^ Just make sure that she doesn’t share any screentime with Klaud and imply through an added line that she’s a changeling.
…
I’ve had a bit of a brainstorm about TROS, so big idea incoming:
As I’ve said elsewhere, the only way to save TROS would be to undo Palpatine’s return, the massive Sith Fleet, and Rey Palpatine. I’ve also given some idea as to how that could work by turning Palpatine into an illusion by Sith cultists to lure Rey into their clutches, including the idea that Rey is a Palpatine.
To refine the idea further, I think the entire theme of the film should be deception. The Sith cultists have deceived the First Order into believing that Palpatine has returned and that he has a massive fleet at his command. They have done this to gain power over Kylo Ren and to control the First Order through him. They also seek to destroy the Resistance by luring them to a briar patch of a planet from which there is no escape, then unleashing a force weapon on their fleet to crash their ships into Exegol. Almost the entire fleet is illusory, as well as the rumored planet-destroying weapons on their ships. Really the cultists only have a few old style Star Destroyers, with the rest being holographic images. This would require quite a bit of work in the final act, but it’s not impossible.
The real trick would be to construct a scene explaining how the illusion works. This should be partway through the film, and ideally between acts 2 and 3 where the planet is destroyed in the theatrical version. Instead of that scene, we get a scene where the Knights of Ren are revealed to be Sith Cultists who are in on the scheme and have been playing Kylo Ren and the First Order all along. Perhaps the Knights are appearing via hologram to a scarred and twisted cultist who is describing the plan to them from Exegol. He shows how the holographic emitter which is broadcasting the illusion of the fleet is disguised as a beacon ostensibly leading the Sith fleet off Exegol. He explains that the Resistance will target the beacon/holographic emitter, but he has arranged it so that Pryde will divert their attention with a signal of his own. The cultist then explains that once Rey and the Resistance have arrived, the plan will be set in motion.
He says that the Sith Cultists have given almost all of their power in the Force to create a being as strong as Snoke, and after Snoke’s death the power that he has been able to draw from the cultists is only enough to fuel an illusion. He believes that his web of lies about Rey’s parentage shall draw her to him, then claims that with Rey before him he will take her power to destroy the Resistance, and their deaths shall be at her hands. A knight asks about Kylo Ren, saying that he has feelings for the girl. The cultist tells the Knights that if Kylo interferes, to kill him. He pulls a hood over his head and his visage changes into that of Palpatine.
This would require someone filming a scene of themselves as this cultist, but as it’s practically a monologue it would be fairly straightforward. There would only need to be some short questions from the Knights, perhaps subtitled or voiced by others since the knights don’t speak in the film. Since they have masks, there would be no issues with lipsync and since they appear via hologram the images of the Knights wouldn’t need to be too detailed.
During the final confrontation of Rey and this false Palpatine, there could be a moment when she calls upon the Jedi and they allow her to see through the illusion and show her the true face of her enemy, who is astonished at her powers of knowledge and defense. Luke’s statement about facing fear is recontextualized into being about a more purely Jedi test than an existential threat.
Since the fleet beacon/emitter is not destroyed until the very end of the battle, the illusory ships wouldn’t need to disappear. The fleets could still do battle with each other just as they do, but after the massive Republic fleet arrives there could be chatter that many of the destroyers are not actually there, and in fact whole parts of the illusion are beginning to flicker and turn into blue light. The core of the battle stays the same, just with a lot less meaningless ships on the periphery.
A benefit of this idea is that it could lean into Rey Palpatine since it is revealed to be a lie later anyway.
So that’s the idea. What do you think?