This Week in Star Wars: International Trailer (Almost) Confirms One of My Star Wars Theories10/30/2017
With the quickly approaching premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi comes a flood of new rumors and speculation, especially as the new The Last Jedi trailer settles in everyone's minds. In this edition of This Week in Star Wars, I'm covering confirmation of one of the Star Wars theories I proposed a while back, new speculation about Rey's parents, and Mark Hamill's recent interview with The New York Times.
Warning: some spoilers for The Last Jedi may lie ahead! One of my theories (almost) confirmed
In my recent breakdown of the newest Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer, I noted that Snoke utters the words, "When I found you, I saw raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special." While the trailer is intentionally structured to give you the opinion that he is speaking about Kylo Ren, I proposed that he was instead talking to Rey. Granted, I was not the only one who formulated this theory (though I did do so independently), but regardless, confirmation of this idea seems to have emerged in the form of an international trailer.
First, some background is necessary in case you are unfamiliar with foreign languages. In English, when we use the word "you" or "we," we are utilizing a gender-neutral word--that is, the words "you" and "we" may be used for either genders. However, in other languages, such words as "you" and "we" may vary depending on the gender of the person being referred to. This provides some obviously helpful information for English speakers, as it may be determined with a high degree of certainty who someone is referring to in a movie trailer as long as there are distinct male and female leads. Now, back to the international trailer. According to Nerdist, a Chinese-speaking Redditor and Star Wars fan discovered that, in said trailer, the "you" which Snokes uses in the phrase "When I found you..." is actually feminine, meaning he is indeed referring to a girl. Here's Nerdist's full analysis of the claim:
Granted, this is not hard evidence that he is speaking to Rey, but it weighs heavily towards that fact. The only other main female character is Leia, who is an unlikely intended recipient of Snoke's message. The implications of Rey being "found" by Snoke are huge, meaning Rey might have some training in the Dark Side. How this will affect her journey of self-discovery in The Last Jedi remains to be seen.
Could Rey be royalty?
This one is potentially major spolier-ific news--so don't say I didn't warn you!
Obviously, since The Force Awakens released in 2015, Rey's lineage has been subject to fierce debate, with speculation ranging from Luke to Obi-Wan Kenobi and even Emperor Palpatine. But did Adam Driver, who portrays Kylo Ren, just spill the beans on accident? GQ Magazine reports that Driver told them in an interview, "You have, also, the hidden identity of this princess who's hiding who she really is so she can survive and Kylo Ren and her hiding behind these artifices." Speculation is now swirling that Driver let a massive secret slip about Rey's parents. Of course, most Star Wars fans naturally associate "princess" with Leia, essentially confirming that Rey is a Solo, right? Not so fast, I say. Doesn't it seem strange that Leia or Han would not recognize Rey in The Force Awakens, if say, she was their daughter? Yeah, I think so, too. The only situation in which this would be feasible is a Darth Vaderesque case where Rey was separated from Han and Leia since infancy--not impossible, I suppose, but it would be strange and somewhat cliché. More likely, Driver misspoke or she is the relative of some other kind of royalty (notably, Palpatine's granddaughter would fit the criteria of princess--not suggesting anything, just noting!). If she is the descendant of some kind of royalty, it would more than likely be someone who has already been introduced to the canon; otherwise, it would be less than exciting. End spoilers! Mark Hamill almost turned away from Episode VII
Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford by Gage Skidmore via VisualHunt.com, used per permissions of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 2.0.
Mark Hamill seems to have been as conflicted as Luke Skywalker taking his lightsaber back when he was offered a role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
In a lengthy interview with The New York Times, Hamill said that he was "stunned" when asked to act in the seventh installation of the Star Wars saga. The late Carrie Fisher, he said, immediately accepted the invitation, but he was more reluctant. "I was just really scared. I thought, why mess with it? The idea of catching lightning in a bottle twice was ridiculously remote." He cited his fear of rejection by fans as one of the major factors preventing him from providing an immediate answer. However, when Harrison Ford agreed to do another movie, Hamill also came on board. "Can you imagine if I was the only one to say no? I’d be the most hated man in nerd-dom," he quipped. Despite his reservations, The Force Awakens went on to be wildly successful at the box office, grossing an excess of $2 billion worldwide. On top of that, Luke's brief appearance was one of the most memorable and talked about moments of the entire film. I, for one, am extremely glad he agreed to come back--his performance in The Last Jedi looks set to be awesome and engaging. Plus, what would the story be without Luke?
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