Rumors circulated months ago that Star Wars creator George Lucas had some involvement with the script for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It seems those rumors were true, as director J.J. Abrams has now confirmed Lucas was consulted for the film.
“This movie had a very, very specific challenge, which was to take eight films and give an ending to three trilogies, and so we had to look at, what is the bigger story," Abrams told IGN at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. "We had conversations amongst ourselves, we met with George Lucas before writing the script. These were things that were in real, not debate, but looking at the vastness of the story and trying to figure out, what is the way to conclude this? But it has to work on its own as a movie, it has to be its own thing, it has to be surprising and funny and you have to understand it.”
Exactly what Lucas contributed isn't totally clear from Abrams' remarks. However, IGN speculates that, as the question had to do with the return of Emperor Palpatine, he may have provided some insight on that twist.
Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant. The film arrives December 20.