Screenwriter Chris Terrio has been making the rounds recently as he promotes his most recent project, a little indie called “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” As that film approaches $1 billion at the box office, it’s clear the publicity tour for Terrio has been more about defending his storytelling choices and less celebrating the end of the Skywalker Saga. And in a new interview with Awards Daily, Terrio talked about one of the biggest complaints about ‘Rise of Skywalker’ — the relentless pacing.
For many film fans, the most egregious issue that is seen in the latest “Star Wars” film isn’t so much the reveals or twists (those can, and will, be debated for years to come). Instead, what many critics pointed out is how ‘Rise’ feels like two movies crammed into one, as Terrio and co-writer and director JJ Abrams clearly had a ton of story and plot they wanted to add to the Skywalker Saga finale.
Well, according to Terrio, he knows this was an issue and would have loved more time to flesh out the story, perhaps in a whole other film. But as we know, “Star Wars” is all about the trilogies and not quadrilogies.
“I wish we could have done that,” said Terrio about splitting the final film into two parts. “There is a lot of plot in the movie, and as a writer, you always want scenes to let the plot breathe more. If there were a way of doing it, splitting it would have been my dream. We could have written these characters forever. There was so much backstory that had to be left by the wayside.”
He continued, “I wish that we could have that, but George always said it was nine movies. That was the natural size of the saga, and so, other than a few initial discussions, we never really advanced that conversation. Of course, as a writer, it breaks your heart to leave stuff on the table that you think would have given the story more depth and nuance and to give the characters more to do. Speaking for myself and not on the part of the studio, I do wish there could have been a ‘Part 1’ and a ‘Part 2.’”
With all the behind-the-scenes issues that hit ‘Rise of Skywalker,’ such as the departure of Colin Trevorrow, the death of Carrie Fisher, and the fan reaction to ‘The Last Jedi’ that seemingly played a role in the development of the story of the new film, there is probably a really great story for a book in all the discussions at Lucasfilm. However, until that tell-all is released, the best we can do is imagine a bunch of “What If?” scenarios and think about what Terrio wishes could have happened.
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Parts 1 and Two, crammed into one almost-three-hour movie)” is in theaters now.