Development
In October 2012, Star Wars creator George Lucas sold his production company Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company.[39] Disney subsequently announced the Star Wars sequel trilogy.[40] The next month, Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg entered negotiations to write and produce either Episode VIII or Episode IX.[41][42] Kinberg, Kasdan, and Michael Arndt worked in a writers room to discuss and map out the trilogy.[43] However, these plans did not come to fruition and instead Kasdan co-wrote Star Wars: The Force Awakens with Kinberg serving as a creative consultant.[44] In June 2014, it was announced that Rian Johnson, writer and director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, would write a story treatment for Episode IX.[45] However in April 2017, Johnson later denied involvement in writing the film, claiming the information was outdated.[46] In August 2015, Colin Trevorrow was announced as the director of the film;[47] he was to write the script with frequent collaborator Derek Connolly.[47][48] Trevorrow and Connolly's script, titled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates after the theme of the same name from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, included elements which were utilized to some extent in the final film, such as Kylo finding a Sith holocron in Darth Vader's castle on Mustafar, the transference of Force energy,[49][50] the concept of a superlaser-equipped Star Destroyer, Lando leading a galaxy-wide fleet of spaceships to save the day, and Chewbacca receiving a medal.[51] An original idea of Trevorrow and his design team, the First Order TIE Echelon, survived in the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme park, whose ship was supposed to appear in its original film.[52]
J. J. Abrams returned to direct the final film.In January 2016, Trevorrow revealed he was considering shooting on film and that he had wanted to shoot "on location" in outer space with IMAX cameras.[53] Trevorrow collaborated closely with Johnson whilst developing his script and even requested a scene featuring Rey and Poe be shot for The Last Jedi.[54][55][56] After the success of The Force Awakens, the highest-grossing film of 2015, Episode IX was put into production in February 2016, which Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger vaguely reported.[57][58] Carrie Fisher died in December 2016.[59] Prior to the release of the film, Carrie Fisher's brother Todd Fisher, who planned her character General Leia Organa to appear in the film before her death, revealed that "she was going to be the big payoff in the final film" and "she was going to be the last Jedi, so to speak."[60]
In late April 2017, Disney announced that the film would be released on May 24, 2019.[61] A month later, filming was expected to begin in January 2018.[62] In August 2017, it was announced that Jack Thorne would rewrite the script.[63] On September 5, 2017, Lucasfilm stated that Trevorrow had left the production following creative differences.[64] Trevorrow's place as director was supposedly on ice since June 2017.[65] The Hollywood Reporter reported that his working relationship with Kathleen Kennedy had become unmanageable after failing to deliver a satisfactory script, despite writing several drafts, nor were either happy with Thorne's revisions.[66][67] Johnson was rumored as the top choice to replace Trevorrow as director,[68] but stated "it was never in the plan for me to direct Episode IX."[69] David Fincher had discussions with the studio but would ultimately decline from directing the film.[70][71]
The next day, it was announced that J.J. Abrams, the director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, would return to direct the film,[72] and that the film's release date would be moved to December 20, 2019.[61] The story team met with George Lucas before writing the new script to discuss the nature of the Force.[73] Abrams co-wrote the script with Chris Terrio,[74] though Trevorrow and Connolly retain story credits.[75][76] The story was rewritten to some extent before filming was completed.[77] Terrio had written off working on larger-scale films at the time and did not socially know Abrams prior to agreeing to co-write the film with him.[78][79] The film was produced by Abrams' company Bad Robot, Kathleen Kennedy, and Michelle Rejwan.[74] According to Terrio, the film's script had to include certain narrative beats provided by Kennedy and Rejwan, including the redemption of the character Kylo Ren.[80] Abrams had also consulted with Johnson on making a film that both stood on its own but built upon previously established ideas and story elements.[81][82] Until its official reveal, only Abrams knew the title of the film.[83]
Before filming, Episode IX was initially given the working title Black Diamond, which was then changed to TrIXie in 2018,[84] so that the roman numeral "IX" would be included in the working title.[85] The film's title, The Rise of Skywalker, was announced at April 2019's Star Wars Celebration in Chicago.[86]
Casting
Carrie Fisher, who played Leia Organa, died on December 27, 2016.[59] Variety and Reuters reported that she had been planned for a key role in Episode IX.[87] In January 2017, Lucasfilm stated that there were no plans to digitally generate Fisher's performance as they had for Rogue One (2016).[88] The following April, Fisher's brother Todd revealed that Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, had granted Disney the rights to use recent footage of Fisher.[89] However, a week later, Kathleen Kennedy stated that Fisher would not appear in the film.[90][91] In July 2018, J. J. Abrams announced that unused footage of Fisher from The Force Awakens would be used to help complete the story.[8][9][92][e] In flashback scenes, digital de-aging was used for the appearance of Luke and Leia through the use of facial shots of both characters from the Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi respectively.[93]
In July 2018, Keri Russell was in talks to play a part with some "action-heavy fight scenes",[95] and it was confirmed that Billy Dee Williams would return as Lando Calrissian,[96] onscreen for the first time since 1983's Return of the Jedi — marking one of the longest intervals between portrayals of a character by the same actor in American film history.[94][f] At the end of July, Russell was confirmed to have been cast,[97] and there was an announcement of returning and additional new cast members.[5] In late August, Deadline Hollywood announced that Dominic Monaghan and Matt Smith had been cast in unspecified roles;[98][99] in 2019, Smith denied his involvement,[100][g] but he later clarified that he had been in talks for an unrealized "transformative" part.[103] Early rumors from Making Star Wars claimed Smith was set to portray a "dark side acolyte" who gets possessed by Palpatine.[104][105] Greg Grunberg reprises his role as Temmin "Snap" Wexley.[29]
At Star Wars Celebration in April 2019, it was revealed via the film's teaser trailer that Ian McDiarmid would return to portray Palpatine.[24] Since the event was held after principal photography wrapped, Abrams was thrilled that news of McDiarmid on the set never leaked.[24] Kathleen Kennedy said they decided to reveal Palpatine's return ahead of the film's release because of the characters playing a larger role in the story, having them differentiated from Grogu, the character from The Mandalorian.[106] Abrams had initially considered Palpatine returning while developing The Force Awakens.[107][108]
Filming
Wadi Rum in Jordan served as the location for the desert planet Pasaana.Principal photography began on August 1, 2018, at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England.[5] Filming also took place in Wadi Rum, Jordan.[109] Oscar Isaac stated that Abrams was allowing more improvised acting than in the previous two films.[110] Due to the tight schedule, some editing took place on set.[111] The crew on The Rise of Skywalker had three fewer months than they had to work on The Force Awakens leading to Maryann Brandon being sent in to cut on set a third of the way through production.[112] Scenes detailing Palpatine's return were altered and changed during production as they were felt to "go off topic".[113] The kiss between Rey and Ben was initially going to be excluded from the film, until Abrams decided against it at the last minute.[114] Principal photography wrapped on February 15, 2019.[115] Footage from the film was shown at The Walt Disney Company's annual shareholders meeting on March 7, 2019.[116] Two weeks of reshoots took place at Pinewood involving Hamill, Ridley, and Isaac in July 2019.[117] Another round of reshoots took place at Bad Robot between late September and mid-October.[118] Abrams stated that the film had fewer reshoots and story adjustments than Episode VII.[119]
Post-production
The visual effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic and supervised by Roger Guyett.[120] Last minute ADR was recorded with Adam Driver, in which he recorded his lines in a closet.[121] The film finished post-production on November 25, 2019. After John Boyega accidentally left a copy of the script in his hotel room, it was listed on eBay for around £65. A Disney employee identified the script as authentic and purchased it from the seller for an undisclosed sum.[122][123][124]
Music
In January 2018, it was confirmed that John Williams would return to compose and conduct The Rise of Skywalker.[125][126] The next month, Williams announced that it would be the last Star Wars film for which he would compose the score[6] (though he would later return to compose the theme music for the Disney+ miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi). In August 2019, it was revealed that Williams had written about 35 of an expected 135 minutes of music for the film, which according to Williams' brother Don, would incorporate all of the major themes of the Skywalker saga.[127] Scoring began in July 2019 with Williams and William Ross conducting and orchestrating the sessions over the course of six months.[128] The official soundtrack album was released by Walt Disney Records on December 20, 2019.[129]
