The Rise of Skywalker: Untold is a WIP fan edit of Star Wars: Episode IX that I am trying to develop. Based on Hal 9000’s incredible Ascendant edit of the film, Untold hopes to take all of the enhancements designed for Hal’s version, and push the film still further by reworking a number of the core story elements. The primary goals are:

Undo the “Rey Palpatine” retcon
Provide Kylo with an actual arc that adds nuance to his character, and builds to his redemption
Minimize Palpatine’s role in the film, making the story less about him and more about Rey
Remove the subplot of Hux being a spy and inexplicably betraying everything he’s worked for over the course of the trilogy
Further expand on the underlying concept, newly created for Ascendant, that the galaxy is rising up due to Luke’s sacrifice
Several other tweaks to minimize the film’s contrived plotting

This is a fairly intensive reworking of the film, so I don’t have any release date in mind at the moment. But I’ll post updates on this thread as I’m working on it, so feel free to check back if you’re interested! (And if anyone wants to help out with audio or VFX, feel free to reach out!)

FULL THEORETICAL CHANGE LIST (all edits subject to change):

Kylo no longer encounters Palpatine on Exegol. The Sith Fleet does not deploy. Instead, Kylo hears whispers from Sith Spirits, who guide him through the scene. Added a snippet of the “Anthem of Evil” theme, which will be used throughout this edit to represent the Sith Cult.
Remove the scene where Rey and Leia gleefully exclaim that “Nothing’s impossible!”
Moved Rey’s conversation with Leia in the hangar to immediately after her meditation, so it now takes place before she runs the training course.
During Rey’s and Leia’s conversation, restructured the dialogue to be more about Rey “not feeling like herself,” rather than it being about her “being tired.” Removed the portion of the conversation where Rey decides that she shouldn’t be using the lightsaber that she’s already been using for two movies. Additionally, BB-8’s plating is no longer broken, as that happens during the Training Course (which hasn’t taken place yet).
Mirrored a shot of Poe in the cockpit for better sense of screen direction. Add a new line of Poe calling for Chewie to address Chewie not being in the cockpit during the previous shot.
Modified Rey’s Jedi Texts – rather than looking at Sith Wayfinders again, she’s now studying Force Healing. (Art and FX by NeverarGreat)
Modified Finn’s and Poe’s homecoming scene so as to avoid anyone mentioning BB-8’s broken plating. The damage itself has been repaired using a combination of new footage (all color-corrected to match the rest of the scene) and VFX.
Rey now attempts the training course after Poe berates her for spending more time training than helping the cause. This gives Rey a plausible reason for getting so agitated during the scene.
Removed Ochi from Rey’s vision, and added new shots to set up the threat of the Sith Fleet.
The Resistance intelligence briefing has been recut to avoid any mention of Palpatine. The crisis at hand now revolves around Kylo discovering the super-powerful Sith Fleet, which makes the danger much more personal to our heroes.
Added new C-3PO dialogue to maintain continuity within Star Wars canon that the Sith Planet was actually Moraband, not Exegol. Exegol has been recontextualized as a “temple to the Sith” instead.
Added new C-3PO dialogue, to offer an explanation for the abundance of ships and workers on Exegol.
Tweak the dialogue between Rey and Leia to suggest that the Wayfinder information was catalogued by the Jedi, rather than by Luke himself. This hopefully papers over a gap where TLJ implies that Luke had never read the books in the Tree Temple, whereas TROS says that he was actually using the Sacred Jedi Texts as his personal diary.
Changed Rey’s final declaration from “Find Exegol, find the Emperor,” to “Find Exegol, stop Kylo Ren.”
Cut Rey’s line, “You were right before,” mainly to give the scene transition more room to breathe.
Used different shots of 3PO and R2 as they’re saying good-bye (color corrected).
Removed Leia’s line “Never be afraid of who you are” to Rey, and her handing back the lightsaber.
Additional changes to Kylo’s vision in this edit remove Palpatine’s dialogue from the sequence, and add an extra line for Rey.
Padded out Kylo’s march toward the board meeting with new, color corrected footage. Added a bit of the Knights of Ren Theme.
Redubbed the First Order meeting so that the Knights of Ren (rather than Kylo) are the ones who killed Alien Mark Hamill. This immediately establishes them as fearsome, dangerous foes, and avoids the Idiot Ball moment of Kylo murdering his only lead towards discovering the identity of the spy.
Removed Poe saying that the First Order are going to be patrolling the Pasaana party. Realistically, they wouldn’t care about the festival; and removing this foreshadowing makes the ensuing scuffle much more surprising and intense.
Replaced Kylo’s line “Palpatine wants you dead” with his later line “Wherever you are, you are hard to find.”
Removed the scene where the First Order analyzes the Pasaana necklace, because it doesn’t make sense for Kylo’s entire plan to be dependent on a random child giving Rey a piece of jewelry 99 seconds earlier.
Mirrored the shot when the group first encounters Lando, for more cohesive screen direction.
Trimmed Lando saying that “Leia sent me a transmission.” For the audience, it helps to maintain the mystery of who he is (and whether or not he’s trustworthy) until after he removes his mask. For the characters, it avoids awkward questions such as “Why didn’t Leia tell them to rendez-vous with Lando if she knew he was going to be at the same party?” And “Why does Lando need Rey to deliver messages to Leia for him, when he’s clearly in contact with her already?”
Added a line for Poe, asking their mysterious rescuer if he’s with the Resistance too.
Removed Lando’s cabbie’s dialogue.
During the Desert Chase, trimmed Finn excitedly whooping at the violent murder of his fellow kidnapped child-soldiers.
Removed Rey recognizing Ochi’s ship from her past.
Trimmed Poe comically screaming “Did you get all of them?” right as a stormtrooper blows up their ships.
Trimmed the heroes firing willy-nilly at the last stormtrooper, to remove some of the gross excess from the film. (Idea by bbghost)
Added a brief shot of the Pasaana landscape after the final stormtrooper is defeated, to allow for a moment to breathe before sinking in the quicksand.
Removed Poe saying that he doesn’t like bones. It’s an awkward beat that doesn’t fit with the rest of his character, and is never relevant to the story again.
Replaced some of 3PO’s dialogue when reading the dagger, to avoid saying that he knows the Wayfinder location, he just can’t say it out loud. That setup is ridiculously contrived; the plot makes much more sense if 3PO is physically incapable of translating the runes until he’s “patched” later on with a Sith Dictionary.
Remove the quips between Finn and Poe as Rey approaches the snake in the cave, to preserve the tension of the scene. (Idea by MoviesRemastered)
Replaced the Knights of Ren line used in Ascendant “I get [the wookiee’s] teeth” with “Call in the transports.” This lampshades a slight plot hole where either the heroes didn’t notice the First Order ships directly behind Ochi’s ship, or else that those transports appeared magically between cuts.
Moved the shot of the First Order towing the Millennium Falcon to immediately after the heroes leave Pasaana.
Color-corrected a quick shot of Poe on Ochi’s ship that was inserted for Ascendant, to more closely match the surrounding footage.
Restructured the pre-Kijimi conversation slightly, to imply that the group is more worried about potentially destroying C-3PO than bumping into Poe’s ex.
Added new dialogue and sound FX throughout the Kijimi sequence, as well as new footage, restructured shots, and new color corrections, to portray Kijimi as actively resisting the oppression of the First Order, rather than passively allowing themselves to be occupied. (Initial concept by RogueLeader)
Removed the retcon of Poe previously being a drug dealer, both to maintain continuity with the already-published Expanded Universe stories, and also to avoid making him even more derivative of Han Solo. Let Poe be his own character.
Added a new sequence of Kylo on the Falcon after it’s been captured, where he rediscovers Han’s dice.
Redubbed 3PO’s comments immediately before deactivation, so that he can still have a funny line, but one that doesn’t try to undermine his sacrifice.
On the rooftops, Poe’s conversation with Zorii has been heavily modified. Rather than Zorii offering some hollow platitudes, Poe can now hear the Kijimi citizens fighting the First Order in the distance. He realizes that they are fighting in the name of Skywalker – it’s the movement he was so determined to create in The Last Jedi, now finally come to pass. And this knowledge – the knowledge that his efforts have not been in vain – is what revitalizes Poe’s determination.
Added some new dialogue and music during the “squeaky wheel” scene, and removed Rey recognizing Ochi’s ship from her childhood.
Redubbed 3PO’s translation of the dagger – rather than saying “exactly where the Wayfinder is,” the dagger now promises to reveal the Wayfinder’s location to anyone who’s willing to embrace the Dark Side of the Force. (Original concept by RogueLeader)
Replaced Finn’s line after 3PO’s translation, to avoid mentioning Endor too early.
Rey now hears Chewie through the Force on Kijimi, which is how she realizes that he’s alive.
Trimmed Poe asking to kiss Zorii, because it felt too misogynistic.
Replaced 3PO’s lines “Whoever this Chewie person is…” and “[Stay on the ship,]” “Happily!” in order to portray him as being more adventurous after the memory wipe.
Changed Poe’s and Finn’s dialogue when Rey leaves them to find the dagger on Ren’s ship.
Heavily rebuilt the entire sequence on Kylo’s Star Destroyer, in order to avoid the “Hux is a double agent” plotline. Rather than Poe and Finn breaking Chewie out and immediately being recaptured, they now make a daring escape. Their efforts are hampered however when Kylo realizes that Rey & Co. are on his ship. New dialogue for Hux, 3PO, Finn, and Poe, plus audio FX and color corrections, have been added to make this reworked sequence possible.
When Rey picks up the dagger in Kylo’s quarters, she now experiences a new vision that reveals both the location of the Wayfinder on Endor, as well as the fact that Palpatine has returned. (New music and sound design have been added.)
After the Dagger Vision, Rey’s eyes are now colored yellow to demonstrate that she is being immersed in the Dark Side.
Completely rebuilt the confrontation with Kylo in his quarters. Gone are the retcons to Rey’s parents; gone are the flashbacks, and the declarations that Palpatine had been hunting Rey as a child. Kylo’s dialogue has been entirely reconstructed, from scratch – it now further explores Palpatine’s return, and it provides new character arcs for both Kylo and Rey. Rather than trying to become the new Sith rulers (“We’ll kill him, and take the [Sith] Throne.”) Kylo now wants to stop Palpatine from destroying the galaxy – which is more in line with his previous motivations of “The Sith, the Jedi…let it all die.” Not only is this more consistent with his character, but it also makes him more sympathetic, and makes his offer to Rey more enticing. Meanwhile, he believes that the only way they’ll be powerful enough to defeat Palpatine is by both he and Rey embracing the Dark Side. This now gives Rey actual motivation for potentially turning, rather than the oh-so-compelling “You have evil genes” angle in the theatrical version.
Completely re-dubbed Kylo’s pronouncements in the hangar using more custom dialogue. Rather than asserting that she has to turn to the Dark Side because “evil is a hereditary condition,” and she is therefore subject to the transitive property because she’s related to Palpatine, Kylo now tells her that everyone she loves will die if she doesn’t turn. This now provides an emotional motivation for her to turn, and effectively sets up Palpatine’s awkward “Only you have the power to save them” monologue at the end of the film. And most importantly, Rey is no longer a Palpatine.
Removed Kylo’s mention of “A Dyad in the Force,” because haphazardly classifying their connection at the eleventh hour like this comes across as awkward and recon-y. It’s unnecessary.
Moved a scene of Leia up to imply that she’s sensing Kylo’s revelations about Palpatine.
Reworked the “Leia senses something” scene to make the scene more about her, and less about Maz. Ridiculous, on-the-nose comments to the effect of “Leia’s about to kill herself, R2” have been completely removed. Added Palpatine’s Theme in the background.
Removed the scene of Pryde killing Hux – Hux is no longer a spy; he’s the same loyal weasel he’s been during the rest of the trilogy. (Hooray for character consistency!)
Added a new scene of Kylo “hunting” Rey through the Force, which explains how he found her on both Pasaana and Endor. As he searches for Rey, his thoughts are first drawn towards his mother; and we hear that Leia is starting to marshal their forces. (Rather than Lando, in the theatrical version, gathering together everyone in the entire galaxy instantaneously.) Moving past Leia, Kylo senses more of the galaxy fighting the First Order in the name of Skywalker. Finally, Kylo finds Rey just as she’s telling Finn and Poe that they have to go to Endor.
Rey no longer swears to avenge the parents she never knew. Instead, she hears new whispers of the Sith tempting her to the Dark Side. New dialogue for Rey, Finn, and the Sith Spirits.
Reversed the order of scenes on board the Falcon before arriving at Endor, going from Rey and Finn first to Poe second. Poe’s line “Landing gear’s busted? How busted?” now forms a direct segue into their crash landing. Added an additional shot of Chewie to pad out the scene, taken from the deleted “Lightspeed Skipping” sequence.
Removed Rey saying “Only this blade tells” in front of the Death Star, as that line has already been used earlier in this version of the film.
Reworked the heroes meeting Jannah, to avoid the nonsensical declaration that Babu Frik told them to meet Rey at that spot. Not only would Babu not know about Endor in this version of the film; but even in the theatrical version, Jannah says they don’t know Babu. So Babu was just blindly sending out messages, telling everyone where Rey was going to go? Was he trying to get them captured by the First Order?
Gently restructured Finn’s conversation with Jannah, to imply that she’s heard of him before, and that part of her motivation to leave the First Order was that she was inspired by him doing the same.
Changed Finn and Poe’s conversation on Endor, so that Finn no longer claims to know what Rey is going through (he knows that she’s keeping secrets (about Palpatine) from him in this version of the film). Removed the comparison of Poe to Leia, which feels like it ignores Poe’s arc in The Last Jedi.
Rey’s evil doppelganger has yellow eyes (VFX by Burbin, although the effect has been made less intense in Untold than it is in Ascendant).
Kylo has a new line referencing Rey’s parents abandoning her. Recut their scene in the Throne Room for more dramatic emphasis on this pronouncement.
When Finn approaches Rey while she’s dueling Kylo, she now blindly hits him with a bolt of Force Lightning, to show how badly she’s losing control.
Completely reworked the scene of Leia appearing to Ben, and Rey healing him. Leia now channels her lifeforce into her son in order to save his life. This both sidesteps the question of “How did Rey heal a mortal wound without killing herself?” And also means that Leia doesn’t just…lose the will to live. This was all made possible through all-new, custom Leia dialogue, new audio FX, and new music.
Included a shot of Ben holding Han’s dice before Han appears. (Additional VFX by snooker.)
Reorganized all of the different scenes between the Death Star Duel and the arrival on Exegol, for better tonal consistency and pacing.
Removed the scene of 3PO getting his memory restored, so that his sacrifice now has actual consequences.
Truncated the “Palpatine summons Pryde” scene. Additional shots here have been recolored.
Regraded some early shots of Ahch-To to make them slightly more blue in Untold, to better match the nighttime aesthetic used throughout the rest of the film.
Removed Luke’s line “a Jedi’s weapon deserves more respect.” We get it, Terrio, you don’t like Rian Johnson. Don’t be a child.
Removed both Luke mentioning that Rey is a Palpatine, and also that “It was fear that kept [him] here.” Rian Johnson explicitly made sure Luke wouldn’t have gone into hiding out of cowardice. (New Luke dialogue added to effect this change.)
Rey now expresses remorse to Luke about the people’s she’s been hurting throughout film, to explain why she’s so scared.
Rather than sensing “the death of her son,” Luke now says that Leia gave up on being a Jedi because she was “needed more as a senator.” Because if she gave up on being a Jedi to protect her son, well… that sure didn’t work, did it?
Rescored the ending of the Ahch-To sequence, so that Yoda’s Theme doesn’t play when Yoda isn’t present. It’s the Yoda Theme, not the “Lifting a ship out of some water” Theme.
Added new D-O dialogue when he’s talking to Finn. D-O now offers him the information about Exegol, which completes D-O’s mini-arc about finding new friends after coming out of his abusive relationship with Ochi.
Trimmed Finn’s and Poe’s conversation, to avoid mentioning that Palpatine had been hunting Rey as a child.
Added new 3PO dialogue, to maintain his memory loss when the Resistance receives Rey’s transmission.
Moved the shots of Rey flying to Exegol to later in the film.
Trimmed Merry telling Chewie “We need you, buddy!” He’s not a baby; don’t be so condescending.
Removed any mention, both in the pre-mission briefing, and during the Exegol Battle itself, that knocking out the navigation tower will only trap the Sith Fleet temporarily. The film goes out of its way to establish that the Fleet can’t leave Exegol without that nav tower, so obviously, destroying it means that they’ll be trapped there indefinitely. Plus, nothing any character does during the battle (such as Finn going back when he realizes it’s being rebooted, or everyone leaving once it’s destroyed) makes any sense if they were only expecting the tower’s destruction to be a temporary solution.
Added a brand-new sequence of Palpatine giving an inspirational speech to his followers as the Sith Fleet is preparing for launch. Palpatine provides some context for why so many people are there and how so many ships were constructed; and this also circumnavigates the question of “Why were these ships just standing around doing nothing for the whole film if they were ready to go?”
Added a new line of dialogue to help establish that the Resistance is looking for the Nav Beacon.
Removed the secondary navigation tower from the film, because otherwise the Sith Fleet could just power that one back up after the Resistance leaves and the whole battle would have been pointless.
Removed Finn’s Force sensitivity, owing to the fact that the film hasn’t developed that idea in any meaningful way up to this point.
Trimmed several instances of characters saying that they only want to hold off the Sith Fleet “until help arrives.” Their mission isn’t to delay the Fleet; it’s to stop them.
Sprinkled several shots (color corrected) of Hux tastefully throughout the final battle, to avoid him disappearing halfway through the movie.
Removed Palpatine giving any indication that he and Rey could be related.
Removed Palpatine telling Rey that he wants her to kill him – the focus of the confrontation should be on Rey’s conflict, not on Palpatine’s contrived plans. (It’s also the one thing he can say to her that would dissuade her from doing the very thing he wants.)
Removed Palpatine goading Rey by saying “You are the one who led them here.” What else was the Resistance supposed to do? Let the Final Order escape? This isn’t Rey’s fault. It’s a stupid argument.
Mirrored a shot where, due to poor direction, Finn previously appeared to be running away from the battle. Whoops.
Trimmed an awkward cut that makes Rey appear to sense Ben before she actually does.
Readjusted the timing slightly of Hal’s new Knights of Ren lines when they find Ben on Exegol, to better synchronize the dialogue with Ben turning his head.
Added Ben calling out to Rey before she strikes Palpatine. His final word of the Saga is no longer “ow.”
Removed Palpatine calling Rey and Ben “a Dyad in the Force.”
Added new dialogue to the ending battle to establish that some Sith ships have already left Exegol. This lampshades a plothole where the Sith Fleet still in formation on Exegol, and yet there are several ships already out in the galaxy during the post-battle montage.
Removed Zorii from the Exegol battle, so that her giving up the Captain’s Medallion to Poe now has actual consequences.
Added dialogue when Rey hears the voices of the other Jedi to include Plo Koon. (Given how involved Dave Filoni is with Lucasfilm, and how Plo is his favorite character, I would have expected Plo to be in the scene already.)
Moved Rey’s death to immediately after she defeats Palpatine. This way her dying feels less contrived, and it also lends the Resistance’s victory a somber edge.
Removed Finn sensing Rey’s death.
Cut Rey and Ben’s kiss.
The post-battle reunion scene is completely redone:
o REMOVED: Zorii is gone.
o Chewie no longer gets a medal for exemplary fan-service.
o Lando no longer flirts with someone who was later retconned into being his daughter.
o Music – Luke & Leia’s Theme is removed, because neither of those characters are present; and the “Lifting a ship out of some water” Theme has also been removed, as they are on dry land.
o ADDED: The scene has been recut to imply a romantic connection between Finn and Poe.
o A new moment with 3PO and R2 has been added where 3PO asks R2 to tell him about their adventures together, providing some bittersweet closure to 3PO’s memory-wipe arc.
o Music – Poe’s Theme and Leia’s Theme have been mixed into the score.
Removed the old woman awkwardly demanding to know Rey’s family name, as well as the trite “Rey Skywalker” line.
Color corrected several shots of Rey before she leaves Tatooine.