Rey was originally going to use the Force choke on Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker. The scene is sketched out in some concept art from The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker book, which was just released earlier this week, along with the Blu-ray edition of the movie. J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio had a lot of ideas for the final installment in the Skywalker Saga, but just did not have the time to throw every little detail in.
In the aforementioned Star Wars concept art, Rey is using the classic pose as she Force chokes Kylo Ren. He is lifted off the ground and clutching his neck while Rey holds a green Lightsaber. It's a pretty strong image and shows just how powerful Rey was in the ways of the Sith. Ultimately, J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio went another route and had her use the classic blue Force lightning, which ended up surprising herself and Kylo Ren at the same time.
The Force choke has been around since A New Hope and is a power that the Sith use to kill or intimidate. Darth Vader was the first one shown on screen to pull off the power, though he was far from the last. Kylo Ren used an updated version of the power in the sequel trilogy. Sith "usually visualize the ability with a claw-like or crushing hand gesture, and strangle a victim through the power of the dark side." Seeing Rey use this power in The Rise of Skywalker could have been a nice addition.
According to Chris Terrio, The Rise of Skywalker had the most rewrites out of any movie he's ever worked on. Terrio even worked on Justice League, so that's really saying something here. He and J.J. Abrams were rewriting the story on a daily basis, which sounds like it could have been a nightmare for the cast and crew. Luckily, Terrio says their team was ready for anything and was able to pull off the new scenes without much trouble. While that's great to see that Lucasfilm has such a good crew of people involved in the creative process, it didn't exactly make for the most cohesive story.
Writing The Rise of Skywalker was never going to be something that was easy. J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio knew that well before jumping into the mix. Abrams thought he was all finished after 2015's The Force Awakens and never thought he'd return for the third and final installment in the sequel trilogy. While a lot of Star Wars fans were perfectly fine with the way things turned out, there are still a lot of fans who are pretty bummed on it, though that was always going to be the case because it's impossible to please everybody. You can check out the Force choke concept art below and head over to Abrams Books to order The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
