Of course, if Michael Arndt’s script had been used, and Rey and Luke met up earlier, it would have fundamentally altered the direction of Episode VIII and probably that film's controversial approach to Luke's character. So Michael Arndt’s final vision for Star Wars: The Force Awakens may not have included more Luke, but at one point it did, and it’s hard not to imagine how things might have been different if that original vision had held.ĭepending on how it played out, I suspect that Luke’s eventual death in Star Wars: The Last Jedi might have gone down easier for some if we got to see more of him in The Force Awakens, especially if he really got to mix it up, green lightsaber in hand. That’s why they ultimately pushed him to the end of the movie. Luke was too awesome and his arrival too exciting, and he kept overshadowing Rey. Also, it seems that a desire to focus on the newer characters is what made Luke such a difficult character to deal with for Michael Arndt. Luke was a MacGuffin in The Force Awakens and basically had no role, so anything would have been bigger than what he got. I want to see what he’s going to do.’Ī bigger role for Luke Skywalker may seem at odds with the notion that Michael Arndt was focusing on the offspring of the Original Trilogy trio, but not necessarily. Suddenly you didn’t care about your main character anymore because, ‘Oh fuck, Luke Skywalker’s here. It just felt like every time Luke came in and entered the movie, he just took it over. At a Q&A following a screening of the film back in 2015, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, Michael Arndt said: In his early drafts, Rey’s home is destroyed, leading her to go off on the road and meet Luke Skywalker, but it just never worked. One of the things that Michael Arndt has admitted to struggling with was Luke Skywalker’s role in the movie. Luke Skywalker Could Have Played A Bigger Part But one character that might have gotten more shine, and maybe even a line or two of dialogue, was Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker. Maybe the difference with the focus of Michael Arndt’s script was simply that Han Solo wasn’t as prominent. Leia is more of a supporting character and Luke Skywalker isn’t even in the movie until the very end. It’s really only Han Solo that plays a major role in the movie. Having now seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the focus isn’t as clear-cut as that. Abrams took over, he supposedly wanted to focus more on the original trio to give them a fitting sendoff. Michael Arndt’s script apparently leaned into the generational aspects of the Skywalker Saga and focused more heavily on the offspring of Luke, Han and Leia (although it’s not clear whose offspring), with the trio playing more of a supporting role. The biggest reported difference between Michael Arndt’s Star Wars: Episode VII and what we got with Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the film’s character focus. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan took over, and that it was their vision that largely dominated the final film.
Furthermore, all indications are that the film changed significantly when J.J. Michael Arndt may share a screenwriting credit on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but what we know about his script paints a picture of a very different Episode VII than what we got. The Focus Of The Film May Have Been Different But regardless of why he left or whether or not he finished a complete draft of the script, we do know a fair bit about what Michael Arndt had in mind for Episode VII. Scheduling issues were also cited at one point, but it seems more likely that the time crunch and the all-powerful creative differences played more of a role. Michael Arndt, who wrote the brilliant Toy Story 3, has even admitted to struggling with certain aspects of the script. Supposedly Michael Arndt was struggling with the script, and with a release date set, the production simply didn’t have time to wait, so someone else had to take over.Īccording to Lawrence Kasdan, when he came aboard, they had nothing, and it has been reported that Michael Arndt had failed to produce a single full draft of the script. So what happened? Well, as is the case with most of the creative turnover in the Disney era of Star Wars, we may never have a complete picture, and can only go off of what we’ve heard and what’s been said.
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