The Rise of Skywalker Rewrites Were "Like A Tide" According to Writer

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released to the world over three months ago, but we're still learning more about the developmental process of the film. With the home-video release of the film fastly approaching accompanied by the Art of The Rise of Skywalker reference book, key members of the production have been out giving a wave of interviews with internet outlets. Many fans have criticized The Rise of Skywalker's story and writing, and a recent comment from Chris Terrio has shed new light on how the film's script shaped itself into it's final form.

NEWS

In a recent exclusive interview with Business Insider Singapore sharing concept art for the film, writer Chris Terrio had this to say about the writing process for The Rise of Skywalker:

I’ve never rewritten a film as much as this one. It’s like a tide. There’s a new script every morning. But we just keep going at it and going at it, loosely thinking that it’s not good enough. It’s never good enough.

Despite the chaotic nature of the screenwriting, Terrio praised the work of the production crew for being adaptable to changes in the script:

We’re course-correcting as we go – we’re trying things, and some things don’t work and some things aren’t ambitious enough. Some things are overly ambitious. Some things are too dense. Some things are too simple. Some things are too nostalgic. Some things are too out-of-left-field. We’re finding our balance.

WHAT THIS MEANS

The nature of the film's re-writes have been alluded to before by director and co-writer JJ Abrams, but the quotes from Terrio pass the production off as hectic amid the script alterations. The Rise of Skywalker is a polarizing topic, and depending on who you ask, the constant re-writes helped or hurt the final product. Re-writes for scripts are a natural part of the filmmaking process, although amendments made to a screenplay on the daily are infrequent situations. After original director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly were relieved of their duties, Abrams and Terrio started from scratch on the story, given just over two years to complete the film for it's December 20, 2019 release. Abrams and Terrio were under pressure given the time crunch; re-working the script during shooting was necessary in some ways, as were the greater amounts of improv done by the cast and editing work being done on-set. Whether or not the writing duo succeeded or failed in crafting a satisfying swan song for the Skywalker saga is up for debate, but they undoubtedly worked hard to have their vision for the film reach the point they needed it to.