Before there was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, there was… Star Wars: Duel of the Fates.

That’s the title of the version of the Skywalker Saga-capping film that existed as of December 16, 2016 — well, existed on paper anyway. Original Episode IX director, Colin Trevorrow, had penned the screenplay for Duel of the Fates with his Jurassic World collaborator, Derek Connolly, but never got to bring his story to the screen.

In September 2017, Trevorrow parted ways with Lucasfilm and Disney, and was almost immediately replaced by The Force Awakens helmer JJ Abrams, who started the script over from Page 1 with co-writer, Chris Terrio. (For the record, Trevorrow and Connolly do receive a story credit on the version of Episode IX that became The Rise of Skywalker.)

Now, Star Wars fans are getting a peek at what they missed after a leaked version of the Duel of the Fates script ended up in the hands of filmmaker and geek commentator, Robert Meyer Burnett.

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On 13 January, the Free Enterprise director recorded an episode of his YouTube series, Robservations, which featured an extensive breakdown of Trevorrow and Connolly’s script.

“I don’t know Colin Trevorrow,” Burnett emphasised, adding that he also doesn’t have a copy of the Duel of the Fates script to share with the world. “I will confirm I did look at something myself. I’m not saying what it is or where I saw it or how I even saw it. It no longer exists in any form, so no I can not share it with anyone.”

Director Colin Trevorrow on the set of Jurassic World. His vision for Star Wars: Episode IX was revealed through a leaked version of the script. (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/©Universal Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection) More

No matter: Burnett’s extensive recap quickly found its way to Reddit, and eventually to outlets like The A.V. Club, which claims to have confirmed the script’s authenticity via an independent source unaffiliated with Trevorrow or Disney.

Real or not – and as of now, it seems to be real — the overall sentiment on Twitter is that given the choice between Duel of the Fates (which, not coincidentally, is also the title of John Williams’s famous Phantom Menace track) and The Rise of Skywalker, many people would pick the former.

The supposed leaked script from Colin Trevorrow’s Star Wars Episode 9 Script is bonkers.. like why didn’t we get that movie? Also Duel Of The Fates as the title?!? pic.twitter.com/uVh3m6MoPt — Chainsaw Reacts (@ChainsawReacts) January 14, 2020

So...



this rumored script for Collin Trevorrow's Star Wars IX: Duel of the Fates...



I read up on the details, and in theory, I probably would've enjoyed it more than what we got with Rise of Skywalker.



Always fun to delve into the WHAT IFs for these Star Wars stories. pic.twitter.com/Ps9azbfxpX — Wake Up & Smell the Tauntaun (@MorningTauntaun) January 15, 2020

“Duel of the Fates” sounds incredible. Hopefully one day we all can read it for ourselves. @colintrevorrow — Samuel Teyssier (@Sam__Tish) January 15, 2020

he wanted to call the movie ‘Duel of the Fates’ and double-down on Rey being a nobody pic.twitter.com/v3QYJE87KY — zak 🗣🍼💜💪 (@ZakKondratenko) January 15, 2020

DUEL OF THE FATES is such a dope title for a Star Wars movie. I don't know if Trevorrow's would've been a good film, but I would've loved to have seen it. — Preston Moore (@prestoncmoore) January 15, 2020

And it should be noted that the two scripts really are two very different movies, starting with the opening crawl.

In place of The Rise of Skywalker’s controversial opening line, “The dead speak!” announcing the return of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), Duel of the Fates begins with “The iron grip of the First Order has spread to the farthest reaches of the galaxy.”

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It goes on to describe how newly-installed Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is intent on stamping out the Resistance, even as his mother, Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), plans a last-ditch “secret mission to prevent their annihilation and forge a path to freedom.”

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