s trainer, Master Tor Vallum, after finding a holocron.

This version of Episode IX would split the team up between Rey, Poe and Chewbacca, and Rose, Finn and the droids, as the video showcases. Plus, during Kylo Ren’s side mission, he would meet Master Tor Vallum, learn skills from him and then totally murder him. Classic Kylo. This animated short reveals a lot of what the rumored Duel of the Fates script does. There are a few similarities, such as how short of screen time the Knights of Ren have, and Rey and Kylo dueling, of course.

But Rey is not a Palpatine and she gets transported to an astral plane, where she meets Obi Wan, Yoda and Luke Skywalker after Kylo decides to be good and save her – sacrificing himself. Oh, and Finn’s not Force sensitive here. Also Leia has a lot more to do and a younger Han Solo appears.

Of course, none of this happened, but maybe we’ll get a comic book version of it one day? Colin Trevorrow is currently hard at work on Jurassic World: Dominion at home, as the production waits to resume filming. The third Jurassic World movie is currently set to hit theaters on June 11, 2021.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.