Colin Trevorrow confirms leaked Episode IX concept art is legit

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Yesterday, a series of leaked images claiming to be concept art from Colin Trevorrow's scrapped Star Wars film, subtitled DUEL OF THE FATES, began circulating around the world wide web. And because the internet is going to internet, it took no time at all for fans of the sci-fi franchise to arrive in droves, lofty opinions in tow and ready to debate what could have been.

Today, Trevorrow himself has come forward with a confirmation that yes, the leaked images are indeed from his discarded Episode IX concept.

In addition to confirming the authenticity of the images, Trevorrow also informed fans that he would never kill R2-D2, contrary to what people had assumed was art depicting the iconic droid's final bow. "He just took a bad hit," Trevorrow assured those upset by the image. He then added "Happens to us all." Good grief, where's a good "Leave R2-D2 alone" meme when you really need one?

Since STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER arrived in theaters this past December, fans continue to fight over the film's quality, and whether placing Abrams in charge of the project was the right call. One thing's for certain, The Rise of Skywalker is currently the worst reviewed installment of the series, according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, which begs the question as to whether or not Trevorrow's version would have fared better. Unfortunately, the chances of us one day seeing a Trevorrow cut of Episode IX are non-existent, seeing as he'd left the project in 2017, long before anything was committed to film.

Now that it's been confirmed that the leaked artwork is real, do you wish that Trevorrow had had the chance to realize his version on the big screen? It's kind of difficult to wish for something that never was, though I'm sure that the Star Wars community will find a way to try.