I’ll have to get into the editing and music for this project before making any final determination about whether or not to keep the original ending or use it in other ways throughout, but one of the reasons for ending the movie with her leaving the base is to keep the story firmly an ensemble with Rey and Finn. When Rey leaves Finn to go off on her own, it sends the message that Rey is the new Luke, even when Finn has had as much screen time and is really a co-lead.

And yeah, I would like to do an extended journey where I could use the credits version of Rey’s theme, but it would take a lot of vfx work or repurposing a lot of footage that we don’t have at the moment.

The latest idea I had for a potential ending is dependent on the music working, but it would go something like this throughout the movie:

-Reydream (when eating dinner at sunset)
…
-Dream of exploring the island + Jedi Texts + Maybe the cloaked figure of Luke (right between Han and Leia’s conversation and Rey waking up for the interrogation) Jedi Steps begins, to about the 1 minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUBUlKgsNK8
…
-R2 finds the rest of the map, the map is complete, closeup on Rey, closeup on the holographic path to Luke. Music transitions to the Jedi Steps again, this time from 1 minute to 1:37, along with a wipe or other visual transition indicating the passage of time - a Force vision or dream. Rey climbs the steps and Luke turns. Now we see his face for the first time, and here she offers up the lightsaber. Another wipe as the music goes quiet, and it transitions to Rey saying goodbye to Finn, perhaps along with that original music. Leia says her goodbyes to Rey, she boards the Falcon, and it takes off to the final notes of the Jedi Steps.

So again, very dependent on whether the music works and it reads correctly on screen, but that’s the best way I can think to include the emotional beats of the original film in this new structure.