One thing that becomes very clear while reading The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is that, while the major beats were all in place early on, smaller plot details were in flux right up until shooting began. Zorii Bliss was originally just one of a group of spice runners. Babu Frik began life as two separate characters: a diminutive creature who used to clean Star Destroyer engines, and a reclusive, blind shipbuilder. On Mustafar, Kylo Ren was going to meet a grotesque creature called the Oracle, who would help point him towards Exegol.

"The Oracle, which of course wasn't in the final film, is kind of a fascinating part of the book," Szostak tells Looper in an exclusive interview. Early versions of the Oracle were spider-like with sunken eyes, but one of the artists' takes on the creature pushed the character in a totally different direction.

"Jake Lunt Davies' instinct to give it this big baby head, which is a very kind of Miyazaki-inspired look, informed the way the character was expressed in the script and what they shot," Szostak explains, using the Oracle as an example as to how the concept art process can influence the storyline in the final film.

At one point, the Oracle was also going to be surrounded by skulls that resembled classic Star Wars characters like Kit Fisto and meme star Admiral Ackbar, too. Szostak admits the visual was probably "too dark" for the final film, but he couldn't help including pictures of them in The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker anyway.

Apparently, scenes with the Oracle were even shot. Twenty-eight thousand pounds of silicons were used to build the puppet, making "it the biggest silicon pour" the Lucasfilm team had ever done, while ten puppeteers controlled the creature's eyes, body, legs, and face. That's a lot of work for something that never made it to the screen, although Szostak remains hopeful that the Oracle scenes will eventually see the light of day.