One of the most interesting- and convention-breaking- sequences in Star Wars: The Force Awakens occurred when Rey (Daisy Ridley) touched the lightsaber that once belonged to both Anakin and Luke Skywalker. Something that had never happened in a Star Wars film before, a flashback, occurred. Today I’d like to share with you an interesting segment of that flashback- or…Forceback…as J.J. Abrams calls it- that was cut from that sequence.

According to Abrams, there was going to be a recreated sequence from The Empire Strikes Back that was going to factor into Rey’s Forceback in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I’ll let him reveal and explain it to you in his own words:

“Touching the lightsaber triggers what we call the ‘Forceback.’ There were many iterations of this. In one, from this Cloud City Corridor, she looked down and saw Vader fighting Luke, which we ended up cutting. We wanted it to be a more personal story, something that she couldn’t comprehend, that was overwhelming to her, frightening to her, that was taking her through all of these elemental experiences, of fire, of rain, snow, wind. But also that she was being confronted with truths about the Force, about the past. The Knights of Ren here, the past for herself. She realizes that the cries she heard were actually her own cries as a young girl being taken away from her family. And then she hears a voice, ‘Rey,’ and that’s Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

That would’ve been an interesting idea; To see the two former owners of that sacred Jedi weapon battling it out during the final seconds before it would go missing for decades. But I understand the director’s decision to cut it. There was already enough there to have to digest and break down without being treated to yet another callback to the original trilogy. 

This revelation from Abrams comes courtesy of the audio commentary on the Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Blu-ray Collector’s Edition that comes out stateside on November 15.

SOURCE: Comic Book Movie