Before Rian Johnson went rogue with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, J.J. Abrams was arguably too beholden to tradition with the nostalgia-heavy Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but one callback that served as a pretty nice touch was the assortment of Imperial remnants strewn across across the sands of Jakku. Then-newcomer Rey was even seen living in the shell of a fallen AT-AT, though going by some recently shared concept art, this makeshift home could’ve been situated in a slightly more hazardous place.
Lucasfilm artist Doug Chiang took to Instagram with an illustration of an Imperial Walker hanging precariously within a Star Destroyer, with Daisy Ridley’s character in a pretty perilous position herself on the side of the vehicle. Chiang’s upload came with the following description:
“An unused concept for the opening of EP7. I thought it would be cool to see Rey climbing on a rusted ATAT hung inside the derelict star destroyer hangar. You can see her on the neck of the ATAT in this painting”
It may not be the most practical of locations in which to set up residence, but it does make for a pretty cool image.
Since Rey unwittingly delivered the Millennium Falcon back to its previous owner in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Jedi in training has yet to return to her home world, though there’s always the chance that Abrams will want to take things full circle with Star Wars: Episode IX. As a matter of fact, a few set photos made their way online last month from Wadi Rum, Jordan, which suggested a setting that looked an awful lot like Jakku, though it’s worth noting that this also happens to be the same location as the Jedha scenes in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
In any case, we’ll see how Abrams plans to wrap up this latest trilogy when Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.