Spoilers ahead…
We all remember the iconic moment from the closing scene of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The war is won and the emperor is defeated. As Luke Skywalker celebrates among his friends and the Ewoks, we see the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Anakin Skywalker, smile and nod in approval. A lot of us anticipated a similar moment in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. After Kylo Ren had turned back to the light side and later dies after giving his life to Rey, many of us assumed we would see his Force ghost in some capacity right before we cut to credits. However, that did not transpire. Instead, we saw only saw the Force ghosts of Luke and Leia.
In an interview with Yahoo, VFX supervisor Roger Guyett said that it was never part of the plan to have Force ghost Ben Solo appear alongside Luke and Leia. The VFX team never even created a Force ghost version of the former Kylo Ren.
My interpretation of it anyway is that when you see Luke and Leia there, it’s about the Skywalker [legacy].
Guyett also went on to say that an on-screen cameo by Anakin Skywalker’s Force ghost was never in the cards too. That said, we do get to hear Anakin’s voice (Hayden Christensen) along with the voices of the other fallen Jedi during the final battle between Rey and Palpatine, when Rey was on the brink of imminent defeat. “I thought that was a really fabulous moment,” said Guyett.
And if you’re wondering how Force ghost Leia was created, Guyett adds that it’s the same as all the other Leia scenes in the film: footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is directed by JJ Abrams and is currently playing in Malaysian cinemas.
