The Rise of Skywalker Didn't Use Any of Colin Trevorrow's Script

J.J. Abrams wasn’t originally supposed to direct Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In 2015, Disney and Lucasfilm hired Colin Trevorrow to helm the movie and co-write the script with his longtime collaborator, Derek Connolly. The pair remained with the project for two years before they left in 2017 and Abrams stepped in. Trevorrow and Connolly still received a “story by” credit on The Rise of Skywalker. But according to Chris Terrio, who co-wrote the final screenplay with Abrams, none of their work actually made it into the finished film.

While speaking with The Wrap, Terrio confirmed that he and Abrams started fresh when crafting the Skywalker Saga’s conclusion.

“We are both a little superstitious about starting with material that might lead us in a direction that’s different than the one we might’ve gone in naturally,” explained Terrio. “So we didn’t begin with the previous script. There may have been certain elements that we used that had been in the original script and we weren’t aware of it. The Guild makes the determination about those things.”

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Regardless of how fans might perceive this news, Terrio insists that there’s no bad blood between any of the writers.

“We didn’t have a bad relationship to Colin’s material,” continued Terrio. “We just didn’t start with it. It’s not a juicy story of intrigue or anything.”

Trevorrow reportedly left The Rise of Skywalker over creative differences. Kathleen Kennedy told Gizmodo last month that the Jurassic World director was “at a huge disadvantage” because he wasn’t involved in the planning of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, this explanation rings rather hollow, since Rian Johnson wasn’t involved in that film’s development either. He of course went on to make Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Do you think J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio made the right decision to start Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s script from scratch? Let us know in the comments below!

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