Anna Daniels
According to Brandon, there were only two other significant scenes that were picked up in reshoots. One of those, though, ended up serving as the movie’s opening — and since it featured the late Carrie Fisher’s General Leia, it ended up being a little trickier than it might have otherwise. In case you were unaware, all of Fisher’s scenes in Rise of Skywalker were created using repurposed footage from previous Star Wars flicks, including The Force Awakens and (for the a flashback scene featuring Luke and Leia in their younger years) Return of the Jedi.
“We shot Rey’s introduction, when she’s up in the air and the rocks are spinning around her, because we wanted to introduce Leia and her,” Brandon explained. “I had to go back and find good shots of Leia that we hadn’t used in [The Force Awakens], and we had those, and it kind of made us think, ‘Oh we could have this really fun scene to introduce Leia and Rey.’ So the film kind of informs you of things it might need.”
If this scene hadn’t been captured, it’s honestly tough to even guess exactly how Rise of Skywalker would have opened. Collider notes that it’s been rumored that the previously mentioned flashback sequence was set to lead off the movie, which might have proved to be just a little confusing — so it’s probably a good thing that Brandon was around to dream up the scene with Leia and Rey, which was effective in showing us just how far Rey had come in learning the ways of the Force.
Written by: Looper
