It’s a question that has dogged Star Wars fans since they saw The Force Awakens : who is Rey?
: who is Rey? Obviously one detail that would give us a clearer indication of the character is if we knew who her parents were. Star Wars’ past and present proves that George Lucas, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan like to make huge revelations and surprises regarding the heritage of their characters, which is why fans are so adamant to know more about Daisy Ridley’s Rey. And now J.J. Abrams has revealed a further tid-bit regarding her potential parents.
A young fan at J.J. Abrams’ Tribeca Talks: Directors Seriesdiscussion with Chris Rock at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival built up the confidence to say to The Force Awakens director, "I was just going to ask whose Rey’s parents are?" This was met with rabid applause from the audience, before J.J Abrams then tried to comically dismiss the question by telling the person who asked it to "get out." But the filmmaker couldn’t keep his mouth completely shut, as he then added: Rey’s parents are not in Episode 7. So I can’t possibly tell you who they are at this moment. But all I will say is that this is something that Rey thinks about, too.
While it might not seem like a lot, J.J. Abrams’ response does rule out a few candidates, most prominently Luke Skywalker. Since Star Wars films had previously taken great joy in surprising viewers by revealing that Luke and Leia were brother and sister, that their were father was Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, and that Kylo Ren was actually Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, it immediately got people guessing about who Rey might be related to in the franchise.
Various blog posts and articles then pointed out that Reyand Luke shared numerous similarities, including their lives on Jakku and Tattooine, her dormant abilities as a Jedi and the fact that Luke’s lightsaber specifically called out to her, all of which convinced fans that the pair might actually be father and daughter.
But it’s not just Luke Skywalker who has been linked to being one of Rey’s parent. The first trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story provoked a fresh spate of speculation that Felicity Jones’ Jyn Ersomight be her mother. Obviously, at the moment, this is all complete conjecture, but that won’t stop every word and syllable from anyone connected with the Star Wars franchise being over-analysed.
We’ll hopefully get more concrete information when Rogue One is released on December 16. Otherwise we’ll have to painstakingly wait until Star Wars: Episode VIII hits on December 15, 2017. Which just doesn't seem fair.
