DisneyOne of the biggest mysteries of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the identity of Rey’s parents, and the filmmakers have promised that we will get an answer – they just don’t seem to know when.
Thanks to a leaked screenplay, we know that Rey (Daisy Ridley) was left with Unkar Plutt (an un-credited Simon Pegg) on Jakku as a little girl and, given that he’s a gross blob-like monster, we can probably guess that he’s not a blood relation.
When TV show Roadies asked The Force Awakens director, JJ Abrams, about Rey’s backstory, he said:
I know quite a bit… Obviously it’s not for me to talk about in this moment because this is Rian’s [Johnson, Star Wars Episode VIII director’s] story to continue now. The last thing I’m going to do is reveal something that he would be upset about. I want to make sure that Rian gets the courtesy that he showed me.
wookiepediaThe film’s leaked screenplay reveals a little more detail about poor Rey’s abandonment:
A little girl. Rey as a child. She is sobbing, hysterical. Unkar Plutt’s meaty hand holds her thin arm. She is on Jakku, watching a starship fly into the sky, abandoning her. Rey yells, ‘No, come back!’ and Unkar Plutt responds, ‘Quiet, girl!’ as the ship flies towards the desert sun, which is strangely eclipsed, as if being eaten by darkness.
From this we can guess that whoever her parents were definitely intended to leave her with a weird alien junk dealer, but why?
What could be so dangerous that she’d be safer on Jakku with an abusive alien than with her parents?
DisneyStar Wars Episode IX director, Colin Trevorrow, was slightly more forthcoming, teasing:
We’re going to make sure that that answer is deeply and profoundly satisfying. Rey is a character that is important in this universe, not just in the context of The Force Awakens, but in the entire galaxy.
She deserves it. We’ll make sure that that answer is something that feels like it was something that happened a long time ago, far away, and we’re just telling you what happened.
Trevorrow could be interpreted as meaning that we won’t get an answer until his film, which would be an interesting deviation from the original trilogy in which we (SPOILERS) discovered that Darth Vader is Luke’s dad.
It’s pretty exciting news and will no doubt fuel speculation over her lineage.
The Internet is already overflowing with fan theories over Rey’s parentage, including that she may be Luke’s daughter, Anakin’s clone or even Obi Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter.
Thankfully no one has theorised that she’s the spawn of Darth Jar Jar just yet, but it’s the Internet, so some rabid fan is no doubt working on it even as I write this!
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.