This is an interesting idea. I’ll need to sit with it and think about how it factors in to the characters throughout the film.
I suppose since I’ve already cut the bit where Kylo tells Rey they’ll kill him and take the throne, this works. I guess if you think about it with the hangar line changes it’s kind of like Kylo is basically saying Palpatine doesn’t matter? I’ve suspected before that his line on the DS “the only way you’re getting to Exegol is with me” was a dub to remove an earlier version where Kylo doesn’t want Rey to go to Exegol at all. Hmm, how might that idea be accomplished?
Actually perhaps most important this change probably makes more sense in terms of my new version of Rey’s backstory.
These kind of logical questions speak to the frustration I’m having while trying to figure out how to make the Force bond duel scene (and the hangar scene) work in a logical way. Tbf, the original film has these problems too I think.
Okay, so Palpatine tells Kylo to kill Rey because he foresaw her killing him and taking the throne. Okay… so, how does Kylo factor into this? Palpatine tells Kylo that if he kills Rey, that he’ll give him the fleet and let him be the new Emperor. So, is he basically trying to tell Kylo that he wants him as his successor, but not Rey? And Kylo believes that?
The movie makes you think Palpatine is telling Kylo he wants her dead because she’s a Jedi, but when Kylo says, “Because he saw what you would become. You don’t just have power. You have his power” that whole speech makes me think he is referring to this dark power inside her, that she will become evil like Palpatine.
Maybe it’s like this: Palpatine wants Kylo to think he wants Rey dead because she will destroy him and his Empire “as a Jedi”. But, Kylo doesn’t want to kill Rey. He wants to show Rey her power and her inner darkness in order to make her join him and destroy Palpatine together. But if Kylo fails to kill Rey and go full dark side, Palpatine wants Rey to actually be his new vessel (assuming if she kills Kylo instead).
This is why Rey says she has a vision of herself and Ren on the throne together (even though we don’t see it). I guess she is afraid she’ll give in to Ren and join the dark side, because she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to stop Palpatine on her own? But, on Ahch-To, after she has defeated Kylo, she is still afraid that her dark throne vision could come true if she goes to confront Palpatine.
Also, I wonder if Rey’s choices are really differentiated enough in a Rey Nobody version like this. Kylo is basically laying out two choices for her: If you go alone, you’ll kill Palpatine and take the throne (joining the Sith/Dark Side) in order to save your friends. OR, you can join me/the Dark Side and we can kill Palpatine together to save your friends. Like, what is the benefit to join Kylo if he just told her she’s gonna kill Palpatine anyway, with or without him? Why does she need Kylo? Kylo hasn’t told her that he will possess her, so either choice she makes, she’ll kill Palpatine and join the dark side. You can argue that joining Kylo is different, but Kylo is basically Sith in all but name, at least to your casual fan. The only difference is Kylo is saying we can do it together.
I wonder if it would make more sense if Kylo told her that she would join Palpatine? That would explain why she would adamantly say, “I’m going to find Palpatine, and destroy him.” And then when she gets there, she is surprised when he says that he wants her to kill him.
Also, isn’t weird that when Rey says that to Finn, Finn says that doesn’t sound like her? Like, isn’t finding Palpatine and destroying him the plan, though? I guess it was how she said it, since it is implying she wants revenge for him killing her parents? So weird. (This is a scene that I think would be improved in a “Rey killed her parents” scenario, because Rey could tell Finn she killed her parents, and Finn could say that doesn’t sound like her. Idk.)
I just don’t think that her wanting to kill Palpatine for revenge works in a scenario where her parents are bad people, or if her parents are not in the story. That’s why I’m trying to work on a version of the Force bond duel scene where the motivation is replaced by visions of Palpatine/the Final Order killing her friends at the battle of Exegol.
It almost makes me wish they had gone with the original plot. Palpatine tells Kylo to bring Rey to him so that they can turn her, and then Rey and Kylo rule as his successors together as a Sith Dyad. But he secretly just wants to drain their Dyad energy. In a potential edit, you could have Palpatine tell Kylo that he will turn Rey by possessing her, but Kylo doesn’t want that to happen, so he is actively trying to prevent her from reaching Exegol. But I’m sure this version of events would have its own problems.
Bringing Palpatine into this film was just a confusing decision.
EDIT: I did watch your work print again recently, Dom, and I do think it does a great job of making the necessary Rey Nobody changes without drastically changing the film.