When it was announced that JJ Abrams was coming back to direct Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, there were rumors that he was intentionally brought back in order to help bring some of the Star Wars magic that may have been lost for some in The Last Jedi.
The total world wide box office for The Last Jedi was $1.3 billion. By no means was the film a failure at the box office, but it was a bit of a disappointment to Disney when you consider that The Force Awakens made $2.1 billion during its run. To add insult to injury, Rogue One made $1.1 billion and that was a Star Wars spinoff movie. And Solo, which was released a few months after The Last Jedi, made a disappointing $393 million.
Disney and Lucasfilm realized that The Last Jedi was a divisive movie among fans of The Star Wars franchise and that may have contributed significantly to decline of Star Wars movies at the box office.
With JJ Abrams back on board, there has been speculation that Disney and Lucasfilm gave him free reign to bring back some legendary Star Wars characters. We have already seen this in the first teaser trailer for The Rise Of Skywalker, which revealed that Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious would be returning.
Now, according to Jason Ward from MakingStarWars.net, another legendary character from the Star Wars Saga may be returning. Jason Ward has always been a great source regarding Star Wars leaks, but since this can not be confirmed until The Rise Of Skywalker is released, take the below information with a grain of salt.
And be warned: Potential Major Spoilers Ahead!
From MakingStarWars.net
I was at a reading late last night in Los Angles and a chance encounter allowed me to see evidence that Harrison Ford filmed a sequence for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Harrison Ford appears to be in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in a newly filmed moment with Adam Driver. I immediately began digging deeper and I was able to pull out disparate facts about the sequence in which Harrison Ford returns as Han Solo.
The disparate facts from several MakingStarWars.net sources who have admitted Harrison Ford is in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker:
The main sequence takes place between Adam Driver and Harrison Ford or Kylo Ren and Han Solo.
One source called it a surprise intervention of sorts.
A source that did not work on or see the sequence believed it takes place when Kylo Ren asks the burned Darth Vader helmet to show him the darkness again.
Luke Skywalker appears to be the twist in the encounter.
The source was paraphrasing but Han Solo tells Ben Solo it isn’t too late and the sequence has a tone of forgiveness and understanding to it.
He’s not a “force ghost” in the classic sense and he’s part of a “vision” or “dream” type moment induced by Luke Skywalker.
If you ask, me, this scenario definitely seems feasible. Harrison Ford made it clear that he wanted Han Solo killed off in Return Of The Jedi and word was that he agreed to come back to the franchise only if the character of Han Solo was killed off in The Force Awakens. But you know the old saying. Money talks…
We will all know for sure if this all transpires when Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker opens on December 20th.
Source: Making Star Wars
I love the idea of him coming back for a short sequence!
“Disney and Lucasfilm realized that The Last Jedi was a divisive movie among fans of The Star Wars franchise and that may have contributed significantly to decline of Star Wars movies at the box office.”
That isn’t true at all. The Last Jedi made over a BILLION DOLLARS, and was incredibly popular. A small number of ridiculously loud, obnoxious fans didn’t make them change the new movie.
Exactly! JJ himself has reiterated this numerous times. He was not brought on board to “fix” anything. Simply to finish what he started after Trevorrow’s ideas weren’t what they were looking for and they were pressed for time. Regardless of what anyone felt about VIII, it makes sense creatively and business-wise to bring back JJ. They were even considering Rian too (much to some folks’ chagrin).
Right, because if JJ were brought on to “fix” the saga he would actually come out and acknowledging it. In fact he has come close in interviews to inferring that there is a course correction and retcon. But you are right, a lot of people did enjoy TLJ. A very vocal, passionate, minority of fans did not like the movie. It is not a small minority, and is evidenced by the poor performance of Solo and underwhelming sales of toys and figures.