Check Out This Concept Art of Rey Fighting Hundreds of Stormtroopers


(Image Credit: Lucasfilm)

Adam Brockbank is a concept artist and illustrator who has worked on several films of many genres. Some of his best-known work includes the Harry Potter films and the recent Star Wars films. Brockbank is quite active on Instagram, where he features a wide variety of his work. One of his most recent posts featured three concept art works from Star Wars labeled “An early concept demonstrating Rey’s power, on a scorched planet”.

Every creative endeavor begins with a concept. Long before production on a movie or video game can begin, the concept artists are the individuals who begin the process of defining the characters and worlds we eventually come to know. The job of a concept story is not an easy one. Though concept subject matter is usually determined by others, it is the creative interpretation of the subject matter that determines how the concept will appear. Through their illustration of characters, backgrounds, and scenes, concept artists bring conceptual ideas to life. In most cases, the final product does not closely resemble the original concept art, but certain aspects often remain incorporated.

Though the Star Wars sequel trilogy is a done deal, it can still be fun to see ideas that could have been, such as the scenes depicted in the concept art created by Brockbank. While many Star Wars fans may have wanted seen Rey use dark Force powers, others seem to find the thought utterly preposterous. Brockbank’s post received several comments where both opinions are apparent. Before the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the truth of Rey’s identity still remained a mystery. After Rey was introduced in 2015, fan theories about her storyline seemed to flow endlessly around the internet. After the official The Rise of Skywalker trailer release during the 2019 D23 Expo when Disney “accidentally” dropped spoiler footage of Dark Rey, the endless flow of theories quickly became a flood of speculation. 

These ranged from claims that the clip of Dark Rey connected the dots between Kylo Ren and Rey’s vision during The Last Jedi, to assertions that it was a direct correlation related to mind control and Palpatine’s return. However, it was neither. As we are now aware, the Dark Rey scene was nothing more than a vision, comparable to the vision Luke Skywalker experienced on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes BackAfter seeing Brockbank’s artwork, one cannot help but wonder if this was a direction that the production team had considered taking at one time. If they had taken Rey’s storyline down a darker path as depicted in Brockbank’s illustrations, how would her storyline have concluded? The original trilogy created a fantastic world that, since its very beginning, fans have longed to know more about. For many of us, the Star Wars universe has provided us fantastical sense of belonging and has become a fiber of our very being. As a result, fans are passionate and hold strong personal opinions about things that have taken place and things that have not. In regards to the sequel trilogy, the thoughts and opinions of fans vary greatly, and the desire to ask "What if?" is inescapable. 

After seeing The Last Jedi, I myself could not help but wonder about the events that took place. It is likely that most Star Wars fans took the death of Luke Skywalker personally. Whether it provoked minor feelings of betrayal or just a general sense of confusion, The Last Jedi left fans with more questions than answers. If you feel that The Rise of Skywalker did not provide a sense of closure, you are not alone. Post-production film concept art reveals, such as the remarkable illustrations featured in Brockbank's Instagram post ,are not intended to stir up feelings of negativity, but rather to captivate imaginations and inspire creativity, just like Star Wars itself. 


Source(s): Adam BrockbankStarWars.com

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