Star Wars: Adam Driver and J.J. Abrams Tease the Importance of Kylo Ren’s Helmet in The Rise of Skywalker

The “sequel trilogy” of Star Wars movies from Lucasfilm have offered a lot of new iconography for fans of the franchise, notably among them the visage of the villain Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo as played by Adam Driver. We learned in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that his mask comes from an idolization of Darth Vader, but after a lashing from Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi the character destroyed his helmet. That in mind, it surprised many when the marketing began to roll out for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Ren was seen repairing his mask to wear again with visible cracks. Ahead of the film’s release, the cast and crew for the sequel say that there’s a good reason for the mask making a reprisal in the film beyond simply looking cool.

Speaking with Collider, director J.J. Abrams and Driver himself opened up about the “return” of the mask which has a few different purposes for returning. There’s a tangible connection for Kylo as a character to have his mask, but a deeper one too.

“Part of it is about his commitment to the Dark Side,” Abrams said. “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. 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.”

For Driver it was more than just an accessory to wear, in fact it has a deep meaning for the character that will be subtle for those paying extra-attention.

“Hopefully [in The Rise of Skywalker], there’s a good moment where you really see him,” Driver added. “Maybe, I hope. We were talking to people before about masks and that’s such a huge iconography of Star Wars that we took for granted that we had to reimagine. What is it about someone who hides himself? Or presents a person to the world, but underneath is something different. Maybe there’s a moment in this [movie] that’s surprising.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in theaters on December 20th.

What do you think about Kylo Ren getting his mask back for the sequel? Should he have kept it in pieces or is wearing it the right move? Sound off in the comments below!