Former Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director Colin Trevorrow has been largely silent regarding the leak of his reported script, as well as the concept art that surfaced soon after. However, he's since broken that silence, confirming that not only is the concept art legitimate but so is the title for his version of the film, Duel of the Fates.On Twitter, a fan shared images of the concept art and asked Trevorrow if they were, in fact, from his planned Episode IX story. "Yes, this is from Duel of the Fates," he responded. But I’d never kill R2...he just took a bad hit. Happens to all of us," he added in reference to a plot detail that apparently saw R2-D2 destroyed and Chewbacca salvaging him.
Duel of the Fates would have reportedly differed from The Rise of Skywalker in a number of key areas: Kylo Ren was the main villain while Palpatine only had a hologram cameo, Kylo Ren was the one who killed Rey's parents (who were nobodies, much like he told her in The Last Jedi), Rose Tico led a heist on a Star Destroyer and Force ghosts of Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda aided Rey in her battle with Kylo Ren, who was eventually "extinguished" without any sort of redemption arc.
That said, the leaked concept art seemed to mirror the story details from Trevorrow's leaked script almost beat for beat. This includes Rey wielding a double-bladed lightsaber forged from her staff, Rey being trained by a Force ghost Luke Skywalker, Palpatine's old apprentice Tor Valum, Kylo Ren fighting a vision of Darth Vader, the First Order-occupied Coruscant, Rey battling a beast on Mortis, Rey and Kylo Ren battling on Mortis and Force ghost Luke haunting Kylo Ren (and even catching his lightsaber blade).
In 2015, Trevorrow signed on to direct and co-write Episode IX but parted ways with Lucasfilm in September 2017 over creative differences. He was soon replaced by The Force Awakens' J.J. Abrams, and Trevorrow's frequent collaborator Derek Connolly, who was the original Episode IX co-writer, was replaced by Chris Terrio.
Recently, images from the delayed The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker similarly made their way online, with some believing they depicted scenes from Duel of the Fates. However, Trevorrow himself confirmed nothing from his version of Episode IX was in that book.
Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong' o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant. The film is now in theaters.