Poe's 'Rise of Skywalker' Storyline Was Originally Going to Be Much Darker
One thing we know about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is that the script went through many, many changes before becoming what we got to see in the cinema. We've already learned about giant bog-spiders thanks to the Rise of Skywalker novelization, and plenty more cut scenes.
Now, the release of The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has revealed other storyline that fell by the wayside. The art book was written by the film's writers, JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio, meaning whatever plans Colin Trevorrow had are not included.
In the book, Terrio wrote: "I’ve never written a film as much as this one. It’s like the tide. There’s a new script every morning. But we just keep going at it and going at it, loosely thinking that it’s not good enough. It’s never good enough."
Whether you agreed it was good enough or not, we can all likely agree on this – Poe did not get enough to do. And now we've learned that Poe's story in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker could have been much bigger, darker, and more meaningful.
As described by Polygon, the book reveals a couple of ideas Terrio and Abrams had for Poe's character trajectory. Along with Finn, Poe was meant to have gone on a "World War II-inspired caper involving an Enigma-style coding machine".
Yes, another MacGuffin, but at least this one seemed to sort-of have a use. The machine would help them decode a Final Order plot, instead of the glorified GPS that we got with the Wayfinder.
The plan was that the enigma machine was hidden in a pub on a snow-covered planet, raided by Stormtroopers. The planet became Kijimi, which was eventually used in the final version of the film, reuniting Poe with Zorii Bliss.
Another storyline had him on a swamp-planet, working with pirates to take his crew on a dangerous up-river mission, a homage to Apocalypse Now. Like the World War II-inspired storyline, it adds a much-needed level of real-world stakes to the heroes' journey.
The Rise of Skywalker also dropped in the juicy nugget about Poe's previous life as a spice runner. An earlier version of the script explored this in much more detail, with Poe being kidnapped by the vicious drug-running gang that raised him.
Poe (and Finn and Rose) were all done a disservice by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In the case of the former, he was reduced to a comedic sidekick, with throw-away one-liners and little bickering fits that, yes, were funny because Oscar Isaac is a formidable actor.
Sadly, much like the wasted talents of Adam Driver in his final scene, Isaac's dramatic abilities (which were put to such great use in The Last Jedi) were wholly ignored for a color-by-numbers heist movie set in the rich tapestry of the Star Wars universe.
But there's always hope for a Poe spin-off, right? There's clearly plenty of material there to play with, and as a fan-favorite, in the right hands, his story could be the standalone movie that Solo didn't quite manage to be.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available to pre-order on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K now.
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