Anna Daniels
As you may have guessed, it’s the opinion of BCOSS the original final shot of The Rise of Skywalker had to be scrapped, and a new one assembled from existing footage, because Ben Solo was originally standing there gazing out at the double sunset with Rey. According to the theory, the decision was made to kill off the character after filming had already wrapped — and there’s actually more evidence of this in the scene in which Solo dies.
As BCOSS pointed out: “It’s very clear that Ben was not meant to die… They don’t have any footage of Rey actually mourning him properly, any footage of him actually falling to the ground, or even just a shot of Adam standing and smiling that could have [been] used to make him a [Force Ghost]. So…”
It’s quite true that there is no explicit “ARGH! I’m going to die now!” scene for Solo (he just fades away, like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda did), and it’s pretty easy to see how the character might have been essentially edited out of the film. It’s also true that it’s a little odd that Rey doesn’t exactly acknowledge his sacrifice after the fact, and BCOSS has a point that we never see Solo’s Force Ghost after he dies — which is a pretty solid tradition in Star Wars movies, from Anakin Skywalker appearing at the end of Return of the Jedi to Luke showing up in The Rise of Skywalker.
While BCOSS isn’t the first to notice these oddities, he or she is (so far as we know) the first to put all of the pieces together to publicly offer up the opinion that Ben Solo’s fate in The Rise of Skywalker amounted to an audible called at the last minute by the filmmakers. Considering the significant number of fans who wanted to see Solo and Rey live happily ever after (the “Reylo contingent,” as we like to call them), it’s doubtful that the filmmakers will ever confirm this, even if it’s true. The Rise of Skywalker has proven divisive enough among the Star Wars fandom as it is, and it’s tough to see writer/director J.J. Abrams, his co-writer Chris Terrio, or anyone else being eager to stir that pot any further.
Which is to say that unless and until somebody produces an unaltered final shot of Rey and Solo hand in hand, gazing out at the binary Tatooine sunset, this fan theory is likely to remain just that. Not to worry, though; we’re sure that the back-and-forth over virtually every element of The Rise of Skywalker will die down sometime in the next decade or so.
Written by: Looper
