I think when it comes to making the ST planets more unique, I think about giving them distinct looks or key features that help them stick out in our minds. So as soon as we it, we know what planet that is. I think recoloring planets is hard to make look good, so I think my ideas consist of slight regrades, or adding key visual elements to specific shots to help make those planets stand out.
Jakku: I think Nev’s desaturated look is the perfect way to handle this. It’s like the sepia-Kansas of the Star Wars galaxy. It is a simple change that differentiates it from Tatooine. I think the idea of adding more wrecked Imperial and Rebels ships in the desert, to emphasize Jakku’s key feature as a junkyard planet, would be a cool addition, but would require a bit of vfx and may not be worth the effort.
Takodana: A random idea, but I think it would be interesting to add three or four moons around the planet when the Falcon first approaches it. Then later, when Rey looks across the lake and/or when Finn looks up in the sky, you could see two or three of those moons. This would give Takodana a distinct feature that wouldn’t require major vfx changes to every single shot on the planet, but it still makes the planet feel more alien than Earth.
D’Qar: D’Qar already has a distinct feature, its ring of asteroids, so I think I would just try to make the asteroid ring visible from the planet surface whenever possible.
Ilum (Starkiller Base): I don’t think any visual changes are necessary for Starkiller Base.
Ach-To: I think it would be cool to add a blue nebula in the sky somewhere to parallel it with Exegol, but this isn’t necessary either.
Cantonica (Canto Bight): I would like to add a geometric green spot onto the establishing shot of the planet to imply a section of the planet has been terraformed.
Crait: I think it could be interesting to replace the planet as seen from space with an image of Pluto. Obviously the red and white of Crait is its distinct feature, so it would be cool to see that feature from space.
Mustafar: I think an extra establishing shot like discussed in other threads would be enough. Maybe just reuse a shot from Rogue One.
Exegol: I think it would be interesting to see a regrade of this planet. Either just to tone down the blue, make it more monochromatic, or even push it to be redder.
Ajan Kloss: I think it would be cool recontextualize this planet to be a jungle area of Naboo, sort of like the forests the Gungans hide in during TPM. Replace establishing shots of the planet with Naboo. Regrade it to match Naboo more, maybe add Elder heads into a shot or two. Hell, you could even add a Gungan into the background of one or two Resistance group shots. I like the idea of starting the story there in Episode I, and then ending the story there in Episode IX. It’s also a significant planet for Leia to be on as well.
Pasaana: Another bold idea, but I think it would be cool to recontextualize this planet to be Jedha. For one, it makes a lot of sense for a Jedi hunter to come here, of all places. I think it would also be cool to see what this planet is like after what happened to it in Rogue One. Both Jedha and Pasaana were filmed in Wadi Rum, Jordan, so as far as geography goes they already match perfectly.
Notice the large canyon that runs across the planet surface. We could create a mask inside that canyon, and then insert a lava texture inside it to imply that this is the result of the Death Star laser cracking open the planet’s crust. We also could create a asteroid ring around the planet to show that the debris from the impact now orbits the planet. Later in the film, we see Rey and company hide in in an asteroid field, so it actually would fit in with the film really well.
Then Pasaana could be regraded to better match how it looks in Rogue One. Some people might think Jedha should be more like a nuclear wasteland by this point, but I actually disagree somewhat with that. I think Pasaana/Jedha could be the Star Wars equivalent to Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Places that were once devastated by nuclear weapons, but now people live there once again. I think it would be really fun to rescore the approach to Jedha to make the audience expect to see this wasteland, but then they round the corner and see that there is this massive festival going on. There is something optimistic about that idea that I think also fits in well with TROS’ theme of “healing wounds”.
I also think you could reuse this unused shot from Rogue One, but replace the U-Wing with the Falcon. You can find a high quality version of this shot from sites that have lossless versions of trailers.
Kijimi: We don’t really see Kijimi from space much besides when it is destroyed. Just to make it more visually distinct from space, though, I think it would be interesting to add city lights to the dark side of the planet, to help emphasize that a lot of people live on that planet.
Kef Bir: Simple. Make it Endor. Just reuse the shot of Endor from the TROS finale to restablish Kef Bir as Endor.
I know changing Ajan Kloss to Naboo, Pasaana to Jedha, and Kef Bir to Endor, seems rather drastic, I think it makes a lot of sense to revisit some planets from the past in the final movie of the Saga. Plus, we would still have two new planets in Kijimi and Exegol.