ST Rey should have joined the dark side and become Empress.

Huh? Where does this info come from?

 

I think there was once a rumor that said JJ wanted to split TROS into two films and Disney said no. But that's it.

And that no was probably more to do with reality and wanting to get this trilogy done and not because of the story itself. If you look at TROS though, you can almost sorta see how one might think it needs to be two separate movies. It's so crammed with plotting and arcs and random ideas that it sort feels like two movies horribly edited into one.

If anything its another prime example of how poorly these writers planned their story and executed a vision.

 

I would have definitely supported splitting it, as it's an absolute mess of concepts crammed into a totally incoherent rollercoaster ride.

 

It felt like it was made by a committee and not by a person with a vision

 

It feels like leftovers. Whatever was on JJ's Star Wars must-have checklist from TFA, that wasn't used in TFA. was then thrown in for good measure.

Forest Moon. Another Death Star. Emperor fight. Bounty Hunter. Parental reveal. Ghost pep talk. Tatooine Homestead.

 

Of COURSE it was!!!

 

Evil Rey would be an interesting what if after TLJ and how she would fit in the FO hierarchy, especially in relation to Kylo and Hux. I imagine Hux would try to sabotage her at every turn. I guess if the ST was a TV show, this could have been a season wide arc for Rey. However, since they are 2-hour long movies instead, it would be kinda difficult to wrap things up in one movie, especially with the return of Palpatine, Ben Solo's redemption and the wider FO/Resistance war. It would be a mess to deal with, more than what it already is.

 

EP 9. Evil Rey and Supreme Leader Kylo are leading the troops into battle. Kylo finally feels like a true master, with his new apprentice beside him. Then we hear Palpatine's message and he reveals that Rey is his cloned-daughter and the true heir of the Empire. Suddenly the troops all bow down to her and forget Kylo altogether. He starts crying and raging. Evil Rey orders them to kill him and they all fire on him at once.

The end.

 

I don’t know about two full movies, but at least a more focused approach on the stronger elements would’ve helped. There’s many interesting concepts there, they just never get put together into a satisfying whole for me. Dark Rey is one of those.

One simple thing the movie could’ve done better was to highlight how much that vision of herself on the Sith throne seemed like a prophecy of an unavoidable future to Rey. It’s stated literally, but it doesn’t really feel true or likely, perhaps because of how little those visuals are on screen or how little impact they have when they’re there. But they are strong visuals on their own, and if they had been presented as a solid and prescient glimpse of the future, that would’ve added some needed menace to what she’s trying to avoid throughout the movie.



Contrast for example with the movie Dune Part Two and the visions Paul Atreides is trying to avoid making a reality. That movie really drives home the fact that he is terrified of his possible future, and it informs why the character behaves the way he does for a good chunk of the movie.

On that subject, and relevant to the Dark Rey topic, I recently reread Children of Dune, and I really do think something like this is what Terrio (and possibly Abrams) was hinting at for Rey. Putting this behind spoiler tags since it may be considered such in the near future.

Spoiler: Children of Dune

The nature of Alia’s possession by the Baron Harkonnen, her grandfather, seems precisely like what would’ve happened to Rey had Palpatine’s plans worked. It was strange to me in TROS why someone would agree to taking in Palpatine’s spirit, why he would mention it to her. But historically the idea of possession is not a simple replacement of a personality. It’s an affliction for the possessed, they take on a spirit and are personally haunted by them, and sometimes taken over.

Children of Dune really illustrates an SF version of this concept with depth enough to highlight how tragic and frightening it is. Alia is haunted by her grandfather, being pre-born as she is and having all her ancestors present in her mind since her birth. A tenuous agreement with her inner grandfather allows her to keep her sanity, but he gradually erodes at her as he wants more and more control of her living body. It’s truly nightmarish, extremely sad, and I think this is probably what it would’ve been like for Rey had that dark vision of her come to pass.

It’s not just a possible bad future that can be easily discarded. It’s the culmination of all of Palpatine’s plans (as retconned by TROS) after his defeat over Endor. That is his true big plan, but we just get flashes of it. We spend more time listening to the confusing, half-hidden, and likely deceptive list of demands he makes of his servants throughout the movie in order to get Rey to Exegol. But Dark Rey is the future he has designed for himself and his granddaughter. And the movie falls short of really selling that idea as the terrifying reality it could be for Rey and the galaxy.

 

you forgot a stop at Bespin (look cloud city — we were here in ESB) and a stop at Endor to see Wicket (and you remember this — from ROTJ).

Those moments reminded me of the SNL skit “Cheques” — when she’s telling you how to right a check. “Here the date, there the amount, here the same but in letters.”

dark Rey would have been intriguing. I say do a What If.