“Release The JJ Cut” Trends on Twitter After Divisive Reception of ‘Rise of Skywalker’

Much like The Last Jedi, the reception for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has been incredibly divisive among fans and critics. This time arguably to greater degree with fans citing the film as either a proper finale to the series or one that tarnishes this franchise’s reputation. A recent rumor has surfaced online regarding an initial cut of the film, prompting many fans who were disappointed with Skywalker to make the hashtag “Release The JJ Cut”.

The hashtag is of course very similar to the famous, “Release The Snyder Cut” that appeared shortly after the release of Justice League. Justice League was another film that was highly anticipated yet received varying degrees of fan reactions especially due to a troublesome production with change in directors midway through production. While Rise of Skywalker didn’t have a change in directors during production, a Reddit user by the name of u/egoshoppe claims that there is a three hour cut of the film that included numerous things left out of the final film. Some of these things included force ghosts of characters like Anakin Skywalker and more scenes with Rose Tico. It has also been rumored that the infamous Kylo Ren and Rey kiss was a decision made by Disney and not Abrams as he preferred to include a romance between Finn and Poe much like other fans.

Keep in mind, these claims of a director’s cut of the film are still rumors and nothing official as of late. Unlike the Snyder cut, where there has been definitive proof that it could exists with earlier trailers for Justice League looking drastically different from the final cut, Rise of Skywalker‘s production was surrounded in more mystery, not showcasing as much in their trailers compared to Justice League. For all we know, this could also be just a rough cut that is being referred to and not an official directors cut of the film. One thing for sure however, between this and the reception of Rise of Skywalker, it seems that the divisiveness for the Star Wars franchise will not be ending anytime soon.