The discussion about “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has heated up once again as we get closer to the release of ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’ Obviously, this was bound to happen, as Rian Johnson’s film is the previous chapter in the Skywalker Saga and will, no doubt, greatly inform the story moving forward. However, the driving force behind this renewed vitriol aimed at ‘The Last Jedi’ seems to stem from the folks involved with ‘Star Wars,’ as they try to explain how the Skywalker Saga finale is going to wrap everything up.
And while ‘Rise of Skywalker’ co-writer Chris Terrio doesn’t actually dismiss ‘The Last Jedi’ or offer up his critique of the film (as JJ Abrams recently did), he does explain, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, that the new film is likely going to offer a new take on some of the ideas that Johnson raised in the previous movie. Specifically, there’s that whole Rey’s Parents thing. As the writer explained, the idea that Rey came from nowhere, anyone can be Force-sensitive, and you don’t have to come from “Star Wars” royalty to be powerful are key parts of ‘The Last Jedi,’ but Terrio thinks you can actually look at it differently.
“There’s a lot of ground in between,” said Terrio. “Even [Kylo] Ren’s terminology isn’t… When he says “You’re no one” — well, what does that mean? Is that how Rey would think about herself? Does Rey even think of these questions? I’m trying not to reveal any story points here! There’s a Gordian knot in my tongue.”
He continued, “I think those are really valid ideas that Rian put forth, but any series of films, especially if you have three, is a conversation — which is, as I said early on when I was talking to J.J., thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. If ‘Force Awakens’ asks the question of who is Rey and where did she come from, and then ‘The Last Jedi’ answered it with a negative in a certain way, hopefully ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ will take those two ideas and create a third thing.”
As for how much of Rey’s history was already set in stone when Terrio came aboard to work with Abrams, the writer played coy and only said, “Uh, that one I have to dodge a little bit… When it’s redacted, you know it’s the juicy stuff.”
Another interesting dodge (for lack of a better term) comes when Terrio is asked about whether or not he consulted George Lucas’ original ideas for a sequel trilogy. The writer teased, “[Long pause.] That one I can’t answer. I do try to read everything that I can get my hands on.”
It appears that the closer we get to the release of ‘Rise of Skywalker,’ the more it’s confirmed that Abrams and Terrio are going to drastically alter the ideas put forth in ‘The Last Jedi.’ However, much to the chagrin of those that despise what Rian Johnson did in that previous film, Terrio makes it seem as if ‘Rise’ will provide a synthesis that fuses together the ideas from ‘The Last Jedi’ and ‘The Force Awakens’ into a whole new beast. And yes, that means there’s definitely more to the story of who gave birth to Rey.
That answer, and presumably much more, will be revealed when “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” makes its debut on December 20.