J.J. Abrams Confirms Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Not Finished: “So Much Is Still Being Worked On.”

John F. Trent |

Nov 19, 2019

Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) draws his light saber in Star Wars Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams confirmed that the film doesn’t seem anywhere near finished as it nears a month from its planned release date.

Abrams spoke with Entertainment Weekly saying, “We always knew we were going to have three fewer months to postproduction this film.”

He then adds:

“So much is still being worked on. It’s literally a practical race to get it finished.”

However, Abrams revealed he’s feeling “infinitely better” about where The Rise of Skywalker is compared to The Force Awakens. He goes on to detail that he had more reshoots and more story adjustments for The Force Awakens than The Rise of Skywalker.

“We had more reshoots on Episode VII than this one. We had more story adjustments on VII than this one. We didn’t know if these characters would work, if the actors would be able to carry a Star Wars movie. There were a lot of things we didn’t know. On this, we knew who and what worked, and everyone is doing the best work I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

Abrams then details The Rise of Skywalker is “far more challenging.”

“But the ambition of this movie is far greater than Force Awakens. What we set out to do was far more challenging. Everything is exponentially larger on this.”

He then teases that the two and a half trailers that have been released for the film “are scratching the surface of what the movie is.” In fact, Abrams revealed to EW that there are action scenes from the film that have not been showcased in the trailers.

Rumors about The Rise of Skywalker indicate there are multiple cuts of the film with radical changes to the story in each of the different cuts. In fact, one of the cuts reportedly brought in George Lucas to introduce a new “secret Skywalker.”

One rumor from the middle of October detailed that Lucasfilm and Disney had to rework almost the entire film.

Abrams’ quotes will more than likely not settle any fears fans might have that the film is a complete mess. In fact, he appears to be confirming those fears noting they are crunching to get the film finished.

He does attempt to alleviate those fears stating The Rise of Skywalker has had less story adjustments and reshoots compared to The Force Awakens, but based off the leaked plot details, that might not actually be a good thing as many Star Wars fans are skeptical about the return of The Emperor and the old Imperial technology shown in the various trailers.

As far as Abrams saying he feels “infinitely better” about The Rise of Skywalker, he’s said that multiple times while promoting the film. Back in May he detailed the difference in his approach between The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker:

“Working on nine, I found myself approaching it slightly differently. Which is to say that, on seven, I felt beholden to Star Wars in a way that was interesting—I was doing what to the best of my ability I felt Star Wars should be.”

He then detailed how The Rise of Skywalker is different:

“It felt slightly more renegade; it felt slightly more like, you know, F*** it, I’m going to do the thing that feels right because it does, not because it adheres to something.”

If he’s doing the thing that feels right, it could explain why he’s feeling “infinitely better.” Of note, Abrams and his Bad Roboto production company also signed a deal with WarnerMedia reportedly for half a billion dollars.

WarnerMedia chief John Stankey made the announcement back in September.

“We are extremely excited about the potential to deliver remarkable and memorable stories and characters across multiple platforms to audiences around the world. J.J., Katie and all of Bad Robot bring extraordinary vision, exquisite filmmaking, and exemplary industry leadership to this endeavor and our company.”

It’s possible he just doesn’t feel the pressure after signing a deal reportedly worth half a billion dollars.

What do you make of Abrams’ quotes? Does it alleviate your fears about the film? Does it get you excited? Or does it make you believe the movie is in even more dire straits than you might have originally believed?