Star Wars: Marvel's Rise of Skywalker comic will expand scenes the movie left out

The final chapter in the Skywalker saga may have pulled some of the biggest emotional punches in Star Wars’ long and storied history. But The Rise of Skywalker’s breakneck race from one huge plot-resolving climax to the next meant that tons of stuff was either cut from the finished film — or didn’t make it in in the first place.

A new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comic is aiming to mix in some of what J.J. Abrams’ finale left out, though, with veteran comics writer Jody Houser (Doctor Who, Star Wars: Rogue One) heading back to Exegol and other TROS spots to flesh out some of the plot points that got only a cursory, flyby treatment in the movie. The upcoming miniseries will include scenes deleted from the film, as Houser teased recently on the official Star Wars website.

Houser didn’t get too specific on the details, but did say she’s “more excited about some of the new things we’re adding, including expanding moments from the movie with elements we didn’t get to see on screen. Which is vague, but spoilers!” She did, however, all but confirm that the comics will shine a bigger spotlight on Ben Solo in his sweeter, right-side-of-the-Force final form.

Asked if the comic would revisit the “Ben Solo shrug”— the movie moment that finds Ben (Adam Driver) innocently mimicking his dad’s famous body language, Houser said “Almost definitely yes. It’s both a fan-favorite scene, and the moment we truly see him as his father’s son, so that would be hard to leave out!”

Rise of Skywalker writer Chris Terrio already has said that he’d have loved to split the movie into two films, in the process giving new and developing characters like Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) more room to stake out a bigger place in the Star Wars canon. “If there were a way of doing it, splitting it would have been my dream,” Terrio said in January. “… There was so much backstory that had to be left by the wayside. I wish that we could have that, but George [Lucas] always said it was nine movies.”

Houser didn’t say whether Rose would get a second chance to shine in the upcoming comics series, but offered a blueprint that generally seems to fall right in line with Terrio’s regret for having to leave so much story material lying on the table.

“I think one of the great things about adaptations in other mediums is you do get the chance to build out elements of the story there may not have been time or a place for on the screen,” she said. “Giving light to new scenes gives the creators in these other mediums a chance to add to the story, rather than just translating it for the page.”

With art by Will Sliney and cover designs by Phil Noto, Marvel’s Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker five-issue miniseries is slated to debut in May.