ST The Development Of The Sequel Trilogy

Rey was promoted as the lead back in TFA.
In TFA, Rey and Kylo were treated as co-leads according to RJ.
I don't care for Kylo so the forcing of him to be a co-lead didn't work for me.

 

I'm just giving ideas on what the story might have been like if Disney and Lucasfilm did based the story for the sequel trilogy off of some plot elements from the expanded universe. I'm pretty sure fans would have rather of had Disney and Lucasfilm take plot elements from the expanded universe rather than take plot elements from the original trilogy movies. Besides they could still create a new story off of some of the plot elements from the expanded universe instead of completely rehashing a story. An perfect example of this is how the Marvel movies are based off of plot elements from the comics, but the stories in the movies are still new.

 

The First Order Holocast‏ @FirstOrderHolo
@pablohidalgo @PhilSzostak since Kylo Ren has similarities to Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus & his name is Ben like Luke’s son in the EU. Did @jjabrams originally plan to have Jacen Solo & Ben Skywalker but ended up merging the two or did it happen by coincidence ?

Pablo Hidalgo‏ @pablohidalgo
Jacen did not enter the conversation during development. Kylo came from the evolution of a son character and a separate “Jedi Killer” character.

The First Order Holocast‏ @FirstOrderHolo
What was the Son character called ?

Pablo Hidalgo‏ @pablohidalgo
Skyler. Though his name went through multiple changes.

The First Order Holocast‏ @FirstOrderHolo
Was he a Solo or Skywalker ?

Pablo Hidalgo‏ @pablohidalgo
He was Han and Leia’s kid.

The First Order Holocast‏ @FirstOrderHolo
And who was the Kira character that became Rey, was she a Skywalker or Solo, or completely new character ?

Pablo Hidalgo‏ @pablohidalgo
The one consistent attribute of her ever changing character was “a young woman seeking out Luke Skywalker to learn the ways of the Force.”

 

Yes, different versions of the same character. Never did I claim Skyler was the lead character, but a Solo son was always a part of the story (thus the Skywalker of the next gen). Pablo answers the question of the tweeter about Kira being the hero/chosen one, after they've established in their convo that Skyler was the 'legacy' character.

I did answer that point, a concept artist drawing two characters looking 'similar' doesn't prove those characters are related; in fact how many concept artists are even told detailed backgrounds of the characters they are drawing?? I also pointed out to you that we know from earlier versions of the TFA story that at one point Skyler was Thea/Kira's companion NOT brother. Once Skyler became the Solo son already on the dark side, that aspect became Sam who became Finn. Rumors that Rey was a Solo, are just that and I haven't seen any that lead back to legit info about the ST. Look, IF it were true that Thea/Kira & Skyler were brother & sister Solos ala Jaina & Jacen Pablo wouldn't be going anywhere near this discussion and he certainly wouldn't be saying George wasn't referring to them. And here's Pablo saying Jacen didn't come into conversation during development... IF Skyler was Kira's brother I'm 98% sure Jacen would've come up.

Okay, well since you were talking to me and at that point hadn't mentioned anything about Reywalkers I could only assume it was directed toward me. And of course just like before you bring out the 'Reylo' label something I have already told you I'm not (I'm a SW fan pure & simple I don't belong to a 'tribe'). I'm not trying to prove or disprove anything for a theory's sake as I already said. From everything I've seen it seems Rey/Thea/Kira was never related. If that ends up not being true, fine but until then it's what I believe evidence backs up.

 

We know they/there were siblings in the Lucas treatment because George Lucas said so on at least three separate public occasions.

"Darth Vader's grandchildren" is more than one person.

Hidalgo (archive ii) doesn't want to say that the other grandchild is female..and not because it's not true. He always holds back - he even admits he does in the past.



And now again including for IX.

 

Lucas: what happened to Vader's grandchildren?

This means Rey. What happened to her?

Not Luke's (who had no children according to Lucas himself) Still related to Vader, and to Ben Solo. That means Leia. But, what about Han? Did Rey stop being a Solo at some point?

Abrams: 'you tell me, man. You made all this **** up!'

He did. Obviously, Lucas didnt invent ('made up') fatherhood. He did, however, invent SW 'fatherhood'.



According to this, either Palpatine had something to do with Rey, or Anakin did.

Anakin it is. He would have learnt that, just as darkness 'rose' inside Shmi once, 'Skywalker' did too. The sith chose the person the force would choose in its turn (the chosen one) to end them. The sith relied in power, the force in 'bonding' (family bonding, in this case)

Pre-TPM Sidious created, on purpose, a person; and, involuntarily, the family bond that would kill him. Post-ROTJ Anakin reversed that move, and created the bond on purpose, which resulted in a person. The sith would be destroyed again, this time for good.

Snoke: 'if Skywalker returns, the new jedi will rise'
Lor San Tekka: 'without the jedi there can be no balance in the force'

The rise of Skywalker>the new jedi>balance. This part of the prophecy would also be fulfilled.

'His compassion for you will be his undoing'. But it was Palpatine's undoing. So, Anakin learned the trick, and bridged Ben and Leia when Ben was 9-10yo. Then Leia Skywalker 'rose'.

 

I know you never claim Skyler was the lead character. Thea/Kira has always been the lead character. In a movie which originated under Lucas reign, someone who has keep saying how his movies where about the grand children of Vader, is it realistic to argue Thea was not a Solo at the very first stage? There were rumors who even today still sound spot on, like the Mizzlewump stuff you surely are well aware of. Rumors by MSW, concept art where even Rey looked like Han Solo (see the art in which see arives to Ahch-To with a Han-like outfit). Does this mean it is undeniable Rey comes from a character that once was Thea Solo? Nope, obviously, but seems to have more base to sustain it than assuming there was another Solo male kid around we never heard anything about.

In fact, if you review all the different leads we seemed to have along the pre-production, there is hardly evidence to sustain one could also be a Solo. Jon Doe was usually depicted as a black male character, who was Luke's last living padawan. He evolved into Poe. Sam came from Skyler, and it does not look silly to me he changed to Kira's companion once Skyler got mixed with JK. Where is this other Solo boy then?

Of course Pablo refuses to say anything about Rey, for reasons Magnar has already pointed out. The tweet you have posted might be misleading, since Pablo also said he himself told Lucas about the Solo kids in the EU. He is still trapped by confidenciality as a member of LFL. What about Jett Lucas? Why did TFA reminded him of Anastasia? Why he implied Rey was royalty? I don't think he was/is aware of the current state of the story for TROS, but he surely knew what his father had in mind.

 

Speaking of which...


October 6, 2013

 

Ha! Imagine she does not end up being a Solo, after she probably was one at some point. Wouldn't that be funny Magnar?

 

This makes me angry . . . and another reason why I dislike Rian Johnson so much. From what I had seen in "TFA", Rey and Finn were the co-leads. Since when did Johnson had decided that Kylo Ren was the co-lead in this trilogy? What happened to Finn? Doesn't J.J. Abrams have any say in this matter? You know what? My interest in this trilogy has dimmed even further.

 

JJ Abrams was the executive producer for The Last Jedi. I don't think he would have financed a project that he thought stunk.

 

Agreed. From what I understand, JJ wasn't in a single second of the Director and the Jedi documentary. He wasn't at the premiere of TLJ. In fact, I don't remember ever even seeing a single photo of JJ and RJ together. It's also JJ's regular MO to get a producer credit on future products for movies he was involved in developing. To me, it's pretty clear that he was a producer for TLJ for paycheck purposes only. Note that I am not saying that he feels one way or the other about TLJ. I just don't agree with the narrative that is put forth sometimes that JJ somehow would have had veto power over any decisions RJ made. TLJ was a 100% Lucasfilm production. I just don't see them deferring their creative decisions to another director (and rightfully so... it was their production, not his).

 

I feel like it's very possible that this split production coupled with the compressed time schedule resulted in what I see as very different directions for TLJ vs TFA. For TFA, Iger gave Lucasfilm a very aggressive timeline. Out of necessity, Kasdan and Abrams basically kicked the story group out of the room and wrote the movie on their own. Abrams handled much of the production in his Bad Robot offices, hundreds of miles from Lucasfilm. In many ways, Lucasfilm lost some of the control that they would probably have liked to have had in the production process. I want to emphasize that I'm not trying to paint this as some kind of battle or a power struggle. It's more that the incredibly tight constraints of the situation, coupled with JJ always working on productions in house, didn't allow Lucasfilm to be able to exercise the planning and control they would have preferred if Iger had given them more time.

On the other hand, they hired RJ early enough that he had a tremendous amount of time to prepare his story. He was able to move close to Lucasfilm and work in conjunction with the story group to really decide what they wanted to do with the trilogy. They were fully responsible for with all stages of production this time. To me, this is where the narrative shifted a little on who and what the trilogy was focusing on, and it's why IMO TLJ feels like a very soft reboot of TFA. The characterizations that were set up in TFA feel suddenly different, and the characters retread their arcs. TLJ is Lucasfilm finally having the luxury of time and therefore better being able to plant their mark on the story. I think if Lucasfilm had had more time (and perhaps a different director with less power in the industry), 7 would have looked very different as well.

I fully realized that the above is all purely conjecture. I definitely could be wrong, but it's just my read of the situation based on what we are aware of in regards to the development of these movies. One thing I've always loved about Star Wars was the transparency with which Lucas conducted the development process. It's why it is fascinating for me to read quotes from the development team and speculate about what went down, since I doubt Disney will ever allow that amount of openness again.

 

I think the more interesting question now is who holds more sway JJ/Bad Robot or Lucasfilm

 

Rogue One was their first outing as a lone production company...the movie that Tony Gilroy had to be helicoptered in after the director's cut for millions of dollars to rescue because it was a 'mess', to quote his opinion. TLJ was their second attempt without anybody helicoptered in...unless you count replacing Trevorrow with Abrams and turning IX into another elaborate reshoot/sequel but they'd rather us to not believe that and believe Johnson has full confidence with three more SW movies coming from him in the future. And then redoing over Solo happened near the end of that production under Lord and Miller at the same time (Summer 2017) with the directors swapped out for Ron Howard. I just find it hard to look at all the changes in isolation from each other.

 

@godisawesome

Edwards is probably the most interesting in terms of "The Future" especially with a Cassian show underway. He played nice unlike Lord and Miller and well...Kept any issues he had to himself, so they could want him back even in some sort of smaller role. So he might be in Lucasfilm good graces.

Spoiler

Rumor has it he might be involved in said Cassian show in a large role but nothing confirmed just a rumor

Also now it begs the question why hire JJ back and not just get someone without there own production company...apart from what i guess is "JJ got TFA done and successful"

 

Yeah. And I much prefer Kennedy’s “director-first” approach, to Feige’s “house style rules” approach. It’s the main reason, I think, Lucas chose her. It’s central to Lucas’ philosophy of letting creatives be, well, creative.

It means that some products will be divisive, sure. But that’s much more preferable to an endless stream of safe mediocrity.