It feels like we’ve unpacked all of the major, polarizing, and majorly polarizing moments inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerfollowing its late December premiere. But what about the moments that never made it into the film’s final cut? Are there still any tantalizing details to be mined from all of the moments relegated to previous cuts of the movie which will either stay on the proverbial cutting room floor or get thrown into a bonus features section?
Well, according toDominic Monaghan, there’s a few moments from theBattle of Exegolsequence involving his character, Beaumont Kin, and the characters played byKelly Marie TranandBillie Lourdwhich sound pretty damn exciting. Before diving in during his interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, Monaghan gently touched on directorJ.J. Abrams’Rise of Skywalkercut and Monaghan’s wish for it to be released.
“Like a lot ofStar Warsfans, I’m hoping there will be a director’s cut so we’ll get to see more and more of the stuff that was filmed. I wasn’t there all the time, but even in the short time that I was there, there was so much stuff filmed that didn’t make it to the theatrical version…. Oh, man, there was so much stuff!”
There has been a sudden internet movement led by a certain portion of the fandom for the Abrams cut to be released — a movementreminiscent of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut— but it doesn’t seem like Monaghan is throwing his weight behind that. Instead, Monaghan is advocating for all of the footage left on the cutting room floor to make its way to the public so fans can be treated to every second of footage possible. It seems Monaghan wants us to actually like watching this movie? His description of the cut footage from the Battle of Exegol involving Beaumont, Rose Tico (Tran), and Lieutenant Connix (Lourd) certainly supports that theory:
“Another thing that we will hopefully see at some point in the future is that in the final battle, Connix injures her leg. Obviously, myself, Rose and Connix are exiting the battle, and Rose has a weapon. While Rose is busy doing stuff, I grab Connix’s arm and put it over my shoulder to make sure that all of us come back as unscathed as possible.”
Monaghan’s description of the intense moments during the battle back up Tran’s earlier comments anddescriptions of all the cut Rose Tico footagewhich could have fleshed out herRise of Skywalkerarc even better. All I know is this: Regardless of how the cut footage, including the moments Monaghan describes to THR, gets to us I’d really like to see it. Goodness knows it would help fill in some of the gaps I’m still trying to wrap my head around after seeing this movie twice.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeris in theaters now. For more, check out J.J. Abrams' latest comments on how an importantRise of Skywalkercameocame together and read Collider’s own Vinnie Mancuso celebrating thedelight that is Babu Frik.
