10 Scrapped Ideas From Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm‘s Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now the top-grossing domestic movie of 2017 and has made over $1.1 billion worldwide. As is our tradition with every new Star Wars movie (and now that most of you reading have seen it!) we cracked open Abrams Books‘ latest tome The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi to find out all the juicy cut scenes and scrapped ideas that director Rian Johnson discarded before the final cut and, in many cases, before filming even began. Do these scrapped ideas give clues to the direction the story could go in Episode IX? Check out 10 Scrapped Ideas from Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the gallery below! BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!!

Written by Phil Szostak with a foreword by Rian Johnson, The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a 256-page hardcover book containing over 300 gorgeous illustrations from the various concept artists who helped Johnson and production designer Rick Heinrichs realize their vision for the eighth chapter of the beloved Saga in a galaxy far far away.

Click here to purchase your copy of The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) and continues the storylines introdukced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, welcoming back cast members Mark Hamill, the late Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis. New cast members include Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro, Academy Award nominee Laura Dern, and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran.

10 Scrapped Ideas From Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Rude Awakening

In initial storyboards, the standard opening crawl panned down to Finn waking up in his medic pod, as opposed to later in the film after the initial battle as it is in the final cut.
Rose Was Originally Poe

Johnson had originally thought of Poe going on the journey with Finn to Canto Bight, but decided against continuing their epic space bromance.

"It was so boring," Johnson said. "It was just these two dudes on an adventure. I knew something was wrong when I looked at their dialogue and realized I could interchange any of the lines. There wasn't conflict between them. So I realized I had to come up with something else. Finn needing somebody else to go with who would actually challenge him and push him and contrast with him was where Rose came from."
Finn and Paige in the Bomber

The book also mentions that initial drafts took place a bit later in the timeline, as opposed to nearly directly after the events of The Force Awakens. This is most evident when you learn that Paige (Rose's sister) was originally onboard her bomber with Finn, as opposed to the random Resistance bomber who died, forcing Paige to initiate the bombing of the First Order Dreadnaught herself.
Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren Could Have Been Bald

Concept art shows one iteration of the elder Skywalker as bald as a Buddhist monk, with a ringlet of hair coming out the back like a Padawan, and three blue lines on his forehead. This was in keeping with Lucas's original conception that Luke had become a kind of Colonel Kurtz figure from Apocalypse Now. Another piece of concept art also shows what Kylo Ren would have looked like with a shaved head as well, though it was decided destroying his helmet was good enough. Another piece of concept art showed Adam Driver de-aged to be a much younger boy during the flashbacks to Luke's Jedi training temple.
Luke's Temple… George Lucas-Style

The idea of Luke hiding on a secluded island actually dates back to the period prior to J.J. Abrams being hired for Episode VII, when George Lucas was in charge of the transition team working off of his own story ideas for the sequel trilogy. Rather than the rustic, ancient ruins that wound up in VII and VIII, Lucas imagined a more streamlined building, one that looked like a golden bell. The visuals harken far more to the look of the prequels. Rey's name in this initial story discussion was Kira, and scenes of her training were based on shots from The Seven Samurai.
Luke's Skiff and the Falcon in the Water

Seeing the Millenium Falcon underwater was an idea the art department toyed with for The Force Awakens, and there is an interesting image of the ship floating on water, having been ditched in the sea. There's also art of a skiff Luke uses for fishing and to show Rey the Jedi Ruins carved in the base of the island. The skiff looks similar to the ones Jabba the Hutt used to escort his sail barge in Return of the Jedi.
AT-AT Attack on Ahch-To

Another thing we never expected to see underwater is an AT-AT, but someone conceptualized a nighttime assault on Ahch-To island with armored carriers walking with their heads just above water, and troop carriers flying alongside with Kylo's ship in the rear. They also conceptualized a massive Walker dropper, as well as a Spider-Leg Walker with 16 to 22 legs that proved too complex to be visually memorable.
Luke Battling Sith Ghost

This is something the fans have wanted to see for some time, namely some manifestation of what the Sith look like in the afterlife and if they could combat a dead Jedi in that realm. One image shows a shadowy figure behind Luke as he meditates in a temple. Perhaps Snoke meeting a quick end in The Last Jedi means we could potentially see him take on Luke in Episode IX!
Codebreaker Musical Number

The Master Codebreaker played by Justin Theroux in the film originally had a much bigger part in the story, as well as backstory for what he was doing on Canto Bight. Turns out he was there to steal jewels from a warlord named "the Butcher of Brix," and he was originally introduced playing a musical number on an exotic piano while an alien woman sang. Finn and Rose followed the Master Codebreaker along a rooftop to help him steal the jewels, but were captured by police. It was a lot of extraneous plot for a character that winds up having little impact on the story, although we hope the Master Codebreaker and DJ can make it back into the plot for Episode IX!
Finn and Rose on The Supremacy

There was much more material of Rose, Finn and DJ sneaking aboard The Supremacy, some of which may show up on the Blu-ray in the form of deleted scenes. There was a scene where they steal their clothes from First Order officers, as opposed to finding them in the laundry room. There was also a scene where they stumble on a bureaucratic commons area with First Order worker drones sitting in what is essentially a big cubicle farm/map room, giving us a look at the more mundane side of the bad guys' organization. This was followed by a scene where the trio is chased across a bridge by Phasma, and a big laser gun battle erupts over the precipice.