According to The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the movie’s director Rian Johnson shared his feelings about changing an important part of Kylo Ren’s visual presentation in the movie.
After being bashed by Snoke in his throne room, Kylo Ren returns to the elevator and prepares to head out in his fighter to join the pursuit of the rebels. But before that, he takes his mask that he kept throughout The Force Awakens and smashes it. While the back-story for the scene made sense, it became a promotional issue.
“That was the big design choice with Kylo: losing the mask. It was a little terrifying because, by the time we were making the movie, the first film had come out and every kid was wearing Kylo Ren masks on Halloween. It was the symbol of the movie on packaging. And I love the helmet.”
Johnson explains why he decided to remove the mask. The scenes between Rey and Kylo Ren were a major part of the movie and removing the mask allowed for that to happen:
“But the whole premise of this film is that you’re getting inside this guy a bit more. More than that, Rey is seeing there’s more to him than she thought. And Adam Driver is one of my favorite actors working today. The notion of getting the mask off of him so we don’t have to deal with it and can look into his eyes seemed really important.”
The removal of the mask seemed to be a connection to previous movies. But it also clears the way for new characters to join the franchise and take in a new direction away from those who fought before.
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