Okay. So you could probably keep some shots of it the planet falling apart, but it sounds like you still might need one or two replacement shots. At the very least, the est. shots of the planet imploding and turning into a star.
Here is something that I wrote for the crawl a while back that could possibly fit that:
Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the radical FIRST ORDER has emerged from uncharted space and will not rest until the glory of the Empire has been restored.
With the New Republic doubtful of the threat this remnant poses, General Leia Organa mobilizes a covert Resistance to gather evidence of the First Order’s true scale before it is too late.
Believing the last Jedi could rally the galaxy to their cause, Leia has sent her bravest pilot to Jakku, where a former Imperial archeologist holds the missing piece to Luke’s whereabouts…
This crawl accomplishes a few things.
• The scale of the First Order is a mystery because they have rebuilt in hiding, and the New Republic is doubtful they are anymore dangerous than past Imperial remnants.
• The Resistance has been mobilized to find evidence that the First Order is a genuine threat to the Republic.
• Leia believes finding Luke could add legitimacy to their claims, which ties their desire to find Luke to their desire for the Republic to take this new threat seriously.
I think all of this fits well with what we see in the film, too.
• When Poe first sees the First Order hangar bay, he is almost in shock by how sophisticated it looks.
• When we meet Leia, she makes it clear that the Republic doesn’t take her, or this threat, seriously.
• If you show that Starkiller Base has been mined out, it could help show that they have been able to rebuild their fleet off-the-grid (though this idea might necessitate cutting the war profiteering stuff from TLJ). The “uncharted space” line could help hammer in this idea that they have been rebuilding in secret.
• While you could say, “Believing the last Jedi to be their key to victory”, I think by saying Luke could rally the galaxy to their cause, it helps set up how Luke is not only a powerful warrior, but a symbol of hope that can influence the entire galaxy.
• While not necessary, I feel like setting up Lor San Tekka as a former Imperial archeologist that has been “protecting” the missing piece of the map helps provide some much-needed context for where this map came from, and why it is split into two parts. More explanation for that:
While not explicitly explained, the idea is that Lor San Tekka used to be an Imperial archeologist who was looking for the First Jedi Temple, under orders of the Emperor. Perhaps he is Alderaanian (“To me, she’s royalty”), and after its destruction, he left the Empire and took the last piece of the map with him. He has been protecting its location ever since, perhaps only sharing it with Luke, which is how he got there himself. Maybe Lor San didn’t know Luke went into hiding, but Leia went looking for Lor San because she knew he had the map. So this helps explain why a part of the map is in the Imperial archives, and why this random old man has the missing piece. “This will begin to make things right” now potentially has an additional meaning, if Lor San had previously helped the Empire find and destroy sacred Jedi sites. If you keep the films focus on finding the map, I felt it was important to try and give more context to its origins.