Iain McCaig Thinks Han Solo has the Best Star Wars Script, Hints at Rey’s Backstory in Episode VIII.
At a recent Art and Industry of Imagination conference in New Zealand, concept artist Iain McCaig spoke about what it was like to make concept art for The Force Awakens. One of our readers (E.R. Cina) has told us about the details he mentioned about the pre-production of The Force Awakens – and he strongly implies a very important story development regarding Luke Skywalker and another character in Episode VIII.
The conference that Iain McCaig attended happened weeks ago, but nobody seems to have reported on it, so I’ll take the liberty of doing just that. Without any further ado, here’s what McCaig told the audience according to our source:
- Lucas initially wanted nothing to do with VII, but in a short while after pre-production began, he decided he wanted to submit a script. He brought in Ian and another prequel artist (possibly Doug Chiang, I missed the name) to the Ranch to help him realize his concepts. The script was rejected outright, as a result of…
- Disney’s banishment of anything mildly prequel-related. Usage of prequel-only characters, environments etc were banned, as to not incur the fan base’s wrath.
- Disney execs were reluctant to include non-Caucasian characters. The new trio were all initially all Caucasian, but it was JJ’s favoring of Boyega that brought about VII’s multi-cultured character set.
- A number of initial script ideas teased Anakin/Vader’s force ghost’s involvement, and Ian presented an idea so titillating (even to prequel-haters) along these lines that he had the audience clapping.
- Lawrence Kasdan actually wrote the script for Han Solo before he began work on VII, and that it is (paraphrasing) ‘By far the best Star Wars script, and one of the best scripts period, that I have ever read. I laughed, I cried, I did all the things you should do when reading a good script. You’re in for a treat.’
- After being questioned by an audience member, he responded that he was unable to confirm nor deny if Lucas’ script had any influence or effect on the Arndt/Kasdan/Abrams script – but strongly implied to the positive.
Iain’s take on the Han Solo script seems to be pretty reassuring, considering that a lot of fans are on the fence about that project. Other than that, let’s analyze each point with what we know about the movie’s pre-production.
George Lucas infamously said that Disney didn’t use his ideas when asked about The Force Awakens. However, we know the truth to be a bit more complicated – as Pablo Hidalgo will tell you on Twitter, Lucas’s many ideas for the Star Wars franchise as a whole were treated as the Gospel for the Galaxy Far, Far Away, and that includes elements from the pitch he had about Episode VII. But knowing that Lucas penned a script early into production does provide helpful context in saying exactly what it was that got rejected, and it’s very likely that Michael Arndt used it for part of his unfinished treatments on the film. While McCaig seems to be bummed out that Lucas isn’t very involved with the franchise that serves as his magnum opus, there is a silver lining – by his own account, Lucas seems to be happier than he ever was when working on the other movies, and he seems to be enjoying his marriage and his semi-retirement.
It’s also interesting that Disney internally had an embargo on Prequel Trilogy content for the film, considering that they’ve greatly increased their output on works drawing influence from the movies or The Clone Wars since the movie had finished filming. While The Force Awakens has been criticized for using a lot of familiar elements from the Original Trilogy, it’s very likely that Lucasfilm drew from that well because it was what worked back in the late Seventies and early Eighties, while fans are still divided over the Prequel Trilogy. Perhaps Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow will be given more room to pull content from the era now that the fanbase has (mostly) been united with the Sequel Trilogy. Like the decision to focus on Original Trilogy content, the decision to cast John Boyega also seems to have paid off, considering how the actor’s career has taken off considerably.
Lastly, it’s worth talking about the controversial-sounding Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader apparition that had been planned to appear in the movie. Something which is interesting is that, George Lucas told Dave Filoni that there’s apparently a hidden reason why Anakin learned how to become a Force Spirit, which could factor into the idea that McCaig had illustrated (which unfortunately, our source didn’t say anything about detail-wise). My guess is that the idea would revolve around Anakin struggling to further atone for his many sins as Vader posthumously, which comes across as an interesting concept that I would hope that they would follow up on, whether it’s in the Sequel Trilogy or elsewhere. Another theory is that, when Kylo Ren was actually talking to Darth Vader’s helmet, a vision of the haunting figure was meant to appear when he asked to be shown the power of the Dark Side. Here’s one bit of concept art showing the Anakin/Vader apparition (Episode VIII spoilers begin below the image):
Now for the good stuff – the hint McCaig left regarding Episode VIII. The following is continued from our source’s testimony:
But here’s where it gets interesting… The meat really came at his mention of Rey, and then her mysterious background. He spoke of how Qui-Gon and Shmi had a romantic affair in early-mid drafts of TPM, and how you can still see the remnants of this idea in the final film. He also teased that (paraphrasing) ‘though none of these prequel-related concepts were able to be used outright, these ideas remain in the Lucas ecosystem, and filter through.’ AND, though he spoke thus quietly, he almost certainly then said: “…And now we have a new Skywalker.” To me, this confirms without a shadow of a doubt that Rey is, if not Luke’s daughter, certainly a Skywalker of sorts, and that her backstory will involve a grey Jedi (Luke?) having an affair with a citizen – perhaps with a child born of another virgin mother through the Force.
George Lucas’s plans for the franchise way back when seemingly excluded Luke Skwalker from getting married (which is why he wasn’t happy about Luke tying the knot with the Legends character Mara Jade without the writers asking him first), but they still involved Luke having a child. Interestingly enough, Lucas did mention that Jedi weren’t necessarily required to be celibate so long as they didn’t have actual attachments, meaning that there probably are a bunch of illegitimate Jedi babies running around throughout the Galaxy. This itself presents the possibility that Luke may have had offspring that he didn’t know about on his travels (regardless of whether or not his take on the Jedi philosophy would have revolved around keeping the tenants that led to the Jedi Order’s downfall, which seems a bit unlikely). What McCaig discussed regarding the ideas that surrounded Rey’s character suggests that the story behind her family is important, and that her story could very well involve utilizing concepts that had previously been discarded. So with all that in mind, it seems like there’s a good chance that Rey is Luke’s baby girl after all.
Now, that’s the story. But before I close the article, I came up with a crazy theory regarding Rey’s lineage while writing this, and since the article’s already pretty long, I might as well throw it out to the world. Since McCaig brought up the scrapped concept of Qui-Gon Jinn and Shmi Skywalker’s brief love affair, I got to thinking – what if Rey’s not Luke’s daughter, but she’s descended from a child that Shmi conceived with Qui-Gon, who never lived long enough to learn about his son? This would thus expand the Skywalker bloodline to an entirely new family, though it would also require an explanation as to why we didn’t hear anything about a second Skywalker in Attack Of The Clones. “There is another Skywalker…” would certainly take on a brand new meaning in this context. Occam’s razor typically indicates that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, but hey, we’re still a year and a half away from the movie – and let’s face it, coming up with silly theories are fun.
More on this story in part 2 HERE.
Stay tuned to Star Wars News Net – your Force for news for all things related to the Galaxy Far, Far Away – as we cover more rumors about Episode VIII. Special thanks to E.R. Cina for providing the info.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
If Rey is Qui-Gon and Shmi’s child, I’m done with this franchise. Give me a break. That’s absurd. And don’t even talk about another freaking virgin birth. It was terrible and hamhanded the first time, it’ll be worse the second time. Rey can be Luke’s child without that nonsense. Or, more preferably, Rey can be no one’s child at all. Let her be her own person.
She can’t be Qui-Gon and Shmi’s child. She should be dead by now if she was.
I meant descendant, sorry. The idea of Qui-Gon and Shmi having a child at all seems awful to me. There’s no evidence to suggest it beyond the old script’s supposed plot.
That’s the thing with old scripts and concept arts. They meant something in different context and than context changed and they stopped making sense. if people want spoilers, they should watch the movie in depth free from their own headcanons. TFA actually had one major spoiler that is proven to be in VIII now.
Which spoiler was that?
That SPOILER Kylo Ren will come to Ahch-to, and, more specifically, during a rainy night accompanied by Knights of Ren. SPOILER It’s all confirmed in Ireland reports including photos. And, of course, Driver arrived in Ireland with Ridley and Hamill.
Ah yes, that beautiful beautiful spoiler. Cannot wait to see that on screen.
I know, right? Ahch-to is what I’m looking forward to the most in VIII. I’ve no investment in Resistance so whatever,meh,but Ahch-to sounds like they’ll push the envelope and deliver something amazing.
We don’t know for sure if Rey’s vision about the knights in the rain takes place in the past or the future. I would assume it is the former rather than the latter.
well, they do show up on Ahch-to – there are set photos and reports – and the terrain in the vision is just as rocky as on that planet and there’s Temple tree in the background briefly lit by the lightning. Doesn’t make sense to me that there’s unrelated event that takes place in another rain, on another rocky beach and with another, exact temple tree in the background.
I believe that’s a building an not a tree in the background of the vision. Plus, who are all the dead bodies scattered around them since Ahch-to is isolated and Luke is the only one there?
That “building” looks exactly like the tree and dead bodies are rocks except that Salad Bowl guy who was impaled. BTS has Forceback shooting at Pinewood and floor is covered with rocks. It simply makes ZERO sense from narrative POV to show a past event that looks exactly like the event from the next movie. Rain, rocks, tree in the background, lightning. Since they do show up on Ahch-to, which is a rocky planet, and it’s rain during the attack on Rey and Luke, and there’s the tree, it’s the future. That becomes present in VIII.
I almost agree with you, but I’m not convinced of the bodies/rock building/tree. In the image below you, the middle of the shadow is way wider than the tree trunk.
It’s the angle. Look to Kylo’s left, you can see it briefly when the lightning illuminates it:
http://45.media.tumblr.com/4feae7e030728d6fcfd35915cfc05ed2/tumblr_o4swtikjN21v2q0c9o5_400.gif
you might be right, I’m not 100% on it yet.
It’s OK. I also think that when she looks behind and to the left = past, when she looks ahead and to her right = future. it’s confirmed that Luke+R2 was in the past and that was on her left. Kylo and KoR in the rain are to her right as is Star Killer Base after Young Rey vision (which was behind her).
I think you’re right… I might be out of the track, but I think that a small hint about that could be the Maz’s short line after Rey’s vision, in which she says “the belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead”
Good observation!
Or it ties into the theme of looking back to go forward and the past hints at the future and it’s both
Well, Starkiller vision turned out to be true (and in the future) and based on VIII spoilers, rain vision also turned out to be true (and in the future). I don’t quite understand resistance to the the rain scene being in the future even though there’s an actual proof from the Ireland shoot.
I wrote it before, but I’m writing it again. There are no reasons to believe that the scene might be settled in the past, because Rey has never met ‘Kylo Ren’ (although she might have met ‘Ben’ when she was younger).
As the novel ‘Bloodline’ states out, six years before the happenings of TFA Luke’s nephew is still wandering through the galaxy with is uncle (and he doesn’t even know that Anakin is his grandfather); but this means that he can’t have met Rey after his betrayal (as the vision seems to show, if we assume it to be a past event), because she was left on Jakku years before (according to her age in VII).
Moreover, Rey hasn’t been abandoned to be protected from Kylo Ren, but for another unknown reason…
Yep and he may have met her in a vision himself. Vision!Kylo is the only character in the vision that breaks the fourth wall, even his knights don’t do that but start walking towards him, ignoring Rey’s presence (as they should cause she technically isn’t there). But Vision!Kylo sees Rey. That’s the biggest take away from the Forceback, that his vision version saw her, was aware of her.
It can’t be settled in the past for one, simple reason, that is: Rey was left on Jakku before Ben’s betrayal and before the foundation of the order called ‘Knights of Ren’… The novel titled ‘Bloodline’ clearly shows this, because it states that 6 years before ‘episode 7’ Luke is still training is nephew, and if you consider Rey’s age, she and Kylo cannot have met before his turn to the dark side
Agree. As we said, it’s just a crazy theory that we wanted to add to the existing pile. 🙂
But still the romance between Qui-Gon and Shmi was definitely real in the early drafts…
But this look they exchanged was just filled with Jedi sexual tension though lmaoo
Why should Shmi and Qui-Gon’s (non-existent) child be dead? They’d only be 62 years old. Not exactly “death age”. Too old to be Rey obviously, but not too old to drop Rey off on Jakku and leave. Not that I buy into the theory, but the years do check out for Rey to be Qui-Gon and Shmi’s granddaughter or great granddaughter.
(TPM=32BBY, TFA~30ABY.)
Don’t worry. This is too convoluted to be in the movie. would take tons of exposition plus that’s not the direction that the movie’s taking. people should really move away from a) viewing Rey’s parentage in a vacuum, b) viewing Rey’s parentage with LukeistheMainProtagonist goggles on and c) consider Rey’s parentage the be all and end all of ST.
What’s in the movie trumps whatever people involved in the production and concept art (many of it discarded) say were old ideas. I don’t see where traces of Qui-Gonn/Shmi are visible in TFA, for example. There isn’t any. So whatever.
Maybe in Poe and Finn’s relationship… ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
BTW, Pablo Hidalgo debunked this 30 min or so ago in his tweets.
http://new.ugi.com/wp-content/uploads/rif.png
Its disappointing that they actively squelched anything prequel-related. This is a chance to pull it all together. They should listen to george.
It’s honestly more of a shame that George Lucas isn’t more of a collaborator. Kathleen Kennedy (a friend of George’s) even noted at one point that when it comes to Lucas, it’s his way or the highway. I don’t know if he was always like that, but had he less of an ego, he could have worked with Abrams and Kasdan on crafting a script that captured the best of their respective abilities.
Unfortunately, as was stated above, Lucas had to retreat on his own to create his script. He is just not a collaborator and it’s unfortunately to the detriment of the saga. The Prequels had moments of brilliance, but without a good screenwriter or a good director, they revealed the best and worst of Lucas’s abilities.
Agreed. Sound points. GL is brilliant and myopic which showed with the PT (overall great, but still flawed). I loved TFA as much as the other six films, but one of my nitpicks regarding it is that it shrunk the galaxy again (which shows a certain myopia in JJ Abrams as well). I hope Ryan Johnson has a wider view of the Star Wars galaxy and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us with Episodes VIII and IX.
Completely my perspective. The overarching story of the prequels could have been fantastic. It just fell apart in detail and execution.
Very disappointing. That way of thinking neglects the fact that the PT story was brilliant (even though the execution itself was flawed), to say nothing of neglecting that tying the entire saga together would make for a greater whole. I’d agree with Ben Smith in that GL should have been willing to collaborate with other great minds.
What was brilliant about the PT’s story?
Not much, only thing I really liked was Palpatine’s rise to power and manipulation from behind the scenes. The Clone Wars was very different from what I was expecting it would be. I thought the Clone Wars was actually going to involve clones of jedi, sith, and soldiers not just Boba Fett’s dad. So, while that ended up being kind of disappointing, some of the Palpatine stuff is great imo.
i’m still sticking with Rey being Mara Jade and Luke’s. W/O Luke’s knowledge that Mara had a child of his. Mara then hid Rey once she realized who Snoke was and tried to take him out. Jade gets killed by Snoke and Snoke has the injuries that you see now…
now the EU fanbase and the new can all celebrate!!!!
You are going to be one disappointed dude.
No doubt. But after 7’s disappointment, ,,I’m used to it.
And 1, and 2, and 3, and 6.
lol
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
So we were correct in the conspiracy that Disney had banned all Prequel stuff.
Wow…
Which is odd…as they obviously embrace it in “Rebels” cartoon.
They banned it for VII
Understood.
Was just pointing this out as, article referencing other movies, it doesn’t mean Disney was banning it – as in *banished from memory*!
Just decided to leave out of TFA, playing that one (imho) too conservatively.
That was also Abram’s and Kennedy’s decision too.
Good point. Really just *banned* it from TFA & probably not relying on much for Ep 8&9.
Sounds like the ban on Prequel stuff, was kind of false too. It was more they were hesitant to reference and inclue PT stuff, not outright ban it.
That’s cause Filoni loves the prequels
Got’cha.
They did spawn The Clone Wars series.
I still need to get around to watching more of those. Only watched like Season 1 & 1/2 of 2nd & didn’t get into it. Have heard it gets better & is worthwhile for more SW lore.
More interested now understanding it’s considered canon & can affect the rest of the movies/story.
Why everytime we get a “Rey is a Skywalker” hint we have to be surprised? Of course she’s a Skywalker. She looks like them, the family saber calls to her, she’s an awesome pilot and for God sake she’s the main character in a Skywalker saga film. McCaig pretty much confirms nothing. She’s a Skywalker since the film came out.
Nice of him to spoil it for us. Or, did he?
So why didn’t the movie spell it out instead of making a mystery out of something that everyone expects aka it’s not a mystery? perhaps, because – gasp – she isn’t a Skywalker?
It did both. It spelled it out by all the hints it gave connecting Rey to Luke, and it made it a mystery by confirming nothing.
What hints? You mean callbacks. There are also callbacks that make the case for Rey Solo (which didn’t happen) and Rey Kenobi. Luke is not a deadbeat dad. I don’t know why Reytwalkers are so bent on making him one but he isn’t. Rey isn’t a Skywalker and that’s that. Callbacks don’t prove anything. They are just callbacks. Also, don’t even with “but the saber called to her”. Kanan saber called to Ezra. There. No need to be a family.
WTF’s a “Reytwalker”? I never said the hints were proof.
Reywalker is short for Rey Skywalker and also name for fans of the theory.
Or you’re in denial about the whole not being a Skywalker. Remember these movies are also made for people who don’t talk about these things on a daily basis, of course Rey is Luke’s daughter. If she isn’t the mystery is pointless, if she’s some else’s kid it’ll feel like the reveal would come out of nowhere.
I’m not in denial cause I actually watched the movie in depth. Luke’s daughter would actually require tons of exposition and explaining why she was dumped, why her daddy didn’t look for her or know about her, why nobody in his family ever mentioned her or even hinted that Luke had a family, who’s the mommy, why Rey thinks Luke’s a myth (every 5 years old knows their parent’s name), etc. Too convoluted and assassinates Luke’s character any way you slice it cause the kid wasn’t given to a nice loving family but to freakin Unkar Plutt. Couple that with Bloodline establishing that Luke was a Jedi who was planet hopping with his acolytes in search of Jedi lore and artifacts (no room for family life don’t, you think?), that Rey was dropped on Jakku way before the Fall of Luke’s New Jedi, meaning that Luke was happily training students while Rey was suffering alone on Jakku, it’s obvious that he didn’t have a wife let alone a kid. And no, there won’t be the “one night stand” reveal.
We can go on around in circles because you won’t change my opinion and I won’t change yours, but that would be pointless so we should just respectfully disagree.
We just don’t know what the specifics are, it could take 5 minutes to explain why Luke doesn’t know she’s alive or who her mom is or why she’s on jakku.Bloodlines doesn’t really debunk the Luke is Rey’s dad theory all the book said was (paraphrasing) “Luke is doing Jedi stuff with Ben” that’s really vague, and who knows how well Luke’s order is doing before Ben’s fall to the dark side, it could have been doing well with hundreds of Jedi or really poorly with less then 50, we just don’t know yet. I think she is Luke’s daughter because it’s too obvious. Star Wars is made not only for the lore heavy super fans but also for children who buy the toys and people who don’t have the time, money or even the interest as we do so they have to find a good explanation for her origins, she can’t be someone unrelated because that’ll be anti-climactic and make the whole question kinda pointless in the first place, she can’t be something crazy like Obi wan’s grand kid or Anakin reincarnated because there is no hints in the movie like at all.
Also there is a possibility that all of the inconsistencies are just due to poor film making Instead of some grand game of thrones reveal, JJ is a good film maker, he’s not a master at it. So all of this squabbling about “she can’t be this because of that! No she can’t be that because of this!” It could come down to poor writing and directing.
So there are my reasonings on why Rey is Luke’s daughter.
K.
Pisses me off still that Disney had to go all anti-prequels. The broad story of that era is great, I simply believe that the main films had very poor execution of such an incredible vision. TCW proved this, showing of far better execution Lucas’ vision, giving many moments I cherish more than Ep. !-!!!. And hell, it’s what brought me back to being a fan. If anything Disney, should make more material in the same time period.
The clone wars era is a beautiful period in that universe..it has the potential for so many stories and ideas more so than the OT time period in my opinion.
Yea but it makes sense continuity wise…..
So Shmi and Qui-Gon were supposed to have an affair? Using Lucasian everything-must-be-connected logic, my guess is Boba was gonna be Anakin’s little half-bro.
Lol I still cringe at the thought of lil Boba
Im over the whole Rey is a Skywalker thing, I have said why before… my thing is the mystery of Snoke and why is he so involved, who is he really, and what is his grand plan? (other then getting rid of the jedi)
…and just how long IS he going to be sitting on his gigantic potty? What is he doing in there, young man?!
Having a Qui-Gon and Shmi romance probably got cut for a reason, and now that we are four movies beyond TPM, there would need to be a lot of explaining to re-contextualize that plotline. however, Rey being connected to Shmi is not far-fetched. The tip of the iceberg is how the characters absolutely parallel one another. They were once both subservient to vile junk dealers on a desert planet.
I don’t see any meaningful conclusions that can be drawn about Rey’s parentage from the information on the article. In fact, McCaig’s comments seem pretty irrelevant in that respect.
Technically, he is a Solo, not a Skywalker.
So Leia took Han’s name? And passed on to Ben?
I haven’t read Bloodline so haven’t seen this confirmed in canon (books/film).
Pablo said right now it’s just “Ben”
Cool – thanks for clarifying.
Looking forward to reading **Bloodline (w/more Leia) & wasn’t sure if it is referenced there.
**Note: Of the new canon books, Claudia Gray’s was probably the one I’ve enjoyed the most/was most engaged with the writing.
Technically, he’s 50% Solo / 50% Skywalker. Is there a point?
And…that conflicted/temperamental/whiny behavior is 100% Skywalker!
And that beat your side in with your fist while you’re bleeding out to get more adrenaline is 100% Solo!
hehe – good point.
Err…technically he’s as much a Solo as he is a Skywalker. Only because of the traditions of marriage does the name change. He is still the same percentage Solo and Skywalker.
I’ve asked this same question a few times but not seen a definite answer.
“traditions of marriage” / *canon*
I’ve read many (most) of the new canon books, read a few comics… and I haven’t seen either:
1) Leia Solo – as in her name was changed
2) Ben Solo – referenced as having inherited name from father (/mother w/name change)
3) Also don’t know if Leia & Han were simply estranged (never married?) or *divorced* – even in modern Earth tradition, in cases of divorce a child can choose name
Haven’t read SW “Bloodline” (looking forward to w/more info bout Leia) – so my question is:
Is Ben referred to as having taken the Solo name?
Similarly I wonder about Leia.
I believe they referred to Leia as General Organa in TFA…could be mistaken though. But that would imply no name change for her.
I thought so too.
I did just notice, eagerly awaiting release of the book, that SW Bloodline seems to refer to her as Organa as well.
So guessing no name change.
Wonder what that could mean for Ben (/Kylo).
Don’t know in general if canon’s established standards w/married names.
[ not to go on about this…again, generally curious because many just assume Kylo = Ben Solo, coz… *our* real world/western traditions ]
It’s not like Padme became “Senator Skywalker” (tho’ easy to argue that was due to keeping secret).
Luke, well it could be argued he had his father’s name. However, he was raised by the Lars & Owen’s father was married to a Skywalker. [ again, don’t know if she became Shmi Lars? ]
making him 50% Organa 50% Solo. ORLO REN right there for you!
Han and Leia are married in Bloodline. Han talks about who he married and Leia refers Han as being her husband. Leia just kept her maiden name.
Right but there is this thing called a bloodline. He is a force sensitive person from being the biological child of Leia who is a Skywalker. No matter how you put it, Kylo is the decedent of Anakin. Therefor he has Skywalker genetics. Which is plenty enough to be considered the new Skywalker.
Re: “Technically, he is a Solo”
Maybe technically he’s *neither* and is a “Ren”? hehe
So Anakin’s ghost was going to turn back to the dark side?
For god’s sake, pick a freaking side and stick with it, Anakin.
Anakin’s bi-force? “plays for both teams”? 😉
am I the only one that doesn’t give a shit who rey’s parents are? it is like they are trying to have their own forced version of the “No, Iam your father” scene and I don’t really care. I mean why the fuck should it matter who her parents were? geez can we just get a character who is not defined by lineage?!
We can have plenty of them, but not the main character. This is a saga defined by lineage.
True
yeah well I’m sick of this lineage thing, I thought this saga was originally about being a hero despite your upbringings or your current circumstances (Han solo, smuggler turned rebel leader, Luke was a farm boy turned into jedi). This whole lineage thing was only made so important with the prequels and at the moment it is destroying the original message star wars carried
Well since the first six films main story arc involve the rise and fall of Darth Vader, and the rise of Luke Skywalker in the second trilogy.
It begs the logic that the sequel trilogy will also involve the Skywalkers despite what you think.
It will do.
Remember the opening lines in the 2nd trailer (” The force is strong in my family (…), ‘you have that power too’ “). What we don’t know is who will be this new Skywalker (Ben?Rey?both?), but it’s obvious that they are going to tell the stories about the family… The interesting thing will be to see HOW they’re going to ‘close the loop’
Except this time it will be “no, I am your mother”…
LIES!! Geirge Lucas talked about his stories for the sequels as early as when he was selling to Disney. They rejected his scripts because they wanted to cash in on nostalgia and the teenage girl audience.
Geirge? LOL!!!
What if Rey is actually Mara Jade and when she is holding out her hand with the light sabre, Luke thinks she is holding out her hand for marriage. Now it all makes sense. This is why she is so upset when Finn takes her hand. She is saving herself for someone special.
In episode eight after we find out they have twins in the opening crawl we will see her looking down at her babies and say “I….Am you mother.” So she does become a Skywalker through the bloodline of her children.
OMG no – think of the age difference!!!
Tell that to Celine Dion-jiclub.
Doesn’t make it right for Disney.
As much as I enjoyed The Force Awakens, George Lucas had some interesting ideas. Also, Disney was very hell bent on playing it safe. This makes me sounder if George was trying something really ambitious.
So unsurprisingly, Pablo Hidalgo calls this report “people hearing what they want to hear”
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/with_replies
to be fair there’s nothing in the this article that is more than just one person’s speculation.
More like people hearing what a former LFL employee shared with an audience.
and giving it interpretation that fits into their headcanon.
Well…I don’t know if this thing about a secret 2nd Skywalker could be plausible (even if i think it’s intriguing) but let me wonder…
What if Lor San Tekka is this person, hidden under a misleading name? Is he too old to be Rey’s father?
Shmi Skywalker didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Her parents are unknown. Her siblings, if any, are unknown. Her aunts, uncles, and cousins, if any, are unknown. So, a separate line of Skywalkers could exist and perhaps they were just unknown to Anakin, Luke, Leia, and the audience. So, if Rey is NOT the child of Luke Skywalker, she can still be a Skywalker by being a descendant of one of these unknown Skywalkers. Who knows? Maybe we will find out that Benecio Del Toro is playing one of these long lost Skywalkers and he is Rey’s father. Heck, maybe he doesn’t even know that he himself is a Skywalker until Episode 9. Maybe his line of Skywalkers changed their name sometime in the past. Lots of possibilities. I can’t wait to find out.
I am not ad sure as you are about this…Because I would say that the Skywalker family starts to be a ‘force sensitive descent’ after Anakin’s birth…I mean, it’s Anakin, birth directly from the Force, who gives that power to his children…Shmi does not share this skills (according to the prequels), that’s why I believe there should have been a relationship between her and a Jedi (or another unknown ‘virginal birth’
Yeah, if Rey is a Skywalker she will have to be either a direct descendant of Anakin, or from Shmi and Qui-Gon or another jedi.
Where are the Han Solo spin-off haters? Here we have, at least by the opinion of the person Iain McCaig who has read the script and said it is the best he’s read. If Disney listened to these haters who say it shouldn’t happen and we got no movie we would never get to see the outcome of that incredible script. This is why it is disappointing to me when people come out saying hateful things. They just want to ruin it for the rest of us.
hahahahahaha he works for them, of course he would say it is the best thing since sliced bread, don’t get your hopes up, remember james cameron said that terminator genisys would be a “game changer” and look how well THAT turned out
I get that. I guess I’m more of a cup half full type of person. Why not get my hopes up? To me it is toxic when people who haven’t seen the film say it sucks, or will suck. There is no logical basis for that opinion. It is quite frankly a prejudice.
Yea I’m kinda wondering why I shouldn’t get my hopes up either since they knocked it out of the work with TFA. I’m optimistic until shown otherwise
I’m also a half-glass full type person Thretosix. People don’t like to have faith or hope in anything if their gut reaction is to believe it’s going to suck, or if they just aren’t interested in it. I kind of see it as a defense mechanism to media though, if people all go into a movie having really low expectations and then it ends up being pretty good they will feel better about the film afterwards. Rather than go in with high expectations and it doesn’t meet those expectations.
It stems from people’s fear of not wanting to be wrong, which is very hard for a lot of people to admit.
People essentially say it will fail because Harrison Ford wouldn’t be playing Han Solo. Realistically if Harrison Ford played young Han something wouldn’t be right either. We haven’t seen a trailer or anything and likely won’t for very long time. I really have to scratch my head every article that mentions the movie and people say it already failed.
On the Rey bit, as much as I want her to be Luke’s daughter. I’m still cautiously optimistic. Iain McCaig never mentioned Rey by name. The article is written in a weird third person excerpt of someone else’s writing. “But here’s where it gets interesting… The meat really came at his mention of Rey, and then her mysterious background.” Did he say Rey? The article says he only said “and now we have a new Skywalker”, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is already Skywalker in the sequel films and perhaps the new triology is really about his redemption. Is it possible to get some clarification on this? Thanks E.R. Cina on this information. It was a good read.
So, Q + S = LLS + ? = R (Qui-Gon + Shmi = Long-lost Skywalker + mystery person = Rey). Interesting…..
Anakin Skywalker IS the Ghost of Jacob Marley in Star Wars Episode VIII
On disney not wanting to include even environments from prequels, that’s just plain stupid. Coruscant is part of the saga unverse aswell as Naboo and other places, even the canon novels use those environments.
let’s hope that han solo script is truly good. But how on earth will they put rey’s origin in a setting that’s when not even luke was a Jedi? Rey is much younger than luke…
Jar Jar Binks…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
…gave birth to the illegitimate son of Qui Gon. But he’s a boy you say? Since when were you an expert in Gungan biology or human/alien relations? Everyone has a purpose. There’s always a bigger fish.
Lucas pitched scripts for 7, 8 & 9 to Disney and Lucasfilm sold on their strength. This was publicised by both sides at the time and widely reported.
Not scripts, a rough draft for 7 and a story outline for 8 and 9.
I don’t believe Rey is a Skywalker. But I do believe she is a child of the force, born to a virgin female, like Anakin.
Stop with the “grey Jedi” stuff. Hidalgo already debunked it.
the grey jedi thing is the most absurd thing in my book
I don’t like Rey being have Qui Gon grandchild. It wouldn’t give her Skywalker power, because Anakin got that from the force not his mother. She’d have two generation removed Qui Gon blood, which wouldn’t explain her extreme force attunement. Luke struggled to even master basic force techniques under the tudilage of Jedi Masters Kenobi and Yoda. Rey seems to have spent most her life not using the force, or at least not knowing it, but then USA t to great effect. So to make her something other than a spawn of Anakin, Luke, etc. would water down the Skywalker name.
However, if she’s Luke daughter, both her and Ben Solo (Kylo Ren) seem to have awesome control over the force at a younger age. This can be explained by two things, Skywalker blood, and being under the tutelage of Luke. Rey could have been trained young and shown great power even then. So when they hid her, it was to protect the Galaxy.
Kylo was traveling with Luke, so he likely became pretty darn strong by the time he took down the New Jedi Order Luke was building.
USA! USA!
This would be amazing
That ‘script excerpt’ is BS. Pablo Hidalgo has said many times that the guy who released this ‘script excerpt’ and other stuff made it up.
Here is a theory about rey’s lineage that answers a lot of questions :
Luke trains new jedi. Amongst them a man an a woman. They fell in love. You can’t do that ( jedi stuff ). Luke cast away the guy. He gets angry. You know what happens when force yielders do that : Dark things. He fights luke. Luke beats him badly. The guy fells off a cliff and opens his skull…but survives. Now he wants revenge against luke. Using the force he reunites a dismantled imperial force and decides to seduce the son of Luke’s best friends Leia and Han.
In the meantime, Luke discovers that the padawan woman is pregnant. He can’t cast her away. The woman gives birth to a girl very strong with the force. Now Luke learns about his old apprentice SNOKE and his deeds. He decides to hide his girl REY from him. ( like obi wan did with him )
Now Rey is back and luke is gonna train her to fight her own father. ( Reboot logic )
Snoke existed at the prequel era…
Snoke = Ezra.
“Disney execs were reluctant to include non-Caucasian characters. The new trio were all initially all Caucasian, but it was JJ’s favoring of Boyega that brought about VII’s multi-cultured character set.”
Very interesting. Unless your name is Will Smith, Denzel or The Rock, lead roles in summer blockbusters almost always go to white people. How many minorities even get the CHANCE to compete? But people complaining about diversity pretend that it’s a leveled playing field. “All that matters is who’s the best for the part.”
Hmm. Nevertheless, the token black guy’s ultimate role in The Force Awakens was to make the white girl look good at his own expense.
Finn was marketed to us as Rey’s lead, but he ended up being treated like her bumbling comic relief side kick. He needed saving throughout the film, never got to look heroic saving anyone (especially Rey) or achieve any personal victories, he didn’t have any special skills, he lost both lightsaber fights, he was the butt of several jokes. Disney’s marketing used the black guy to hide the fact that the white girl was the real Jedi in the film. He had no business wielding that lightsaber. Look how foolish Finn looks now in the poster! After he got his ass handed to him, Rey got to look awesome having her big reveal moment before she whupped Kylo Ren’s ass.
The closer you look into Finn’s character, the worse off he becomes. I haven’t even mentioned his connections to slavery and Jar Jar Binks.
Calling BS on some of this stuff. Doesn’t fit with what we know already.
This article takes clickbait to all new depths. Am I really supposed to believe that:
– Lucas wrote an entire script for Episode VII — and had concept art produced — AFTER he sold Star Wars to Disney?
– Disney really “banned” anything “mildly prequel related” — when a reference to balancing the Force is mentioned in the very first scene of TFA?
– Disney was reluctant to include non-caucasian characters? Except for Boyega. And Isaac. And Luna. And Whitaker. And Ahmed. And Wen. And Yen. (And that’s just their first two movies.)
Rey’s parentage and history gets lots of attention, but what about Finn’s? Will he ever learn about his parentage? Does he even care? Will he ever discover his birth name before he was kidnapped by the First Order, or will his origins always lie in slavery (stormtrooper)?
Maybe the “Rey” mystery has been designed to divert our attention from Finn being Mace WIndu’s (or Lando’s for that matter) descendant!
After the way they treated Finn in TFA, you’re really willing to consider that possibility? ^_-
I don’t think its Qui-Gon’s kid, it ruins the whole Anakin as the chosen one because that says any kid Shim has could be special.
I think its more likely Anakin created life from beyond the grave. Maybe Anakin created Rey from the force beyond the grave. It fits with the theories about the Force or Darth Plagueis creating Anakin, and if she was created beyond the grave by Anakin she could be a Skywalker.
everything about this Qui Gon nonsense is nonsense
I have to ask, does the source have a history with you guys in terms of reporting in the past and The Force Awakens? Thats what I’m wondering about. If he/she does then I’m willing to go along with their reasoning.
And touch on the ‘Another Skywalker’ theory, it seems a bit out there but considering all they’ve done to change things in Canon with the creation of The Others in Clone Wars I wouldn’t put it past them. Then they can explore who he/she is or just keep it ambiguous and tell us 35 years later who this character is like the way Darth Plagueis was revealed until his backstory was uncerimoniously wiped 3 years later.
The real answer is really simple I am guessing based on what happened with the identity of The Inquisitor in Rebels. They won’t create a super convoluted backstory for Rey and Snoke’s true identity either. The answer is much simpler than anyone out there is willing to imagine.
I still think she’s Luke’s child. John Williams himself thought this and he’s as about as close to the production as you can see.
Ian Mccaig – a man with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg
The kneebone’s connected to the… something. The something’s connected to the… red thing. The red thing’s connected to my wrist watch… Uh oh.
I’m SO HAPPY that Disney put the KABOSH on this ABSURD idea that Anakin’s Ghost would be “flipping back and forth” — Anakin was REDEEMED that’s how he became a GHOST. Only REDEEMED good Jedi can become ghost, not Sith scum. I also LOVE the Disney “No Prequel Stuff” embargo —- such a SMART move and saved the franchise.
That whole “no prequel stuff” is not a true thing, That is a stupid rumor spread around the internet, Why in the world would disney buy ALL of star wars only to ban the existence of prequel era things? Not buying it.
Exactly. They did one canon purge. If they’d really wanted rid of the prequels they’d have done it at that time, although it would have been ridiculous.
What I can believe is that there are certain elements of the prequels they were not keen to expand upon or revisit.
Exactly! I can notice some prequel appearing in some sorts like SW Weekend firework festival and other things.
You can tell by the new Trilogy and even Rogue One that Disney is AVOIDING the Prequels like the vile plague they are 🙂
Because you can’t buy half of Star Wars, they would have gladly paid $2 billion instead of $4 billion for having the OT rights only.
That rumor has to be true, TFA validates it.
I wouldnt call Anakin flicking back and forth absurd, look at it this way: as Darth Vader he betrayed all of his friends and family, murdered probably hundreds of sentient beings, big portion of them not being even soldiers but regular citizens of the Galactic Empire. Than his boss, a manipulative, corrupt, lying bastard who previously told him that Vader killed his children tries to destroy his miraculously resurfaced son and that pushes him over the edge and kills the guy instead of Luke. I wouldnt call that much of a redemption if you look at a larger picture. I dont think by saving his kid’s ass from Palps he has atoned for everything he had done in 20 years of being Vader. So I think an idea of his force ghost being at least conflicted is actually pretty on point.
Only Jedi can become Ghosts. Not Sith. If he was still “struggling with the dark side”, he could not be a ghost.
but every Jedi is constantly struggling with the Dark Side in life, as FG they retain all the mental capabilities of the living guy so I see no reason why they wouldnt struggle in death.
This was debunked by Pablo Hidalgo on Twitter guys. He’s left as series of tweets on these topics.
Did he debunk the Iain McCaig stuff?
Yes:
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/748255269101146112
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/748255773805912064
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/748257434330873858
And still not actually denying it. Because Pablo gotta Pablo.
He just debunked people saying there was a “ban,” not that there wasn’t an actual intentional avoidance of most prequel-era content. I think (and it is definitely evident in TFA) that they tried to avoid mentioning the prequels almost entirely (save for a few references).
JJ wanted avoid the prequels, and was the primary driving force behind this.
Pablo is a giant-ass liar though, so there is that.
What if… Rey is canonized Mara Jade?
LOL. Best comment.
“…And now we have a new Skywalker.”
Yeah and his name is Kylo Ren.
People don’t get that this is Kylo Ren’s trilogy. At the end he becomes a Jedi and once again rights the balance of the force. Maybe the following trilogy (X-XIII) Ben Solo will be the protagonist (good Jedi) after Rey dies.
I agree with everything except Rey dying. I think her own story arc will have her saving Kylo Ren out of respect for Han Solo and against Luke’s wishes. Remember that thanks to the interrogation scene, she’s seen directly into Kylo’s psyche — probably further than anyone except maybe Leia.
@mykalgum:disqus We have an aggressive moderator here.
We already know that Kylo Ren is part of the Skywalker clan. There’s nothing absolutely disproving that Rey is a Skywalker.
I’ll just take that whole article with a grain of salt…
Bunch of poo-doo
No no no no no. Qui-Gon and Luke are the best examples of the poster- boy good Jedi. This story line would totally ruin that. This is just bad retconning that sounds like stuff off of Tumblr or something. Star wars deserves something better. Even the idea of Rey being a Skywalker is kinda weak.
Qui-Gon a poster boy Jedi?
He constantly defied the council and went against their wishes. If anything he was a renegade. Obi-Wan could be considered a poster boy for the Jedi Order.
Here, Ill give it away, but u won’t believe me but remember when EP 8 comes out. The relation to the story left out being made here of Shimi and Qui-Gon ‘getting it on” is akin to Luke Skywalker’s severed hand attached the the light saber was left out of EP7 — it was in the original script just as Qui-Gon and Shimi getting it on was in EP1. This guy is trying to tell you that. = Rey is the daughter of Luke, via genetics, via the severed hand that didnt make into EP7 – DNA from the hand used to create Rey. Snoke did that and Luke doesn’t know. The reveal comes later when Snoke tells Luke that Rey is his daughter/DNA descendent. I mean, they are making this obvious when Rey touches the light saber and has an instant connection to it. The mother/carrier of the child/DNA/combo is the granddaughter of Obi Wan – again, they make this obvious in EP7, most of you just aren’t connecting with it because it’s overly obvious. People do talk though, and it’s hilarious because I know almost all of you will think I’m making this up or assuming it. Therefore, not a spoiler because you all WONT believe it!
Where’d you get this?!? This is incredible!
Say one had a friend of a friend who talks a lot?
It’s some ‘weird thing’ so I’ve been told — where this Rey is actually the original first Jedi, well 2 original ones and something about Jedi thing where there were/are 2 choosen ones out of some sort of ‘root’ thing which originated/manifested as Skywalkers and always come back as Skywalkers. 1 is good 1 is evil 1 turns from evil to good, the other from good to evil in a constant loop so either the next film is going to be great, or it’s just going to be way too weird.
I’m curious if Snoke or someone from the dark side sent a female to seduce Luke. Essentially stealing his sperm. I mean look at his face when he saw Rey, you know he was thinking about back child support from that one night fling.
I’m going to be “that guy”: The Jedi Order had tenets. A landlord has tenants.
Unless, of course, you actually do mean that the Jedi Order was brought down by rowdy renters who opened the temple doors for Vader and his troopers…
It’s a massive Galaxy, not everyones related.
It’s perfectly possible, that there are other ‘special’ people out there.
It’ll all be connected to that Force Tree Bulls**t.
I certainly hope that we will have the inclusion of Prequel stuff (not saturated mind you). A nice balance would be welcome IMHO. I think in the right hands, some of the BEST concepts and features from the Prequels, could be made to shine in the Sequels…
I’m hoping they do include some Prequel stuff in the Sequels… In the right hands, taking the highlights from the PT, could really do well, IMHO. Also, it would (again IMHO) enrich the overall saga. The PT wasn’t perfect, but there were moments that did shine, and to have it woven into the saga, for me, would be welcome!
The prequels are 50-60 years in the past. There isn’t a lot that could reasonably show up.
I hope after the new trilogy Disney will release Lucas’s script. Whether good or bad I can’t help but wonder what is his version!
I like your Quai Gon and Shmi theory. I guess she would have given up Quai Gon’s offspring for adoption or maybe the child was away at boarding school or something when Anakin and Padme popped by in episode II and discovered that Shmi was missing. If Clete Lars was anything like the older Owen, I could see him just not mentioning the child to Anakin out of a sense of protection.
That doesn’t make sense… How could Luke be Rey’s father? How do you draw that conclusion from what he said. If anything she is Luke’s cousin. My boy Liam knocked up Ani’s mommy and that long lost bloodline had a kid who had Rey. I don’t know about that, I’m sticking to my theory that she is Han’s daughter.
no Luke and Leia had a love child then found out that they where bro and sis. So in shame they dropped her off on a desert planet.