‘Star Wars’ VFX Artist Hopes ‘Amazing’ Creature J.J. Abrams Scrapped Finds New Home

Zack Sharf
·2 min read

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J.J. Abrams cut a lot of crucial information from the “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” theatrical cut (see all the backlash over Palpatine’s return and Rey’s father), but it turns out entire creatures that were handmade for the production were also left on the cutting room floor. “Star Wars” visual effects supervisor Neal Scanlan recently told Collider about a monster called The Eye of Webbish Bog that was built for “Rise of Skywalker.” The monster, which is included in Rae Carson’s upcoming novelization of the film, was to be featured in a scene in which Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) hunts for the Sith Wayfinder. The Eye is described as “a spidery Lovecraftian giant.”

“I think it maybe was too lengthy an explanation for something that [director J.J. Abrams] was able to explain in the movie much quicker,” Scanlan says about why the monster was cut from production. “J.J.’s movies move very quickly, don’t they? And it was all part of Kylo Ren’s journey and I think he just felt that there was too much time being spent on something which he explained much quicker.”

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Scanlan says The Eye was a monster that was “designed very early on in the day” of the “Rise of Skywalker” production. The VFX supervisor adds, “We were all playing around with this idea and talking about it and he did this drawing and J.J. saw it and went, ‘That is amazing.’ So we actually did build it and we took it to a place called Black Park in the UK, which is close to Pinewood Studios, where we shot it in a lake on location, and that sequence exists.”

The monster clearly left an impression on Scanlan, as the artist says he hopes “we can revisit that character in some way” in the future of the “Star Wars” universe. That future remains unclear for now. The “Star Wars” television series “The Mandalorian” will return for a second season on Disney+ this fall, but shows centered around Obi Wan-Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) don’t have release dates. No additional “Star Wars” films are confirmed at this time, although Kevin Feige, Rian Johnson, and “Sleight” director J.D. Dillard are all reportedly working on future projects.

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