Star Wars: Episode IX Ex-Director's Original Ship Design Made it Into Galaxy's Edge

J.J. Abrams may be in the director's chair for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the project was originally Colin Trevorrow's before he got fired by Lucasfilm. As it turns out, one idea from Trevorrow's scrapped Episode IX made it into canon—and it's one of the attractions at Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

As it turns out, the TIE Echelon in the park was based on one of the concepts from when Trevorrow was still onboard Star Wars. Talking to Collider, Trevorrow explained that the ship was something that was brought into the movie specifically for Galaxy's Edge. He explains, "The Imagineering team asked us to develop a new ship for the park while we were designing the film. I took it pretty seriously."

As for the function of the Echelon, it was supposed to be some kind of upgraded troop transport that also had heavy ammunition. Trevorrow says:

"It was part of an upgraded First Order fleet. An armed troop transport—the equivalent of a Blackhawk stealth helicopter. We wanted it to evoke memories of earlier ships while still being its own thing. If you look at the elements, it's kind of a hybrid of designs from VII and VIII, with some familiar elements from OT Tie Fighters like Vader's Advanced x1. There's a lot of history in it."

We don't know if the ship will actually feature in Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker, but at least it's still part of the canon with it being in Batuu. For now, everyone is curious of what Trevorrow's version of Episode IX could have been, but I guess we're going to get our reveals after TROS officially comes out.

Catch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in theaters Dec. 20.

See Also: Samuel L. Jackson Wants Mace Windu To Return In Star Wars: Episode IX