Star Wars: Adam Driver Says You’ll “Really See” Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker

Adam Driver, actor behind the usually masked visage of the corrupted Ben Solo, says audiences will “really see” Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Following the rejection and destruction of his Darth Vader-inspired helmet in the Rian Johnson-directed The Last Jedi, Kylo again dons his repaired mask now oozing with glowing red energy. The son of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), Kylo reigns as Supreme Leader of the First Order and aims to snuff out the last light of the Resistance and freedom fighters Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and their allies — but Driver hints Rise of Skywalker will unmask Kylo in more ways than one.

“Maybe a moment in… really, there is a lot. There’s a lot to choose from, and I’m not just being vague,” Driver told Collider when asked to name the moment across the Star Wars sequel trilogy where Kylo appeared the most empathetic or human. “Hopefully in this one there’s a good moment where you really see him. Maybe. I hope.”

Beyond Kylo’s idolization of Darth Vader — which comes to haunt him when Kylo is confronted with the returned Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) — there lies a deeper meaning behind Kylo Ren’s presentation.

“We’ve been talking with people before about masks, and that’s such a huge iconography of Star Wars that we took for granted that we had to reimagine. So what is it about someone who hides himself? Or presents the person to the world that underneath is something completely different? And I think for the first … maybe there’s a moment in this one that’s surprising. That’s so vague.”

The Force Awakens writer-director J.J. Abrams previously said the returned mask is explained, in part, by Kylo’s “commitment to the Dark Side.”

“As you’ll see, he’s becoming Supreme Leader… his focus has been a little bit more on practical matters. He’s assumed that position within the First Order,” Abrams told Collider. “It represents his re-committing to the Dark Side, to the Knights of Ren, and then because of a very specific thing that he’s about to go do. As you see in the story, there’s a reason for it. It might not be clear at this moment.”

Lucasfilm and director J.J. Abrams join forces once again to take viewers on an epic journey to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the riveting conclusion of the seminal Skywalker saga, where new legends will be born and the final battle for freedom is yet to come.

Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Kelly Marie Tran, Anthony Daniels, Keri Russell, Richard E. Grant, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Joonas Suotamo, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens December 20.