Fans swooned when Poe Dameron introduced himself to Rey at the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and now we know who they have to thank for that: Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow.
With The Rise of Skywalker less than a month away, it’s easy to forget August 15, 2015. That was the day Disney named Colin Trevorrow as the director of “Star Wars Episode IX.” The announcement came several weeks after news first broke about Trevorrow’s attachment to the film, which meant he probably had been working on it for a little while by that point.
For some context, in the summer of 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens wasn’t even in theatres yet and Rian Johnson was already over a year into writing and pre-production on what would become The Last Jedi. So, it makes sense that if Trevorrow had started thinking about what would happen in Episode IX, he might ask Johnson for a favour, much like Johnson asked Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams for a small favour himself. Read about that below.
Like Johnson’s small favour to help his movie, Trevorrow’s ask ended up happening at the end of Episode VIII.
“I just asked Rian if he could include a little moment where Rey and Poe meet for the first time,” Trevorrow told Empire. “They’re such beloved characters, it felt right for them to have some history in the next movie. I thought the way he did it was perfect.”
And, of course, we know from the Rise of Skywalker trailers that Poe and Rey do spend time together in the movie. To do what? Well, that remains a mystery.
Trevorrow left Episode IX in 2017 and was eventually replaced by Abrams. However, enough of Trevorrow’s DNA remains in the film that he and co-writer Derek Connolly share story credit with writers Abrams and Chris Terrio. “I’m grateful to J.J. for embracing some of our ideas,” Trevorrow said. “It’s exciting that fans will get to see the moments that felt essential to all of us.”
One moment that Trevorrow didn’t think of when he was developing the film was the idea to bring back the Emperor. He fully credits that to Abrams.
“Bringing back the Emperor was an idea J.J. brought to the table when he came on board,” Trevorrow said. “It’s honestly something I never considered. I commend him for it. This was a tough story to unlock, and he found the key.”
Whether or not that key works, we’ll all know in a few short weeks. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens December 19.
[h/t Superhero Hype]