'Star Wars' Novelist Wrote An 'Episode IX' Script For The Fans, Retconning Parts of 'The Last Jedi'
If there is one thing that you cannot stop anymore than you can stop the twin suns of Tatooine from setting, its stopping Star Wars fans from arguing about Star Wars. From Ewoks to Gungans, reincarnated emperors and Mary Poppins-like Force powers, every fan has something they do not enjoy about the saga. Possibly the biggest target of this animosity is the eighth installment of the Skywalker saga, The Last Jedi. This movie came under fire from a large and very vocal group of fans who claim everything from it being the worst Star Wars movie ever made to that it completely destroys the Star Wars mythos, rendering the rest of the saga moot.
Many elements in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker seemed to be a direct attempt by JJ Abrams to back peddle and retcon some of the more unpopular elements of The Last Jedi. This included changing Rey's parentage, turning Snoke into a Palpatine body double, and doubling down on Finn's Force-sensitivity, albeit very slightly. There were some, however, who were so disappointed by The Last Jedi that they couldn't wait for The Rise of Skywalker to be released and would not risk it disappointing them as well. This includes, perhaps naturally, authors who have spent time imagining stories in the Star Wars universe.
While most people are stuck telling their rewritings to houseplants, cats, or their bored friends, one person with a significantly larger audience is Alan Dean Foster. Writer of the novelization for the original film, Foster is perhaps best known in the Star Wars community as the writer of the first Expanded Universe novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye. This book had the potential to be the sequel to Star Wars if the original film was not as successful upon its release in 1977. The story came out of discussions with George Lucas and even included a setting that would not have required quite a high budget. Even the character Han Solo is absent since the possibility of Harrison Ford's return was not a certainty. However, the film adaptation of his novel was abandoned in favor of George Lucas' vision, which would become The Empire Strikes Back. Foster is no stranger to writing stories in the sequel era either, as he also penned the novelization of The Force Awakens, which would explain not only his credentials for a retooling of Episode VIII via a treatment for Episode IX, but why he would feel so strongly about having a hand in it.
Foster recently spoke with the YouTube channel known as Midnight's Edge about his fan driven The Rise of Skywalker rewrite. He said that he focused on getting rid of "silly things" in The Last Jedi and explaining Rey's rapid mastery of the Force, one of the most common criticisms of the sequel trilogy. The author described his vision of Rey being "part droid" after suffering from an illness that required part of her brain to be replaced by cybernetics. While cyborg modifications are nothing new to Star Wars (Luke's hand, Anakin's arm, Anakin's arm again, 90% of General Grievous), brain enhancements are not as widespread. Especially in this case, with Rey being able to "learn remarkably quickly and also enhances her existing Force powers." While this certainly would have been an interesting screenplay to seen adapted to the big screen, Foster stated that his script was never actually considered for production, but that he simply wrote it for those fans who also thought The Last Jedi was "a terrible film."
Source(s): Deseret