Rey Explores Tatooine in New The Rise of Skywalker Concept Art

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was released in theaters this past December and earlier this week on Disney+, was intended to be the final chapter and conclusion of the Skywalker Saga. That nearly impossible task was further complicated due to backlash against The Last Jedi , J.J. Abrams being brought back to direct instead of Colin Trevorrow, and the obvious lack of singular vision. In the months following The Rise of Skywalker 's release, fans have learned more about what went on behind the scenes, the continual script rewrites , and now unused concept art from the film.

NEWS

Adam Brockbank is a film concept artist known for his work on Captain America: The First Avenger , the Harry Potter film series, and Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy along with Solo: A Star Wars Story . He recently posted images of his artwork for The Rise of Skywalker that wasn't used in the film on his Instagram .

While Rey did visit Lars homestead on Tatooine at the end of The Rise of Skywalker , the moisture farm depicted in the art was abandoned and she only interacted with an unknown woman passing by.

UPDATE:

Brockbank has shared another concept piece depicting Rey's journey to Tatooine, this time venturing into Luke's mechanic garage and finding his model Skyhopper:

WHAT THIS MEANS

Rey's visit to Tatooine at the end of the film was intended to tie the sequel trilogy to the original trilogy, but Brockbank's art indicates there were other ideas about Rey's visit to where the saga began. While interacting with Sand People or Tusken Raiders would've been interesting and a callback to both the original and prequel trilogies, their presence was never a positive one for the Skywalker family and may not have produced the tone director J.J. Abrams wanted for the saga's final scene. Rey finding Luke's old Skyhopper toy wouldv'e been a neat little easter egg but also nonsensical, as it's hard to imagine the model survived 35 years' worth of sand storms and Tusken Raider looting parties.

It's important to note that these pieces were all made during early design phases, so it's hard to say whether or not there was ever a draft in the script that included these moments in the final sequece. The current scene is already filled with all kinds of callbacks to the original film as is, so including the Sand People and Luke's moddle Skyhopper may have been a bit too on the nose, even for a sequence designed to be a heavy nod to the audience.