Interesting thoughts, but not for me. I know you tend to be democratic when it comes to devising edit ideas, but personally I don’t care that people wanted Anakin in the movie. I don’t like how the PT tried to reframe the saga as his story, and I don’t care much for making sure his status as ‘chosen one’ is kept intact.
Honestly too I think having Anakin’s hand involved would just be kind of unintentionally funny, considering the romantic nature of the scene (and somewhat undercut the hand-taking throughline of their relationship).
Same here. I have no interest in seeing Anakin in this film and I never cared for how GL claimed the saga was meant to be his story all along, especially that Chosen One prophecy nonsense. I’m glad it wasn’t referenced at all in TROS with the exception of Anakin mentioning some vague mumbo jumbo about bringing balance.
As for the alternate ending with Leia using her life force to revive Ben, I think that is the best decision especially since we actually have Maz looking jubilant when Leia’s body fades away. This moment doesn’t work as well if you have her smiling because Ben has just passed away too, even if he is reunited with his mother. It does make sense if Maz senses that Leia has used her final act to revive her son and reunite him with Rey. Very interesting to see Ben integrated in that final scene although hopefully in footage that doesn’t have him dressed up as Kylo Ren.