Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comic to include deleted scenes from film

The Skywalker Saga continues, even though the ninth and last installment to that trio of movie trilogies already hit theaters in December.

The comic book adaptation of director J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will include both extended and deleted scenes not shown in the film, Lucasfilm revealed in an interview with the five-issue miniseries writer, Jody Houser, for StarWars.com.

"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," Houser 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."

She later remarked, "I think I’m 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!"

The film closed out the Skywalker Saga with Daisy Ridley's Rey on a mission to reach the Sith home world of Exegol, where Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious had been quietly amassing new forces to extinguish the Resistance. The Rise of Skywalker received a lot of heat from viewers, fans, and critics. The feedback included critiques about how the producers retconned Rey's parentage after director Rian Johnson portrayed her as "no one," meaning no one connected to a legacy Star Wars character.

Among the many scenes taken out of the film, screenwriter Chris Terrio said he wrote scenes involving Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico, who ended up with a reduced role in the theatrical release. Much of the mythology and characters from the movie were expanded upon in supplemental materials, including the official Art of book, which included a lot more information about the Knights of Ren, the Sith cult, and Exegol. The film's official novelization also delved deeper into Kylo Ren's (Adam Driver) opening raid on Mustafar, and the Rise of Kylo Ren comics tracked how Ben Solo took over the Knights of Ren and assumed the mantle of Kylo Ren.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the comic, features art by Will Sliney and cover designs by Phil Noto.

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