The Last Jedi Didn’t Tell Us Everything About Rey’s Parents, Says Director
This article contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Last Jedi
There are some filmgoers who are upset about the anti-revelation regarding Rey’s unseen parents in The Last Jedi. After JJ Abrams set their identities up as a big mystery, Rian Johnson knocked it down in the latest film when Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, telepathically informed her that she is the progeny of no-name junk traders whose skeletons are buried in unmarked graves in the middle of nowhere.
Johnson explained to Huffington Post that what Rey needed to hear about her parents in that moment was the last thing she wanted to hear. It’s a similar line of thinking to the famous scene in The Empire Strikes Back, he says. What made the scene powerful wasn’t just the reveal of Luke’s true dad, it was that it was an incredibly hard truth given the circumstances. It was “the hardest thing the character could possibly hear in that moment.”
“What’s going to make life hardest on her? The easy thing would be, ‘Yes, your parents are so and so and here’s your place in the world. There you go.’ The hardest thing she could hear would be […] ‘No, you’re not going to get the answer. This is not going to define you. You’re going to have to find your own place in this world. Kylo is going to use that even as leverage to try and make you feel insecure, and you’re going to have to stand on your own two feet.’”
However….this is a trilogy and there is more info to come. And why should we trust anything that comes out of Kylo’s mouth anyway? Johnson says JJ Abrams is welcome to play around with the identities of Rey’s parents when he returns to direct Episode 9. “Anything’s still open, and I’m not writing the next film. [J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio] are doing it.”
Johnson didn’t leave much wiggle room, but Abrams could still drop a twist that Rey’s parents were actually deposed from high places, and were originally big fat important figures related to royalty and stuffed with Midichlorians and everything that would make Rey artificially “special” and not have to earn any respect. If you can’t tell, I’m satisfied with my 100% Peasant-Bred Rey. Don’t ruin this, Abrams…