Star Wars: Concept of Rey Embracing the Skywalker Name Dates Back to The Force Awakens

When fans first met Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we began theorizing about who her parents could be, only for Star Wars: The Last Jedi to claim that her parents were “nobodies,” yet Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirmed that she was a descendant of Emperor Palpatine. While some audiences thought that the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga was meant to negate the events of The Last Jedi, a film which some fans didn’t enjoy, the release of The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirms that the idea of Rey symbolically becoming a Skywalker dates back to the inception of the sequel trilogy.

“I like the idea that she’s going to be our Skywalker, but she’s not a Skywalker,” Lucasfilm exec Pablo Hidalgo shares in the book, per a 2014 meeting. “Then, for our purposes, ‘the Skywalker’ is really a metaphor. It doesn’t have to be something that’s directly connected to blood.”

While this news is sure to relieve some fans, it will likely frustrate others.

Rey’s aptitude with the Force in The Force Awakens conjured theories about her lineage for years, only for The Last Jedi to disappoint some with the reveal by Kylo Ren that her parents were “nobodies.” Additionally, the film killed off Supreme Leader Snoke, another character that had earned a number of theories about their backstory. Some audiences bemoaned Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson, as they believed he deviated too far from the path J.J. Abrams set up. When The Rise of Skywalker revealed Rey’s true lineage, Last Jedi detractors were excited while its fans were frustrated.

Some fans have even conjured theories that Abrams intentionally retconned the events of The Last Jedi because he personally didn’t like them, which star Greg Grunberg is shocked to consider.

“I was shocked. This is part of Star Wars, which is finding conflict,” Grunberg shared with The Hollywood Reporter of fans thinking Abrams actively attempted to contradict The Last Jedi. “People are going to make things up. I never heard one disparaging thing from J.J. about Rian. Rian is a brilliant storyteller and filmmaker. It’s one of those things where if you pay attention to the film and engage with it, all it does is keep that story going. But, I’m glad you’re asking me because I would absolutely tell you if there were moments here and there. And there weren’t. There just absolutely weren’t.”

He added, “If anybody was going to try and dig that out of J.J., it’d be me. I wanted to work with Rian so badly, and it just didn’t happen. So, I would be looking for any reason to go, ‘Oh yeah, well,’ but J.J. loves that guy. He loves how creative and how brilliant he is.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available now on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.

What do you think of Rey’s lineage? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!