“Star Wars” Fans on Twitter Ask Disney to #ReleaseTheAbramsCut of “Rise of Skywalker”

in Disney, Movies & TV, Star Wars

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Spoiler Warning! This article touches on major plot points of  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed with caution.

The hashtag, #releasetheJJcut, is currently trending on Twitter as fans all across the internet demand through tweets and retweets that Disney and Lucasfilm release J.J. Abrams’ cut of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. 

Sorry, Zach Snyder, you’re not the only one anymore.

“What does the Abrams Cut have that we didn’t get?”

Apparently, quite a few things. According to an anonymous source on Reddit, J.J. Abrams’s cut of the final installment of The Skywalker Saga is said to be over three hours long, and include the following:

1. Finn discovered he was Force Sensitive!

He was the first to wield the Skywalker lightsaber in The Force Awakens, and now we would see Finn finally use some real Jedi powers. But, that was taken out.

According to the source:

Finn wanting to tell Rey something was always meant to be force sensitivity. In the 3 hour cut, it’s explicitly stated. There was a moment when Jannah and he were running on top of that star destroyer and Finn needed to unlock or move something and he force-moved it and acted surprised when it happened. This was replaced with a CGI’d BB-8 fixing whatever he needed to fix on there.

2. The ending scene had visible force ghosts!

According to this anonymous source, there was going to be a scene where we were going to see all the old Jedi, including Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, Samuel L. Jackson’s Mace Windu, and Hayden Christiansen’s Anakin Skywalker.

According to the source:

The “ending that will blow your mind” was a part of this. Older actors were included like Hayden, Ewan and Samuel and anyone who wasn’t animated. The force ghosts weren’t meant to be voices because they shot that footage on camera. The actors were in costumes. Rey was supposed to be surrounded by the force ghosts to serve as sort of a barrier between her and the Sith surrounding them.

3. J.J. never wanted “Reylo” to be a thing and Kylo had more screentime!

Kylo’s scene on Mustafar was 2 minutes longer, and his death scene with Rey was at least 4 minutes long with more dialogue.

According to the source:

Kylo on Mustafar scene was 2 mins longer…The Kylo/Rey scene where he dies was at least 4 minutes longer with more dialogue. Ben was always supposed to die…JJ was against the Reylo kiss (or Reylo in general). This was Disney’s attempt to please both sides of the fandom. 

4. J.J. wanted FinnPoe to be a thing!

Oscar Isaac was not just blowing smoke. J.J. Abrams actually did fight to make FinnPoe a thing, but Disney put a stop to it.

According to the source:

This is true. JJ fought to make this happen. This is why Oscar is blaming Disney. It’s not just a random throwaway comment. He knows for a fact that it was Disney because these discussions happened. The main cast is insanely close with JJ and are just as pissed, though seemingly more outspoken about it than JJ.

“Why did Disney make those cuts?”

All fingers are pointing subtly to China, Disney’s non-Star-Wars moviegoers, The Last Jedi, and Marvel.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Credit: Lucasfilm

China: If you think racism is a problem in America, just take a look at China. John Boyega’s role as Finn was undermined to appease the Chinese market. Just look at the Chinese poster for The Force Awakens and you will get a fraction of the point. Also, and the scene with visible force ghosts was cut because China does not like or allow visible ghosts in their movies.

Disney’s non-Star Wars moviegoers: This is where “Reylo” comes into play. Shipping Rey and Kylo, and making them kiss, was a direct ploy to appease those beyond the regular Star Wars crowd. Disney also added scenes specifically for merchandising purposes.

The Last Jedi: According to this source, Rian Johnson was never meant to film The Last Jedi, and Abrams genuinely did not like where the story left off. Many also blame the stricter creative approach to The Rise of Skywalker on The Last Jedi and its reception.

Marvel: Yes, apparently, Marvel plays a role in this too. The source claims that JJ Abrams was wanted by Warner Bros. to help reinvigorate their DC franchises as he did for Star Wars, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible. So, to help keep Marvel’s main competition, Disney brought Abrams back to Lucasfilm.

But look at what happened. While Abrams did have a glorious and genuine Star Wars film in mind, it is not what we got. Disney allegedly cut key elements to wrongfully appease a Chinese market that still, ultimately, rejected the film. Fans are left just as torn and disappointed as they were with The Last Jedi. And decisions made with stockholders in mind lead to a product that earned a place on Forbes’ 2019’s “$100 Million Losers” list.

Now, is all of this actually true? Quite possibly. But this is an anonymous source in a post on Reddit. While there is some credibility to the site, absorb the information with caution. Still, it is enough to get Star Wars fans furious and demand the release of the closing film they deserve.

But there is hope, Star Wars fans. There is always hope.

“JJ’s cut still exists and ‘will always exist’,” the source states. “We most likely will never see it unless ‘someone accidentally leaks it.'”

What do you think? Do you think there’s a J.J. Abrams cut out there? Do you want Disney to release it? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Reddit

in Disney, Movies & TV, Star Wars

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