This article was published before the full script was leaked to the internet and was originally a best attempt at recapping the script using available sources. It has been revamped to be a summary of the script itself and all known information about the version of Episode IX that Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly were working on.
In August 2015, Colin Trevorrow was hired to direct Star Wars Episode IX and write it with his writing partner Derek Connolly. Trevorrow was set to begin filming The Book of Henry the next month, so pre-production on Episode IX did not fully kick into gear until early 2016. Writing and concept art was done throughout that year, while principal photography occurred for Episode VIII. In the middle of December, Connolly and Trevorrow finished a draft of their screenplay, which they titled Duel of the Fates, and turned it into Lucasfilm. This is believed to be the first draft. Just 11 days later, Carrie Fisher passed away. Her character, Leia Organa, was instrumental in the script. Her passing required script drafts, and Lucasfilm was never completely happy with any of these new drafts. In August of 2017, writer Jack Thorne was brought in to give the latest draft a rewrite, with Trevorrow still slated to direct, but his attempt failed to please Lucasfilm as well. So in early September, Trevorrow was fired and J.J. Abrams, who had directed and co-written Episode VII, was brought in to helm and write Episode IX.
Ever since fans have wondered what Connolly and Trevorrow’s version of the story was and these questions only intensified after Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker released to some of the worst reviews in the saga. The only officially known information was that they did not bring back the Emperor and that Trevorrow had asked Rian Johnson to film a scene of Poe and Rey meeting for the first time. And then, in the middle of January 2020, a draft of their script dated December 16, 2016, made its way into the hands of several people, as did a few dozen pieces of concept art. Filmmaker and YouTuber Robert Meyer Burnett was the first to give details of this draft, spreading them over two episodes of his YouTube show. Venerable Star Wars site Making Star Wars then posted a report detailing what they had heard from their sources about the early drafts that Connolly and Trevorrow were working on. Two writers for the website Collider, Mark Reilly and Marc Fernandez, also got their hands on the draft and gave their own rundown on YouTube soon after. About a week later, some pieces of concept art leaked, followed by even more on February 1st. Then the biggie, as the full December 16th, 2016 draft was posted to the internet on February 8th.
It’s also unknown precisely how many they wrote afterward, though at least one is known. Jason Ward of MakingStarWars.net read their final draft and wrote a summary of it. It has a similar story skeleton but does differ in significant ways. He also wrote an article detailing what he had heard about the script draft Jack Thorne wrote.
All pictures are from the leaked concept art. Any captions in quotes are the captions given to the piece by the leaker.
Star Wars Episode IX
By Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow
Episode IX
Duel of the FatesThe iron grip of the FIRST ORDER has
spread to the farthest reaches of the
galaxy. Only a few scattered planets
remain unoccupied. Traitorous acts
are punishable by death.Determined to suffocate a growing
unrest, Supreme Leader KYLO REN has
silenced all communication between
neighboring systems.Lead by General LEIA ORGANA, the
Resistance has planned a secret
mission to prevent their annihilation
and forge a path to freedom…
In a first for a Star Wars movie, instead of panning down (or up like Attack of the Clones) from the opening crawl, the script instead pulls back to reveal a First Order docking bay in a large orbital ring surrounding a moon of the planet Kuat. A transporter flies in and discharges its cargo: droids. We follow a graphite-colored one as it splits off from the others. It has to swerve to avoid hitting a labor droid and scrapes against a wall, revealing orange paint below the graphite. It’s BB-8 and he’s undercover.
On the moon itself, Rose Tico has been hidden among the workers and receives word from BB-8 that he has made it successfully aboard the orbital ring. She tells him to get her a view of a checkpoint that new migrant workers go through. He succeeds and she watches on a pair of “electrogoggles” as a dropship lands near the checkpoint and discharges laborers, including disguised and armed Finn and Poe. Just before they’re due to go through the checkpoint, the metallic horn on the Gotal alien in front of them sets off the weapons scanner and the stormtroopers crewing the checkpoint fire and kill it. BB-8 is able to override the scanner just in time and Finn and Poe pass through it without incident and enter the migrant settlement. There, they see their contact, an alien named Biss Kova who’s been hiding Rose. While a mysterious Tusken Raider watches from afar, they enter Kova’s hut to meet with Rose.
The three begin planning their mission. There’s a shaft going from the moon’s surface to the orbiting ring that carries raw ore to the shipyards in the ring. They’re going to place some explosives in the ore stream, hoping to cause a chain reaction that will destroy the entire ring and every ship being built and refueling. While the Tusken follows from a distance, they make their way to the doors of the shaft which BB-8 opens for them, quickly dispatch the Mechtroopers there, and throw their explosives into the stream of raw ore. BB-8 slips into a small maintenance shuttle and sets off for the surface.
Our heroes head back out through the doors to find that they’re surrounded by a platoon of Stormtroopers and Mechtroopers. Poe starts counting down to when the explosives should go off, then dives and rolls when he hits zero. Except nothing happens. In a First Order control room, an Admiral Vonn watches as the explosions are contained by blast shield. On the ground, the heroes are really stuck now. Then the Tusken lets out a screech and ignites a double-bladed lightsaber, easily dispatching everyone between it and the heroes.
As the raider reaches Finn, Poe, and Rose, its mask falls off to reveal Rey, her lightsaber fashioned from her old staff and the Anakin/Luke saber. She continues fighting, shrugging off the last of the Tusken Raider disguise to unveil an all-black outfit and Force pushing 8 enemies away at once. The migrants in the village realize she’s a Jedi and the children start chanting “Jedi, Jedi.” More Stormtroopers try to flood the square where this is taking place to get to Rey, but migrants block them, throwing rocks and swinging tools. Rey wants to stay and fight alongside them, but they have to go. As they run into a turbolift up to the ring, a wounded Stormtrooper grabs Finn’s ankle. Through a break in the helmet, Finn recognizes the man underneath, leaving the Resistance hero shaken.
Back in the First Order control room, an officer informs Admiral Vonn that the last Jedi is on the moon. Vonn tells the officer to call the Knights of Ren.
In the turbolift, Poe informs BB-8 that the plan has changed and he needs to meet them in space then tells the others they need another ship and looks at a massive Star Destroyer docked to the ring. Finn, Rose, and Rey are incredulous but don’t have any better ideas. After getting off the turbolift, they hop into a “Glide Rover” and speed for the Eclipse class Star Destroyer. Admiral Vonn is notified that aside from the bridge crew, there is no one aboard the ship.
The heroes reach the bridge and Rey mind tricks the crew to set a course for the Nirauan system. Poe sits at the controls and tries to fly the giant ship, though not before flirting with Rey a little. A crewman snaps out of the trick so Finn knocks him out. The Eclipse disengages from the ring as the First Order opens fire. Poe has a hell of a time trying to fly the beast because the yoke is inverted. He asks if they have BB-8, but the droid is still trying to pilot his shuttle to them. As he gets close, a bolt hits the shuttle, leaving it stranded just feet from the Star Destroyer. BB-8 ejects himself from the craft and floats into the hangar. He beeps his success over the comlink and they make the jump to lightspeed.
A ship called the Knife-9 appears soon afterward, the personal ship of the Knights of Ren. They are there to talk with Admiral Vonn. Hattaska Ren is the Knight in charge, Kylo is not with them. Hattaska is accompanied by Ott, Lorl, and Jaedec Ren. Vonn mumbles about being able to upload a “veil cipher” into BB-8 which should let them find the Resistance, but Hattaska is taking none of it. He takes out the Darksaber and cuts down the Admiral. The knights then head back to their ship, having never said a word.
Cut to Coruscant. It is no longer the vibrant city-planet from the prequels. Immigrants from a thousand systems have ventured there hoping for a better life, but the First Order does not offer it to them. A street kid named Dade throws a rock at some Stormtroopers than disappears into a crowd. He runs to Monument Square, an area in front of the new First Order capitol, “a jagged structure balancing on the surface like a spinning top.” A giant hologram of Chancellor Hux is presiding over a public execution. The prisoner’s hood is removed to reveal Biss Kova, the alien that helped the heroes on the Kuat moon. Hux offers to spare his life if he reveals the location of the Resistance base. He refuses and is killed by a “lightblade guillotine.”
We then cut to the actual Chancellor Hux, who is watching the proceedings from the capitol building. A Commander Sellik informs him that “[t]hey’re here.” Hux heads into the war room to meet with a group of galactic warlords. They’re upset with him for losing the Eclipse and for Rey’s continued existence. They also want to know where Kylo Ren is. Hux tells them that Kylo will return when he finds the knowledge that he seeks.
Now we cut to Mustafar and Kylo Ren as he approaches Darth Vader’s castle. Aside from a droid named VX-20, he is alone. He has been searching for a while, his face bearded. He tells the droid to stay outside the castle while he goes inside. Luke’s Force Ghost appears and tries to get him to come back to the light side.
LUKE SKYWALKER
This is where the dark path leads.
An empty tomb.KYLO REN
And where did your path lead?
You’re a ghost.LUKE SKYWALKER
I know what you’re searching for, Ben.
Your master promised you strength but
you feel hollow.
Luke is trying to convince him to go home to Leia. Kylo tells him “I’m going to be more powerful than any Jedi, even you.” He heads into Vader’s castle and finds a Sith holocron. He activates it and out comes a hologram of Emperor Palpatine. It’s a recording for Vader in the event that Luke killed Palpatine on the second Death Star. “Lord Vader, young Skywalker will soon be ours. I have foreseen it. But we must prepare for the unseen, should he strike me down. You will take him to the Remnicore system. There you will find Tor Valum, master of the Sith who instructed me.” The holocron then scans Kylo Ren and determines that he is not Darth Vader. It sounds an alarm and a burst of purple lightning blasts out of it and hits Kylo Ren in the eyes. “The invasive pulse of energy spreads over Kylo’s face like a cancer. Horrible, raw purple veins streak through his skin. He screams in deep, unbearable agony.”
Cut to the Resistance base on a planet named Korilev. General Leia Organa’s eyes are jolted open by the pain she feels from her son. Lieutenant Connix, now scarred from a previous battle, and Chewbacca appear to tell Leia that the team is back from the mission to the Kuat shipyards. They watch as the Star Destroyer appears and begins to land on the planet. Leia has the remaining First Order soldiers escorted off then orders an evacuation. She then talks with Rose and Poe about how they were able to steal it. Rey and Finn talk. Rey feels that she’s failed. After seeing people on the Kuat moon recognize her as a Jedi, she doesn’t think that she’s going to be able to be what everyone wants her to be. She fears she’s not strong enough. Finn asks her if she’s still sensing Kylo Ren. She says she still sees him in her nightmares every night.
REY
Every night I wake up screaming.
Every night another bad dream.FINN
Is it him?REY
There’s something between us and
I can’t explain it.FINN
You have to shut him out. He can’t
change. It’s too late.REY
It’s never too late to change. You
taught me that, Finn.
Chewie then bursts in to tell everyone that something was found on the Eclipse. Everyone follows him to a giant hold on the ship that is full of armaments: TIE Fighters, walkers, urban assault vehicles, heavy artillery. But they still need an army big enough to use it all. There are more weapons and vehicles than the Resistance has people to use them. Where are they going to get enough people for all of them? Rey says she has an idea. She tells them she read about something that could be useful in the ancient Jedi texts. There’s an old communications system underneath the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The Force Beacon, as she calls it, is from the time of the Old Republic and sends a signal to 50 other planets. Finn doesn’t think it will work. It’s old and the First Order has blocked communications. Poe thinks it will work because Old Republic technology is so good.
We then see Rey training with a blindfold on but struggling and in pain. Force Ghost Luke appears to her and pushes her to become stronger in the Force, telling her that her “pain is an illusion.”
Meanwhile, Kylo has made it to Coruscant and is on an operating table. A number of Ugnaughts are smelting Mandalorian iron to use to cauterize his facial wounds. Through the Force, Rey can feel pain on her face where the liquid metal it hitting Kylo’s. He and Rey share a Force vision.
A MOUNTAIN
Snow on the jagged peaks. A TEMPLE older than all known time.
AN ANCIENT CHAMBER
Two massive thrones built into the rock. A WELL OF LIGHT, pulsing from deep below.
INT. RESISTANCE BASE — JEDI DOJO — DAY
Rey is wracked by the same vision…but it continues…
A DARK FIGURE
Hooded, masked. Kylo Ren. He activates his red lightsaber, facing off with Rey before the two thrones. They fight, vicious, intense. With a sharp swing Kylo STRIKES HER DOWN.
She rips off the blindfold. Luke asks her what she’s seen. She tells him and he tells her it’s the future. It’s Mortis. Luke tells her that underneath the temple on Mortis is an immense power. If Kylo gets that power, then the galaxy is in trouble. Rey doesn’t want to kill him to stop him. Luke tells her that the Force guides everyone towards balance. It doesn’t always show us what we want to see.
REY
Balance. The dark suffocates the light.
Light extinguishes the dark. Over and
over and over. How is that balance in
the Force?LUKE SKYWALKER
I know that anger. I had it. My father
had it too.REY
So says my master. And his master before
him. A thousand masters so eager to tell
us how to live.She looks through an arched opening at the Resistance Base below. FINN AND ROSE, calibrating a grappling cannon…POE AND CHEWIE working on the Falcon…
I spent my whole life
wanting a family. I’ve got one now. I
won’t abandon them.LUKE SKYWALKER
The Force is speaking to you.REY
Maybe I’m not who the Force thinks I am.LUKE SKYWALKER
Who are you?REY
I am no one.LUKE SKYWALKER
If you really believe these things, then
maybe the last Jedi is dead.REY
Maybe he is.
Back on Coruscant, Kylo gets a new mask to help with his wounds. Hux, alone in his chamber, tries in vain to use the Force to move a coin on a table. Kylo barges in to speak with him. He belittles the Chancellor and asks about Rey before revealing that he’s found what he’s looking for. He orders Hux to eliminate the Resistance and leave “the girl” to him.
The Resistance then starts creating a plan of attack, with Poe leading much of the discussion to Leia’s delight. Finn offers to lead the team on Coruscant and Rose says she’ll actually lead the team but let Finn think that he is. Rey fears it’s too dangerous for her to accompany them and says she won’t go with them. The meeting disperses and Poe chases down Rey. She tells him she’s going to confront Kylo on Mortis alone. When Poe asks her if she knows where Mortis is and she says no, he offers to take her to a Force-sensitive navigator he knows about on the planet Bonadan. Elsewhere, Finn and Rose talk and Finn reveals that he trained with the Stormtrooper he recognized on the Kuat moon. He remembers feeling the same fear he saw in the trooper’s eyes and doesn’t want anyone else to be conscripted by the First Order.
Kylo then speaks with Vader’s mask again. Says he understands Vader’s pain. “You allowed love to cloud your judgment.” Say he will succeed where Vader failed. Then he throws the mask over the edge of a balcony on Coruscant and it smashes into the ground. He then heads to his TIE Silencer, ordering VX-20 to set a course for Remnicore. Hux watches Ren leave, then is told by Commander Sellik that they’ve found the Resistance. The Chancellor orders an attack.
The good guys are about to leave for their mission. Weighty goodbyes are exchanged. Before leaving, Rey talks with Leia. Rey tells the princess that she can save Ben, but Leia says her son is gone. The General has also picked up on the romantic tension between Rey and Poe. She leaves Rey with some advice: “You’re not like my father. Or my brother. You’re new. Whatever happens, remember: the Force chose you, Rey. Your story isn’t written by anyone else.” The conversation is ended by the First Order appearing over the planet and opening fire.
Rose and Finn hop in a ship called the Phantom Hawk to Coruscant with R2-D2 and C-3PO while Rey, Poe, Chewie, and BB-8 jump run into the Falcon. Poe, Rey, and Chewie have a fun argument about who gets to fly the ship. While Poe is a great pilot, and Chewie has been the co-pilot, it’s Rey’s ship now so she flies it. Finn, watching them leave, says “good luck, Rey.” Sensing this through the Force, she quietly responds “you, too.”
Connix, Leia, and the rest of the Resistance are on the Star Destroyer Eclipse. They’re forced to take off before everyone has gotten on board. Leia can feel the deaths of the Resistance members left behind. The bombardment has created a swathe of debris in orbit, a de facto asteroid belt. While the Hawk is able to get to hyperspace before it got too bad, the Falcon was not so lucky. It’s chased by the Knife-9 and the Knights of Ren as it tries to clear chunks of the planet, including forests and frozen bodies of water, to make the jump to light speed. The heroes continue bickering over who should fly, which doesn’t help. Finally, they clear the debris and jump to lightspeed, the Knife-9 left in the dust. But aboard that ship, Hattaska Ren is able to sense their destination through the Force.
Kylo Ren lands on Remnicore, “ a cold black planet veined with silver.” “Kylo approaches an ancient stone military battlement consumed by time. Skeletons of fallen WAR BEASTS litter the terrain. Whatever battle happened here, it ended centuries ago. He passes empty suits of armor. Robes draped over broken shields. Flags flutter in the wind. A Sith helmet on the ground, skull visible within. A reminder that while the Jedi live on, the Sith become dust.” A single red dot on his tracking beacon flashes, proof that it’s detected a life form. He enters a fortress then moves into a chamber filled with spaceship parts and piles of ore. A voice whispers “reveal yourself.” It’s Tor Valum. Kylo ignites his lightsaber.
Tor denies knowing the name Darth Plagueis meets Kylo’s threat of death with amusement. He tells the young man to take his mask off and Kylo obliges. Valum knows why Kylo is there but tells him that to learn the power he seeks he must sever himself from the past.
Rey, Poe, Chewie, and BB-8 have reached Bonadan. The planet is permanently in twilight and covered in markets. Poe tries to get the owners of the landing pad they used to hide the Falcon’s make and model in their registry but doesn’t have much luck. He tells Rey that she looks too much like a Jedi and needs to disguise herself. She goes to buy a robe from a merchant, but the merchant refuses her money and just gives her the robe. As they walk among the stalls, Poe and Rey talk about their pasts. Poe used to spend time here with his grandfather and Rey remembers building wooden starships with her father. But she second guesses that memory because her parents were “no one.”
They spot a trio of Mechtroopers and duck into a stall to hide. The proprietor keeps trying to get them to try her food. They eventually agree, if only to get her to stop drawing attention, but the soup she gives them is incredibly hot, causing Poe to start coughing. A Mechtrooper starts moving towards them. Rey grabs Poe and kisses him, using her scarf to hide their faces. The trooper decides they’re not a threat and walks off.
They make their way to the navigator’s den. Poe wants to give as little information as possible, but the navigator, Nomi, know exactly who Rey is. She has Rey concentrate and picture the vision of Mortis. Using the Force, Nomi figures out where it is and has her assistant draw a map. Then she tells Rey that she must go alone to “make the sacrifice.” Poe is not happy about any of that. Rey asks if there’s another path. Nomi: “There is always another path.”
The Phantom Hawk has reached Coruscant and flies through a canyon of skyscrapers, the underground plunging below them. Finn is dismayed by how many people are living down there. Rose: “Rich folks don’t spend much time thinking about what they’re standing on.” They spot the Jedi Temple and decide to drop off Artoo and Threepio at the street level. C-3PO remarks that “I’m afraid all my knowledge of Coruscant is limited to the upper levels.” R2 beeps angrily at him. 3PO: “Elitist? Where did you ever learn that word?” Finn and Rose land on a building across from the temple and shoot a zip line over to its spire. They zip over to the temple while the droids make their way inside. Rose and Finn manage to start up the beacon, only for it to almost immediately short out.
Back on Remnicore, Tor Valum is teaching Kylo Ren how to drain the living Force from living things. Kylo is sucking the life from a three-tusked creature called a Gronk Boar. Kylo says he wants more, but Valum tells him that that was the last living creature on the planet. Kylo senses something from a nearby cave and asks Tor what it is. Tor tells him it’s a vergence in the Force and that there is more within. Kylo puts on his mask and enters the cave.
Darth Vader appears and they clash, but Kylo is no match for his grandfather. Vader slices through Kylo’s chest with his lightsaber, leaving the latter clutching at his chest only to find no wound. Vader wasn’t real, he was just a vision. Kylo leaves the cave disheveled and angry. He wants to know where Mortis is. Tor says it is “the well of the Living Force, the source of the galaxy’s birth.” Kylo says he wants to be stronger than those that came before him and demands to know where it is, but Tor Valum judges him not yet worthy of knowing. Enraged, Kylo uses the Force to search Tor’s mind for the location. Tor Valum curses him as a “betrayer” and Kylo sucks the Living Force from him, leaving Valum “a withered husk.”
Rey feels this through the Force and collapses. She knows Kylo is getting stronger.
Finn and Rose are able to power up the beacon, a column of light that shoots up from the temple and heads to the designated planets. R2 projects the message into the beam. The people on Coruscant, including the boy Dade, see the beam and are “warmed by its light.” The message is a hologram of Leia asking for help. On the planet Agora Six, a Bendu monk and a breadline are seen watching the broadcast. It’s also seen in a shipyard on Wavett, a bar on Mon Cala, a village on Gria, and the planet Bothawui. It’s even seen by the bounty hunter Bossk on his home planet of Trandosha, and by a brother and sister on Tatooine. Poe and Rey also see it projected by many droids on Bonadan. From the bridge of the Eclipse, Leia watches the light travel through space.
LEIA
This is General Leia Organa of the Resistance. The time has come to forge a path to freedom. The forces of oppression have ruled our galaxy for too long. We must join together and fight. Send your fastest ships, all your warriors. Our voices will not be silenced. We can no longer live in the shadow of the First Order. We must step into the light.
Walking back to his ship on Remnicore, Kylo senses the light above him. He reaches out and stops it with the Force. The energy backs up all the way to the beacon, causing it to explode. Leia is depressed and Rey realizes she and Poe need to get back to the Falcon. Three TIE Fighters surround Finn and Rose on Coruscant and they quickly snap back on to the zipline and head back for the ship while Artoo and Threepio flee into the night from the now collapsing temple. Rose is hit by a TIE blast and her zipline snaps, sending her tumbling into the darkness below. Finn sees her fall but makes it to the rooftop, though he has to hide from the fighters before he can get to the ship.
Rey feels his pain on Bonadan and falls to the floor. Poe goes to comfort her but sees Hattaska Ren coming for them through the crowd, flanked by Lorl and Ott. Rey rises and ignites her lightsaber, but Poe tells her they can’t fight there. There are too many people. She Force pushes everyone away, sending Poe off the platform and into the water below. She heads to a dock and commandeers a “Razorsail,” a sailboat-type craft. Poe hops on and they head for the Falcon, pursued by the Knife-9. When the pair gets close to the landing pad, Rey cuts the sail lose and she and Poe ride it up to their ship, where Chewie is waiting for them.
The Knife-9 lands and the Knights of Ren disembark and attack. Rey ignites her lightsaber and takes them all on. Poe and Chewie fire away at Jaedec. Rey pairs off with Hattaska, Darksaber against lightsaber. Poe gets hit and his scream of pain angers Rey. She quickly dispatches Lorl and Ott while Chewie grabs Jaedec, throws him off the landing pad, and drills the Knight in midair with his bowcaster. It’s just Rey and Hattaska now. He grazes and disarms her, causing her to fall to the ground. She gets her first good look at his mask and this causes her to flashback.
Dark figures in the rain. Voices SCREAMING. Lightning flashes, revealing HATTASKA REN.
This infuriates Rey for reasons she doesn’t entirely understand. Lightning shoots from her fingertips and electrocutes Hattaska, killing him. She becomes determined to finish this herself and tells Poe she’s going to go to Mortis without him. He protests so she tries to Jedi mind trick him, but he resists. Chewy is howling and Rey is trying harder and harder. Rey: “You WILL leave this place and go back to help the Resistance.” When he’s using the most effort to hold out, she kisses him, breaking his resistance and the trick finally works. Poe: “I have to leave this place. I have to help the Resistance.” Rey takes the Knife-9 for Mortis while Poe, Chewy, and BB-8 fly the Millennium Falcon to the stolen Star Destroyer. As Poe is walking up the ramp of the Falcon, the mind trick wears off and he looks over to Rey and waves.
After leaving Remnicore’s orbit, Kylo calls Hux, who has no idea that it was the Supreme Leader who stopped the Force beacon. Hux tries to get him to come back, but Kylo ignores him, turns off the communication and blasts into hyperspace, heading for Mortis.
From the bridge of the Eclipse, Leia talks with Luke. He’s concerned about Rey. Leia isn’t.
Finn is wandering through alleys on Coruscant. A stormtrooper approaches and Finn uses a device to stun him. He tells the trooper to take off his helmet and think back to before he was a stormtrooper. He can’t remember anything, not even his name. Finn starts talking him out of following the First Order. Tells him to get a name then find something “worth fighting for.”
Hux tries to get information about the Resistance from Rose. She gives him nothing, and instead cracks jokes. Hux tries to use the Force to extract the information from her mind. It, of course, fails and Rose taunts him about it. So he brings in a torture device.
Leia travels to the planet Ollaforn to recruit more help and enters a cabaret club. This is Lando Calrissian’s club and he is in his element. At the sound of her voice, he jumps up and kisses her hand, a gesture she thinks is a little much. Lando explains that his clientèle is mostly First Order, but only because he has little choice. Leia asks for his help. The Resistance needs ships and pilots and Lando knows smugglers who can provide both. Lando tells her that helping her new friends take on the First Order is not what Han would have wanted. Leia says the Resistance needs him. They go down into the docking bay to her shuttle. Lando tells her that she needs to leave, he can’t protect her. Leia again asks him to come with her and fight with the Resistance. Lando responds that they already fought a war once. What good did that do? He kisses her on the forehead and apologizes and she leaves.
Rey drops out of hyperspace at her destination to find a black hole. She recalculates and jumps to lightspeed directly into it. As she passes through the black hole, she sees a quick montage of images from her life. Finn taking her hand on Jakku, Han giving her a blaster, Luke taking the lightsaber on Ahch-To, etc. She opens her eyes to see a planet ahead, surrounded by black, not a single star in the sky. Suddenly the power in the ship cuts out, causing her to make a crash landing in a riverbed circled by a forest. She has reached Mortis. Getting out of the Knife-9, she walks until she sees a temple at the summit of a mountain.
Kylo has found the planet at about the same time. He lands his TIE Silencer and makes his way over a natural stone bridge.
Threepio and Artoo are trying to find their way on Coruscant. They watch as a First Order transport lands and several Stormtroopers and Brutetroopers get out. The troops start grabbing children to take to conditioning camps. C-3PO wonders how they’ll ever find Finn.
Meanwhile, Finn is in the sewers still trying to evade capture. He gets stuck in sludge and nearly gets eaten by a creature called a Gryock, but is saved just in time by Dade. The boy knows Finn and reveals a Resistance ring. He leads Finn to a large underground abandoned prison where thousands of people are hiding from the First Order. Finn realizes this is the army the Resistance needs. He gives a rousing speech that convinces the people to stage an attack on the Capitol.
Rey is climbing the icy mountain. She reaches a plateau where there are statues of robed ancients. Suddenly she’s back on Jakku. She sees a young girl being dragged away from her mother and father. It’s young Rey and she’s screaming for them to come back. The mother tries to run back, but the father grabs her, saying it’s “too dangerous.” She yells to Rey to stay there and wait. They’ll be back. The vision ends and Rey is back on the snowy plateau. She yells for Luke to give her answers and when he doesn’t appear she cuts one of the statues in half.
On another part of the planet, Kylo is hiking through a cold forest. He comes across a house with smoke emanating from the chimney. He sees a younger version of himself in black robes and a hood. Young Kylo approaches the house and opens the door. Inside is Han Solo. Han asks what Ben is doing. Kylo tells his father that’s not his name anymore.
HAN SOLO
Your mother can’t see you here.
Not like this.KYLO REN
I’m not coming back. There’s a
greater destiny for me.HAN SOLO
They’re lies, son. Empty
promises. You have everything
you need right here.KYLO REN
What, you? Her? My master says
I have unequaled power. Neither
of you understand.HAN SOLO
Your mother understands more
than anyone.KYLO REN
She sent me away.HAN SOLO
To learn. To grow.KYLO REN
I have grown.HAN SOLO
Your mother loves you.KYLO REN
She’s afraid of me.HAN SOLO
Give me the lightsaber, son.HAN reaches for the lightsaber.
KYLO REN
You know I can’t.
The vision ends by cutting to Kylo killing Han Solo on Starkiller Base. After it fades, Kylo is left alone on Mortis, disturbed and shaken. He begins making his way up the mountain.
Threepio and Artoo are still lost on the streets of Coruscant. An AT-MT walker comes into view around a corner and Finn leads some People’s Resistance Fighters as they attack it from above. They easily dispatch the crew and take it over, using it to blast some TIE Choppers out of the sky.
Commander Sellik informs Chancellor Hux about the insurrection while Rose screams in pain from a nearby room. When he’s told that the people are led by former FN unit, he tells Sellik to recall all the FN troops. They must have a defect. Instead, he orders more Brutetroopers. Sellik doesn’t like how undisciplined and expensive the mercenaries are.
Two guards come into Rose’s room to transfer her. She looks in bad shape. Her clothes are torn and her body is dotted with blood. As they drag her to the door, she comes alive, turning off the lights and electrocuting them with a taser she steals from one. She’s free.
Back in the AT-MT, Finn spots Threepio on the street. He climbs on top of the walker to get a better look, but a Brutetrooper is waiting for him. A fistfight ensues and soon enough they’ve fallen off the walker onto the ground. The Brutetrooper grabs a blaster from a fallen trooper and has Finn bested. But just as he’s about to fire, he gets drilled by a barrage of laser fire. It’s a rogue Stormtrooper unit led by the soldier Finn talked to earlier. He’s given himself the name Rafe.
On the bridge of the Eclipse, Lieutenant Connix notifies Leia of a transmission they just received from Coruscant. Finn has started an insurrection and is ready to storm the capitol. Leia doesn’t want to risk their people and vehicles on this, but Poe, who has just met up with the Star Destroyer after leaving Bonadan, eventually convinces her. In the hold, soldiers get into transports and pilots ready their ships while the Eclipse jumps to hyperspace.
On Mortis, Kylo and Rey meet in front of the temple. They talk. Rey reveals that she knows Kylo killed her parents. Kylo tells her that it was on orders from Snoke and that she should feel lucky. He let her live. Rey is getting angrier and angrier. She tells Kylo he’ll have to kill her to get into the temple. He attacks.
The Eclipse pops out of hyperspace above Coruscant. Craft start streaming out of its hold. Poe and Chewie both head for the Millennium Falcon, but Poe tells the Wookiee that they need all the ships they can get. So Chewie eyes an orange X-Wing.
Hux orders all destroyers to be summoned to them so they can eliminate the Resistance once and for all.
Poe is being hassled by TIEs as soon as he gets out of the Star Destroyer. Suddenly they all explode in quick succession, easily destroyed by Chewbacca (and BB-8) in an X-Wing.
On the ground, the people face off against the technological might of the First Order.
During the battle of Coruscant, R2-D2 and C-3PO are walking through blaster fire when they find a First Order astromech droid, R8-O8, using a flipped-over tank to send a distress message. R2 pesters the golden droid into doing something about it. So he hurries through more plasma bolts to the droid, rips its back panel off, and starts pulling out wires and circuits. Finn comes running by and sees him fretting over the now inanimate shell of the First Order astromech droid. Threepio: “I’ve done horrible things. I may never be the same.” The forces from the Eclipse arrive planetside, X-Wings and B-wings clearing the skies while transports drop off dozens of newly painted walkers.
Back outside the temple on Mortis, Kylo and Rey are still fighting. Kylo: “I could have been your teacher. I could have ended your pain.” They continue fighting. “Kylo strikes a blow across her face leaving a scar from her cheek to her forehead. Rey drops her lightsaber to the stone. She falls to her knees and screams, clutching her eyes. She’s been blinded.” She falls back down the steps she used to get to the temple entrance. Kylo then enters the temple.
Back above Coruscant, the First Order’s Star Destroyers are arriving and attacking the Eclipse. Leia commands the giant ship, scratching one destroyer, but ten more appear. Meanwhile, Resistance fighters are waging the battle between the skyscrapers on the planet and towards the Capitol. Hux is shocked at how the fight is unfolding. From the shadows, Rose hears Commander Sellik tell someone to “ready the hyperdrive.” The capitol is a ship! She sneaks into its navigation room, ready to do her part to stop them.
Poe sends Chewie down to the planet to help out. He streaks through the artificial canyon, obliterating several cannons before being hit and crashing. Finn and the ragtag ground resistance rush over and pull Chewie and BB-8 from the wreckage. And then even more First Order walkers appear.
On the Eclipse, Connix informs Leia that their “agent on the inside” is contacting them. It’s Rose and she tells them she needs R2’s help to disable the capitol’s hyperdrive. They patch her through to Finn, who finds Artoo and tells him what he needs to do. But almost as soon as he starts off for the capitol, he’s hit. And it’s bad. Finn doesn’t have time to mourn. He opens up the little astromech droid and pulls out his memory drive. BB-8 takes it and zooms towards the capitol.
The First Order is pressing and Finn and the others need to fall back. But Threepio won’t leave his friend’s side. Chewie grabs R2 and slings the droid on his back. Chewie gets hit and stumbles but manages to get up and join in the retreat. From the bridge of the Eclipse, Leia watches as another Star Destroyer appears outside. And then another. The battle appears lost.
Inside the temple on Mortis, Kylo goes to a central chamber where the statues of ancients are looking down upon him. There is a void in the middle covered by a large stone slab. Kylo slides the top slab off and peers inside, to the heart of Mortis. There’s nothing inside. “Kylo searches the rune-covered walls for answers, He finds only arcane sculpted faces looking down at him. He fires his saber and slashes at statues, scarring the Ancients with his rage.” Force ghost Luke appears and tells him “you’ve lost, Ben.”
KYLO
You’re dead! The Jedi are ghosts!
LUKE
The Dark Side has failed you, like it failed my father.
KYLO
Your father was weak!
LUKE
His love for his family saved him. I wish it could save you.
Luke looks deep into his former student’s pained eyes.
KYLO
I did what I had to do.
LUKE
You chose hate.
KYLO I chose power!
Kylo FIRES his saber and ATTACKS. But Luke CATCHES THE BLADE WITH HIS GLOVED HAND, stopping it in midair, stronger than Kylo could possibly imagine.
Kylo tells his former master that he’ll be stronger than any Skywalker has ever been. Luke: “You are no Skywalker.”
Rey is still in a heap at the bottom of the temple stairs. That’s when she senses Luke. As he speaks, the heroes are connected through the Force. Leia on the bridge of the Eclipse, Poe in the Millennium Falcon, and Finn on the street.
LUKE SKYWALKER
We’re connected. All living things. The Force surrounds us. It penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. We are one. Bound by the Force. And we will not be broken.
As he says the final line, he appears to Rey and smiles. Encouraged by his speech, and the love of her friends she can feel through the Force, Rey gets up, having now found the strength to carry on. She rips off some cloth from her hand and creates a blindfold. Back in the temple, as the specter of Luke vanishes, Rey appears in the doorway. “Her fallen lightsaber flies into her hands.”
REY
Our masters were wrong. I will not deny
my ange. And I will not reject my love.
I am the darkness and I am the light.KYLO REN
You are nothing! You are no one!She ignites the blades. They crackle.
REY
No one is no one.
They begin their final battle.
In space over Coruscant, the Eclipse senses ships arriving from the Outer Rim. Leia begins to order a retreat, but they’re not First Order ships. It’s Lando and a giant fleet of smugglers and thieves! Lando himself is in the lead in The Lady Luck. “Thought you could use a few scoundrels.” From the ground, Finn sees this massive new fleet and cheers. BB-8 gets to the base of the capitol and plugs in. The First Order begins a retreat and Leia orders Poe to head to the surface to press the attack. He flies down and crashes into several First Order walkers, cutting them off at the knees. Hux sees all this and is shattered. He realizes they have lost and heads over to his collector’s case. He takes out a lightsaber and impales himself with the purple blade.
Kylo counters Rey’s every move. They are evenly matched, two sides of a coin, flame and shadow, fighting to the death. A vicious swing and Kylo’s lightsaber shatters at the hilt, destroyed along with several fingers on his hand. He looks at it with disbelief. Rey stands over him. The anger is flowing. She separates her dual lightsaber, one blade pointed to Kylo’s chest. Kylo is stunned by the powerful being before him. She’s almost glowing, unfathomable Living Force within her. Kylo clenches his teeth, eyes furious, a rage we haven’t seen since Anakin. He reaches out the open palm of his good hand… and EXTRACTS THE LIVING FORCE FROM REY as Tor Valum taught him.
Rey starts screaming and pulls off her blindfold as she falls to the ground. Kylo stands, energized from the Force he is extracting. He rips the metal from his face to reveal that it is fully healed. He looks toward the temple.
KYLO REN
They were all wrong. All of them.
The power of this place can’t be
taken. But it’s nothing compared
to you.
Rey is almost dead, reaching out her hand and pleading with “Ben” not to kill her. Leia feels this disturbance in the Force. She speaks through the Force to Kylo, begging him to come home. “Kylo feels the very thing that destroyed Anakin. But it doesn’t make him feel weak. He looks at Rey’s outstretched hand… and TAKES it.” The Living Force flows back into Rey. “Both the light and the dark swirl within Rey as Kylo is reduced to an empty shell.” He sacrifices his life to give Rey back hers. With his dying breath, he tells Rey her last name: Solana. “Rey is stunned to hear her last name. Distant, like a memory. ‘Your name Rey Solana.’” And Ben dies with the light in his eyes.
On the ground at Coruscant, the battle is seemingly won. The heroes gather on the capitol steps and Finn grabs a Resistance flag. But just as he starts waving it, the ground trembles. The capitol is taking off! And Rose is still on board! She runs to an escape pod and jettisons before it leaves the atmosphere. Finn and the others race to where her pod lands. She tells them she couldn’t deactivate the hyperdrive. But she did make some other adjustments. Before she can tell them what those adjustments are, the massive ship makes the jump the lightspeed…and directly into a nearby planet, obliterating the capitol ship in an impact “visible for light-years.” The communications on the Eclipse crackle to life, voices from thousands of planets “ calling on their brethren to fight.” But the victory is bittersweet. The heroes can feel that Rey is gone.
Rey goes into the temple of Mortis and lays on the stone, still hurt. There’s nothing but silence. Then light starts to fill the room. Rey rises and is engulfed, taken to the astral plane. There she sees Yoda, Luke, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They tell her she has taught them about embracing the light and the dark. They give her a choice. She can stay there with them and enjoy the serenity, peace, and knowledge of the astral plane, or she can return to the galaxy and experience pain and suffering. She makes her choice and the three Jedi fade away.
In a ceremonial hall on Coruscant, Leia gives Finn, Poe, Rose, and Chewie medals. Later, on a landing platform, they discuss Rey. Poe is determined to roam the galaxy looking for her. Finn gives him back his old jacket. He leaves on the Millennium Falcon with Chewie, hanging Rey’s tracking bracelet where Han’s dice used to be. Rose and Finn take the Phantom Hawk in a different direction. Leia watches them leave from her quarters, where a repair droid is working on R2-D2.
C-3PO
A quick cycle through his old memory banks
and he’ll be his old self again. I hope.LEIA ORGANA
He’ll be fine C-3PO.C-3PO
I can’t imagine what I’d do without him.
I know he’s stubborn, but I..I..LEIA ORGANA
I know.
Leia picks up R2’s intact memory drive, which was rescued by BB-8. She kneels down in front of R2-D2 and inserts it back into him. R2 comes back to life.
As his files catalog into chronological order, he projects the contents of his memory banks… and we witness their adventures over 60 years, all from the droid’s perspective.
- Luke buying C-3PO from the Jawas
- Obi-Wan giving Luke his father’s lightsaber
- R2 flying through the Death Star trench
- Han getting his medal on Yavin
- Yoda lifting the X-Wing from the swamp
- Luke saluting from the plank on Jabba’s barge
- Leia and Han outside the bunker on Endor
Leia is taken aback by the flood of memories. It is a catharsis for her and for us. She takes a deep breath.
LEIA ORGANA
Thank you, R2.R2 BEEPs affectionately.
We cut to a planet named Modesta. At a homestead on serene fields of grass, Finn is telling a group of children the story of how the Resistance defeated the First Order and how Rey had given them hope. The kids, including Dade and Temiri Blagg (Broom Boy) go outside to play and we find out they’re Force-sensitive. Finn and Rose have created this place as a refuge for Force-sensitive children. As Finn stares at the sunset, he sees something. In the Falcon, flying through hyperspace, the tracking bracelet begins to glow. Poe tells Chewie to turn the chip around. Back on Modesta, a distance away, Rey appears, not quite fully healed from her battle with Kylo. She’s there to train the next generation of Jedi.
