'Star Wars' Fans Create Petition to Get J.J. Abrams to Release 'The Rise of Skywalker' Director's Cut

We've all seen the use of petitions in Hollywood before, such as when desperate fans of Game of Thrones signed the now-iconic petition for HBO to remake the final season of the epic series with "competent writers." It unsurprisingly didn't work, but it likely did lead to some very humiliated showrunners in David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

According to ComicBook.com, a new petition has blossomed up on the internet recently for another major fandom: Star Wars. This one is calling for the release of the supposed three-plus-hour director's cut of The Rise of Skywalker. This is believed to be director J.J. Abrams' personal telling of the final film in the Skywalker Saga, one that was not whittled down due to time restrictions or Lucasfilm's wants. Like all good online petitions, this new plea for the "J.J. Cut" is filling up with names on Change.org here, currently with over 6,200 signatures.

As ComicBook.com reports, the studio cut Abrams' work down to two hours and 22 minutes to adhere to the estimated patience of the average moviegoer. However, on Reddit, user egoshoppe started a conversation by referring to the original director's-length version the "J.J. Cut," and claimed Abrams was "devastated and blindsided" by the changes made to the most recent film without his approval. The person claimed to have gotten information after speaking "with someone who worked closely on the production of TROS." This, of course, has made fans obsessed with finding the original cut.

True, the Game of Thrones petition didn't work, but if enough people come together, maybe we could get at least a bit more footage from The Rise of Skywalker than was released in theaters.