‘Jupiter Ascending’ Concept Art Hints at the Stories the Wachowskis Didn’t Tell

‘Jupiter Ascending’ may be something of a commercial and critical failure, but even with its many (many) flaws, there’s one thing we can all appreciate about it: the robust, incredibly inventive and immersive production designs. It’s just something we’ve come to expect from Lana and Larry Wachowski, and it’s one element of their films that will reliably never disappoint. New concept art from the film has been released, showing off even more details from the world of ‘Jupiter Ascending,’ including hints at an expanded story for Channing Tatum’s character.

There’s a lot of things in ‘Jupiter Ascending’ that feel like Cliff’s Notes, as if we’re not getting the full story, whether that’s for creative reasons or to save time. In particular, we don’t know much about Tatum’s Caine Wise character, the half-wolf, half-human hybrid who was once a genetically-modified soldier until he made a grievous error and lost his wings. Caine and Sean Bean’s Stinger are both former soldiers who were equipped with wings, and they both had those wings stripped as part of their punishment.

It feels as if we should have seen or learned more about these soldiers, as Caine and Stinger are both motivated by a desire to become soldiers again and get their wings back. And according to the concept art in the gallery above from IronKlad Studios (via Slashfilm), we might have learned more about Caine and Stinger’s past—not just that, but we probably would have seen it via flashback, or perhaps near the end of the film during the big climax.

The artwork is beautiful and insanely detailed, featuring Caine and other soldiers equipped with their wings. For all its flaws, we still can’t fault ‘Jupiter Ascending’ for its elegant designs—we just wish that some things were fleshed out a bit more, like Caine’s character.