“I need someone to show me my place in all of this.”
Daisy Ridley’s Rey, the Jakku orphan who helped usher in a new generation of heroes through The Force Awakens, looks set to experience something of an existential crisis in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Caught between the First Order and the “vulnerable” Resistance, last we checked in on Ridley’s heroine she had made contact with Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Master who has spent years in exile following the destruction of his Jedi Academy, presumably at the hands of Kylo Ren.
But when it comes to Rey, in particular, The Last Jedi‘s blistering full trailer hinted at a potential dark turn for Daisy Ridley’s fan-favorite. Either that, or the video editors at Lucasfilm are purposely keeping Star Wars fans on their toes with a bout of clever editing. Because let’s face it, there’s a good chance that final shot is either lifted out of context, or edited in such a way that it looks like Rey and Kylo Ren are talking to one another, when in reality they’re actually speaking to another character in The Last Jedi‘s final cut.
Regardless, we likely won’t find out for sure what path Ridley’s character is headed down until December, but a new character breakdown taken from the Japanese Star Wars site does lend some credence to those rumors of Snoke rejecting Kylo for Rey. And that’s because the description teases that while Ren’s “powers in the Dark Side continue to increase,” they’re still “not enough to impress his shadowy mentor – First Order Supreme Leader Snoke.”
So, could this indicate that Adam Driver’s villain isn’t living up to the big bad’s standards and thus, Snoke switches his affections over to Rey, hoping to lure her to the Dark Side to do his bidding instead? It’s possible, but until we get something more concrete, chalk that up as speculation. Still, it does fall in line with most of the popular theories out there and with what’s been implied from the footage we’ve seen thus far.
Either way, all will be revealed when Star Wars: The Last Jedi zooms into theaters on December 15th. Word is Rian Johnson and Co. have rustled up a cliffhanger ending – not unlike Empire – which ought to leave Star Wars fans on edge right up until the launch of Episode IX in 2019.
The latter has been subjected to some fairly drastic changes of late, after J.J. Abrams (and screenwriter Chris Terrio!) was drafted in to fill the director’s chair left vacant by Colin Trevorrow. A new, December 2019 release date has also been confirmed, which tees up a potentially huge box office clash with the so-far unnamed Wonder Woman sequel. And yes, Patty Jenkins will take point at the helm for Diana’s second solo movie following that record-setting deal.