No, I haven’t seen She-Ra. I’ve heard it’s good though!

I get what you’re saying about their relationship, but tbh I think Rey and Ben’s relationship is the most interesting aspect of the trilogy (at least the most compelling character dynamic). I mean I think the way it ignited fan fiction, fan videos and other creations showed how it inspired and captivated many fans.

I think a lot of the problem boils down to the fact I think they made Kylo too “evil” for evil’s sake. Kylo’s reasons for turning to the dark side are vague, and that makes his crimes harder to excuse or justify for a lot of people.

If Kylo’s motivations had been made clearer, and if you could see the reason why he did “bad” things, I think more people would’ve been open to Reylo.

I think ATLA does a good job of handling Zuko’s motivations and actions. So much so, that I think Zutara probably would have worked if they had went for it.

I think I would keep Palpatine, but only as a resurrected spirit, rather than having a tangible body.

Calamity Palpatine?

See also Giygas and Sauron. It’s a tried a true approach, so I think it could work.

So, during a majority of Act 2, Kylo is working alongside our heroes, albeit with a lot of tension and reluctance, for obvious reasons.

Oh I like that.

And speaking of ATLA, I feel like Zuko and Kylo Ren get compared for obvious reasons, and I wish Kylo’s redemption arc could’ve been as strong as Zuko’s!

I remember thinking that when TFA came out.

Overall really like your pitch RogueLeader, and it makes for a nice change of pace instead of repeating RotJ’s throne scene for the billionth time.

I’ve had a few ideas I’ve thought of since it ROS came out, been thinking a lot about it lately since being on break.

Something JJ and Kasdan did really well with TFA, I thought, was this idea of making things “convenient and compelling”. Take Kylo Ren: We want a masked villain to sell toys and feel “familiar”, but they’re just going to feel like a cheap Vader rip-off. So let’s use that, make his own insecurity around that a part of his character. As they’re fleshing that idea out, perhaps someone notices some parallels to how a lot of angsty young men feel in the internet age, picking up causes (ie., neo-nazis, young ISIS recruits) that they channel their insecurities and rage into. Little by little, you have this unique villain woven together from a variety of older sources with modern parallels. From the beginning, that sort of construction is what makes my favorite parts of Star Wars. I feel like there either wasn’t enough time to flesh things out in ROS and/or more of that came from Kasdan than JJ or something.

Anyways, my proposal for a ROS re-write would have the mantra “convenient and compelling” at its thematic core. After 9 episodes and generations of conflicts that always seem to lead back to the same place, what’s the point? Unfortuantely, that’s a bit of the feeling that I had when watching ROS. I’m sure that’s something JJ and the rest of the crew thought of when making the film as well. But, with reflection, I kept thinking, why not use that?

The thematic conflict of ROS in my re-write, then becomes a bit of a meta one.

Rey’s opening training scene with Leia is now diplomatic. They’re having a holo-meeting with a regional power who are open to the Resistance’s cause. However, they express fear and, frankly, exasperation, with the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance. “They blow you up today, you blow them up tomorrow. That’s just business” has become the attitude of most of the galaxy. Generations of war and conflict have left most average joes simply feeling burnt out, and like nothing makes a difference. The group Leia and Rey are meeting with express this in a movie-exposition way. There’s a bit of comedy as Rey wants to do things like mind-trick them as she gets more and more frustrated with their ahem resistance, and Leia shoots her disapproving looks. Rey fails to win them over, and in her frustration she decides to run the obstacle course. These physical, violent feats are all she feels like she’s really “good” at, the stuff her new master teaches her just doesn’t work for her. They know they’re in the right, fighting against evil, why not take give fence-sitters a show of strength?

This gives Rey’s arc–imo–a clearer focus. Now when on Pasana, she summons up some fresh courage to recruit General Lando Calrissian, hero of the Rebellion, to the Resistance cause. Even a close friend of Leia, Han, & Luke’s turns her down. Another disappointment, another fresh swelling of rage as she feels that same temptation that Anakin once did to force the galaxy to see things her way. In this frustration, she allows another vision with Kylo for the first time since TLJ (this idea also gives me the funny mental image of angsty fuccboi Kylo being “left on read” for the past year or so). Kylo senses what she’s feeling, and tells her how he feels the same. Again, he’s the only one who understands. First Snoke, and now Palpatine, these old powerful men want nothing more than to use him as a pawn for their own schemes. “But is that any different from how they use you? Rey? Skywalker, the General. They’re using you to fight their own failures. Their petty political struggles. It’s no different.” He promises that, when he offers him her hand again, she’ll take it. “As for Palpatine, I have my own plans.”

I’ll write more later if folks are interested! I love TFA and TLJ, and am willing to accept TROS for what it is after a year of reflection. It’s the only one of the three, though, that I felt could have been… baked for a bit longer in the writing-oven, however.

Meant to respond to your post earlier but I love what you’ve written so far! I might end up disagreeing with your further ideas, but when I read your current post I feel like you’re a kindred spirit! Really digging your approach and mindset.

I think I had a similar thought when speculating on what IX would be about, but I like the idea of Rey’s problems in IX not being solvable through her physical prowess. She is a fast learner when it comes to combat, flying and the Force, but these skills won’t necessarily unite a galaxy. She has to learn how to inspire people, and be an example to others. Something she could really learn from Leia.

But, it also gives you an opportunity to have Rey be tempted by a darker path.

Thanks for creating the thread, RogueLeader. It’s been great to read everyone’s take on TROS, you all have some excellent ideas on how to approach this. I’ve been running an alternate Episode IX RPG campaign for my brothers, so thought I’d post my notes for the first session here as a sort of script rewrite, though it’s more of a scene outline as I improvise most of the dialogue. I’ve attempted to combine the best elements of Abram’s TROS and Treverrow’s DOTF, with some of my own additions.

Evacuation of Cloud City

The function of this first sequence on Bespin is twofold: to reassert that the rebels fight a defensive war against First Order aggression, and to set up Leia’s death in an appropriate and dramatic way.

Objectives:

• The First Order (FO) seek control of the Tibanna gas exports from Bespin.
• The Rebels are impossibly outnumbered, and must evacuate as many people as possible before they are forced to concede control of Cloud City to the FO.

Factions:

• Bespin administration; squadron of Cloud Cars, local security guards.
• First Order; their fleet is composed of two Resurgent class Star Destroyers, AAL troop transports, FO AT-haulers and AT-MT walkers, and squadrons of FO TIE fighters and FO TIE bombers; will be reinforced by a FO Siege Dreadnaught (from EP8) during the battle.
• Leia’s vanguard resistance cell; her fleet is composed of two Virgillia class Corellian corvettes (from EP8), resistance transports (from EP7), I-TS transports, and squadrons of T-Wing Resistance bombers (call the B/SF-17 heavy bomber from EP8 the T-Wing), T-70 X-Wing and RZ-2 A-Wing fighters.
• Lando’s veteran rebel cell; his fleet is composed of OT ships; rebel transports (with windows like the U-55 loadlifters from EP8, but an older model closer in design to the GR-75 transports from EP5), and squadrons of T-65 X-Wings, B-Wings, and RZ-1 A-Wings.

Characters:

• Baron of Bespin, an Imperial Remnant Warlord, independent of the First Order.
• Two Knights of Ren lead the FO ground forces, wielding red crossguard lightsabers.
• Kylo Ren, with his appearance at the end of EP8.
• Admiral Thrawn, commanding the FO Dreadnaught, arrives at Bespin toward the end of the battle.
• Chewbacca, T-Wing Gold Squadron Leader, with Rose as his copilot.
• Leia, Captain of the first corvette, leads the air battle.
• Poe, Captain of second corvette, leads the civilian evacuation on the ground at the landing pads, with Connix.
• Rey has a single green saber, having replaced the broken blue crystal of the Skywalker saber and repaired the split hilt (Rey will later construct a second red saber, that can be joined to her green saber to create a dual yellow saber); she flies the Falcon to Bespin, with R2 and 3PO aboard, and new aliens as the two resistance gunners.
• Finn leads the ground troops, with Maz (equipped with a jetpack).
• BB-8 flies an orange and white T-70 X-Wing, modified with the cockpit removed and the astromech socket lowered in its place, to be flown solo by a BB droid.
• Lando flies a YT-2400 freighter (with external panels, as the Solo Falcon design) painted in old Rebel colours (faded white, with a red starbird symbol on the body).
• Wedge (Rogue Leader), flies as part of Lando’s cell in an old but modified T-65 X-Wing.
• Black Squadron is in atmosphere with Lando’s cell. Jess Pava is now Black Leader, Snap Wexley is Black Two; say Black Squadron has made contact with Lando’s cell to explain their absence from EP8.

Sequence on Bespin:

1. Arrival; Leia’s rebel cell fleet exits from hyperspace over Bespin. Two FO Star Destroyers orbit Bespin, FO troops have been deployed to Cloud City and are being reinforced from the Destroyers. Lando’s Rebel cell, with Black Squadron, has already engaged the enemy in and around Cloud City. If they maintain distance, then Leia’s cell may bypass the orbiting Destroyers without incident; the battle is at Cloud City itself.
2. Leia’s rebels descend to Cloud City, where Lando has been pushed back to the landing pads (more like a large commercial spaceport than the single landing pads in EP5). In the air battle: the rebel bombers target the FO walkers and the FO bombers target the rebel transports, fighters attempt to intercept enemy bombers while protecting allied bombers. The rebels proceed to rescue fleeing civilians, opposed by two Knights of Ren and a legion of stormtroopers; many civilians remain trapped behind FO troop lines, so the rebels must break through the FO troops in order to rescue the civilians, and escort them to the transports.
3. Finn and Maz, leading the Rebel ground forces, push against FO troop lines to reach the trapped civilians and Bespin security forces. The Baron of Bespin is here, fighting alongside their security forces.
4. Rey pilots the Falcon; then, seeing that the remaining Bespin security forces are isolated and being overwhelmed by the two Knights of Ren, gives control to R2 and 3PO and leaves the ship, jumping from the open boarding ramp mid-flight to confront the Knights on the ground.
5. Kylo arrives, lands behind FO troop lines in his Upsilon Shuttle, and approaches Rey as she duels the two Knights of Ren. Kylo at first observes the duel from a distance, but may intervene if one or both of the Knights are defeated.
6. A single FO Dreadnought, with Admiral Thrawn commanding from the bridge, exits hyperspace above Bespin; moves into firing range and then begins its firing sequence, targeting the landing pads at Cloud City where the rebel transports and Poe’s corvette are evacuating civilians; in the air battle, from the bridge of her corvette Leia sees the Dreadnought prepare to fire and sounds the alarm to abandon ship, her crew head to the escape pods, while Leia pilots, moving directly between the Dreadnought’s line of fire and the landing pads; from the landing pads Leia’s corvette eclipses the red glow of the Dreadnought siege cannon, as escape pods eject from the corvette; Leia reaches out through the force to Rey, though all characters hear, to say ‘Rey, the Force will always be with you’ but is cut short (on the second word?) as her corvette is destroyed by the single laser blast from the Dreadnought, protecting the rebel transports and our heroes on the ground; for a brief moment the ground battle pauses, having heard Leia call out telepathically through the Force all look up at the falling wreckage and escape pods from the corvette; Kylo and Rey respond first, Kylo in sorrow, falling to his knees on feeling his mother’s death through the Force, then Rey in anger, unleashing Force lightning in a wide arc, injuring and incapacitating Kylo, and killing any other characters within range (including the two Knights, if they have survived their duel with Rey); the ground battle then resumes.
7. Rey falls unconscious from the strain of drawing on the dark side of the Force, dropping her saber. Finn retrieves her saber (possibly catching it with the Force), and carries Rey back to the transports, protected by covering fire from Maz and his rebel troops.
8. The rebel transports flee Cloud City, and rebel ships escape into hyperspace, with their destination set as the resistance base on Ossus (replacing Ajan Kloss).

Outcome:

• Cloud City and the Tibanna mines of Bespin are lost to the FO.
• Have some rebel troops and civilians be captured, for the following scene on Coruscant.
• Lando’s rebel cell joins with the resistance vanguard cell, abandoning his base on Sullst as the Eriadu sector is lost.
• Count troop losses from the battle.
• Number of refugees per token saved; some will join and fight, others may stay as support staff or be relocated to other worlds.

Coruscant; Restoration of the Empire by the Supreme Triumvirate

Characters: the Triumvirate is Supreme Leader Ren, Supreme Chancellor Hux, and Supreme Admiral Thrawn - they are the highest authority in this restored Empire; Execution Stormtroopers (from EP8), Knights of Ren; captured rebels - players may perform these roles, if only for this scene; the crowd, Dade (from DOTF).

1. Captured rebels are led to public execution by light guillotine (as in DOTF), at the plaza in front of the old Republic Senate building; the rebels have black cloth bags over their heads, removed before execution. The Capitol itself (from DOTF) is fixed over the Senate building, a tripod frame supporting its immense structure.
2. Speeches are made: Hux announces the restoration of the Empire, disparaging the meagre efforts of scattered rebels, and outlining the substantive policies of this Empire - abolition of monarchy and hereditary rule in member states, restoration of regional governors and the Imperial Senate, and continued support for New Alderaan (colonised Mandalore, settled by Alderaanian refugees under the New Republc); Thrawn celebrates the death of Princess Organa, the last rebel leader from the New Republic; Kylo Ren declares a crusade against the Hutt cartels, in order to enforce the abolition of organic slavery throughout the galaxy.
3. Kylo offers the group of captured rebels mercy, if they renounce the light and swear loyalty to the Empire. Some are only citizens of Bespin, captured in the battle; they accept his mercy and are led from the plaza, their fate is indentured service at shipbreaking yards in the industrial district (from EP2) on Coruscant. The veteran rebels stand in silent refusal; they are then led, one at a time, to their execution by stormtroopers. Here, possible player decisions are will rolls, determining whether the player is able to spit before their execution, also if they are able to declare something to the crowd before their execution.

There’s more, but the rest is barely readable at the moment; mostly just a bare outline, but also way too verbose in parts. Thanks for reading if you got this far, hope it is of interest!

First things first, the film is re-titled to Throne of the Darkness, referring to Rey’s vision, as well as the stuff with Palpatine and Exegol and all that.

Below is a revamped version of the opening crawl. It starts off reminding us that this is the sequel to The Last Jedi, but it is put into a halt by the middle…

The flame of hope burns! Following the heroic sacrifice of Luke Skywalker on Crait, the daring RESISTANCE has been reborn. The diabolical FIRST ORDER, facing insurrection on a thousand worlds, is teetering on the edge.

But the dead speak! The galaxy has heard a mysterious broadcast, a threat of REVENGE in the voice of the late PALPATINE.

In response, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren rages in search of the phantom menace, determined to destroy this threat to his declining power…

Obviously, in the crawl, I have removed any references to Palpatine as an Emperor, because he is no longer Emperor. This is applied to other lines in the film.

The scene with Kylo Ren and Palpatine plays out as usual, except here Palpatine is speaking in Sith (which Kylo Ren immediately recognizes and points out; “So… a Sith…”) until he repeats his quote from Revenge of the Sith in Basic and is shown to us for the first time, so we would be asking, “Is this really Palpatine, or no?”, up until that point, so it’d have more “oomph”. It also reinforces Palpatine’s knowledge of the Sith.

Rey’s hair style throughout the film is the same as during her post-Ahch-To experiences in The Last Jedi, as a visual reminder that she no longer cares about her parents and has moved past them, having come to terms with the truth that they did throw her away like garbage.

The Resistance is located at Naboo, not Ajan Kloss. I feel it’d be more meaningful if the last hope of the galaxy is now located at where the saga chronologically started. They are not in Theed, however, although it can be seen in the background in some shots.

Poe isn’t reckless, as in the film it seems like he hasn’t learned his lesson from The Last Jedi. Furthermore, the lightspeed skipping sequence itself is removed as it reinforces his recklessness in the actual film. There’ll be ways to add in some conflict between him and Rey during that scene, but I have no idea as to what.

The Steadfast is Kylo Ren’s command ship and the new capital of the First Order after the Supremacy was crippled in The Last Jedi. It looks like this instead of a regular Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, and it even has its own throne room, complete with a throne for Kylo Ren to sit on.

Pryde is replaced with General Veers from the original trilogy.

I agree with Hal 9000 that Kylo Ren should not be flat-out saying to Rey that he is going to turn her to the dark side.

Hopefully, I can remove Finn being Force-sensitive. Hopefully…

I don’t really like the retcon that Rey’s parents were good people who abandoned her to protect her from Palpatine and loved her, I feel it undermines her arc in The Last Jedi. Instead, they abandoned her because they “saw what she would become,” due to her Palpatine heritage and Force-sensitivity (it’s implied or stated they hated Palpatine himself, seeing him as the bad guy, and ran away from him). Scenes are modified to match this (Ochi is probably reduced to just a Sith assassin).

REY: You said you knew the rest of my story. You knew why my parents threw me away. Why? Tell me.

KYLO REN: Because they knew what you would become. You don’t just have power, you have his power. You’re his granddaughter. You are a Palpatine.

The dyad was formed in the period of time between The Last Jedi and Throne of the Darkness as a(n indirect) result of Snoke bridging Rey and Kylo Ren’s minds; Kylo Ren and Palpatine acknowledge this in their respective scenes. Honestly, it is more meaningful if Snoke truly did bridge their minds, because it shows that Rey had fallen into a trap, that she is naïve.

KYLO REN: What Palpatine doesn’t know is that when Snoke bridged our minds, it did more than just let us communicate. We’ve become a dyad in the Force. Two that are one.

If I re-write Return of the Jedi to replace the second Death Star with the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, the wreckage of the second Death Star on Kef Bir is replaced with that. If otherwise, Kijimi is replaced with Coruscant, so there’d be additional weight to when the Xyston-class Star Destroyer eradicates its entire population, because Coruscant has been with us from the beginning to the end.

Speaking of which… irrelevant, but for a fix for the overall Skywalker saga, the Death Star and anything associated with that do not blow up entire planets, they just eradicate all life on their respective surfaces.

R2-D2 does not restore C-3PO’s memory at all, as it ruins the weight of his “sacrifice” on Kijimi/Coruscant.

When Palpatine drains Rey and Ben of their life force and rejuvenates himself, he retains his Herobrine eyes, as a visual reminder that his spirit is not in his original body, but a different one.

The Tantive IV is replaced with the space cruiser we see in the beginning of The Phantom Menace during Palpatine’s Force lightning attack on the galaxy fleet. It makes more sense from a chronological, saga perspective — whereas the Tantive IV being the focal ship hit was done from a meta, release order perspective.

The exchange between Rey and Palpatine is less… prequel-esque and cheesy (coming from a defender of both the prequels and sequels; yes, we exist!)…

PALPATINE: Let your death be the final word in the story of Rebellion. You are nothing. You are all alone. Your allies have forsaken you! A scavenger like you cannot stand against the true, unlimited power of the Sith!

REY: Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong. I am more than that, I was never alone… and I… am all the Jedi!

When we see Rey on Tatooine at the end, she is wearing regular Jedi robes, reminiscent of those from the prequels, instead of her scavenger-esque ones; the fact she is no longer wearing her scavenger-esque robes symbolizes how she has overcome her core belief of self-worthlessness.

The Force ghost of Ben Solo appears with the Skywalker twins in the final scene on Tatooine; in other words, it means all three of the Skywalkers whom Rey personally knew are granting her permission to name herself, “Rey Skywalker.”

Since this is the final chronological Star Wars movie, the credits should start out with, “THE END”, before we get into the real stuff. The traditional Star Wars end credits music is replaced with something that would reinforce Throne of the Darkness as the series finale to Star Wars.

Some of the ideas you guys read aren’t mine, some of them belong to /u/b_khan0131 (now this guy), /u/persistentInquiry, both of whom are Redditors and also like The Last Jedi AND The Rise of Skywalker; some ideas were scrapped concepts and also originated from Colin Trevorrow’s scrapped Duel of the Fates screenplay.