SPECULATION Is Luke Rey's Father? - The Evidence For and Against

Colin Trevorrow is the guy they got to direct an overt family drama and family drama backstory (like ROTJ). Sister vs. Brother (Rey vs. Kylo Ren). A parent's nightmare (Leia).

Spoiler: wall of text

Colin Trevorrow: “We’re going to make sure that that answer [of Rey’s lineage] is deeply and profoundly satisfying.” “Rey is a character that is important in this universe, not just in the context of The Force Awakens, but in the entire galaxy.” “She deserves it. We’ll make sure that that answer is something that feels like it was something that happened a long time ago, far away, and we’re just telling you what happened.” “I love Rey. But I love her. And I love what she represents in that universe and where we can take her. It’s pretty incredible.”

CT: “What’s interesting is I’m not creating a host of new characters. I have a lot of characters that people really love that we’re going to make sure are all honored. No one’s going to be left behind.” “[I want want the presence of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to be even greater in my film. I can’t wait] to find new places that we can take those characters.” “They are icons, but they’re also people that have suffered tremendous loss and challenge over the course of all these films.”

CT: “By the time we get to Episode IX, I look at that movie as one movie, as three movies, as six movies, and as nine movies. It’s something that needs to honor a story that has been told over a period of 40 years.” “I don’t want to ignore any of it, and I respect all of it. It’s something I think the fan base is going to embrace.”

CT: “[I’m thinking about Episode IX] in the context of three films, six films, nine films, and one film. It’s a lot.”

CT: “I’m very fortunate that I’m surrounded by some really, really brilliant producers and brilliant creative minds – Kiri Hart and the Lucasfilm story group and my producer [Michelle] Rejwan and Kathy Kennedy and also J.J. and Rian, Larry Kasdan. I mean, these are the best minds available and everybody’s engaged in making sure this is the most satisfying and emotionally resonant conclusion that we can possibly deliver.”

CT: “I can’t [say] too many specifics, but [Leia] was really where I began when I started thinking what this story [of Episode IX] was gonna be. It was about her in a lot of ways.”

CT: “Rey is the hero and that’s the character who we’re tracking through these films but each one of them has had a character from the earlier trilogy who’s really been the keystone of the film and [Leia] was going to be.”

CT: “[The Book of Henry] is a big story and it’s an important story to tell. I think that for me to be able to do something that has this level of raw emotion as a family drama headed into the biggest family drama that we know [which is Star Wars] which also has its own raw emotion. I think that movies like this and Star Wars are the only films where a character can yell, ‘Noooo!’ and like you buy it. And you believe in it and it’s earned.”

CT: “We’re so invested in telling a story that is going to be deeply, richly satisfying for people who have loved this for 40 years.”

CT: “[I can’t answer how we’ve adapted Episode IX due to Carrie Fisher’s death] in too many specifics, but [Fisher] was a big part of the film. And I like that Kathy was comfortable with us saying that because I think it is important, first of all, for the fans to trust us and for them to know that was our intention. And when I came in on this movie, that was the character I wanted to focus on. So it was deeply sad for all of us — it was especially sad for me, because finally General Leia was going to have her movie. And yet I can assure you that not only will it be handled with great respect, but the movie will have her soul.”

CT: “[The Book of Henry] is much more of a rich family drama, which is not dissimilar from [Star Wars]. I think having to force myself to confront my own fears as a parent, and really dig into places that I may otherwise not want to dig into and want to look away from. It’s where I have to go with [Star Wars] for it to be as emotionally resonate as it has to be. I have to find something deeply personal for myself in what I’m about to do or else it’s just going to feel shallow.”

CT: “It’s how it was with us [growing up]. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia were all characters that we were able to identify with in various ways, and especially with the character of Rey and what she means to young girls right now, and the challenges that she’s up against. It is extremely crucial that I understand what actual children are feeling about these stories that we’re telling them, and I think it’s important that I have kids, and if filmmakers don’t have kids, they should go talk to them because they don’t see things the same way that we did when we were kids. So, yes, I am very dialed in to that because I think it’s a requisite of the job.”

CT: “Of all the characters in all of the films that I’ve done, I think each of them represents a little part of me and what I’m identifying with at the time.” “Yeah [I’ve found a Star Wars character to identity with], but I feel like anything I say about Star Wars is going to create some kind of inference. [Laughs] But absolutely! Each of these movies has to be deeply personal.”

CT: “We’re asking each other [some really challenging questions] – not just about what happens, but about why it happens and what does this all mean and why was Star Wars?”

CT: “We were talking about Anakin’s fear of loss and what drove him to the dark side [when I was directing Jacob Tremblay for The Book of Henry].”

CT: “I have kids. I’m a parent, and I think as a parent you get that much more attuned to the fears associated with childhood, and you remember some things that we tap into in a lot of movies. ‘What’s in the closet? What’s under the bed?’ But then there’s darker stuff in that that you start worrying about as a parent. ‘Is my child going to be safe? Is someone going to take them? Are they going to fall ill?’ And I felt like this story [for The Book of Henry] had very elemental, very classical, almost biblical ideas within it. Now that the movie’s out, I probably can talk more openly about the idea of someone carrying on the deeds of one who has been lost in their absence. I feel like that’s an old story. Then I realized, I’ve actually seen that story, beyond one that we all are very familiar with—one I’m also involved in.”

CT: “Honestly, I might not have made [The Book of Henry] at all [if I wasn’t a parent]. I just don’t know if you would have that same instinct. I had a brother too, so that’s an element, but in the end because it really is about that absolute fear that you have as a parent that you’re going to screw up and make the mistakes that are just ready to be made at every turn in parenthood, those things are certainly in the forefront of my mind.”

CT: “I definitely didn’t need to [direct The Book of Henry] and I really wanted to. It’s something that connected to me as a parent, you know, and certainly as a sibling and as a filmmaker it was a story I wanted to tell and it was the kind of story that I feel that I needed to tell at this moment.”

CT: “[Carrie Fisher] had a major role in the film and it’s something we had to deal with emotionally at first.” “Now we’ve had to deal with it in very practical ways and in a form of storytelling we know is going to honour her and keep her soul alive, but it is an unfortunate reality that we’re just going to have to handle.” “It’s been tough emotionally – and logistically we’ll figure that part out, but she was just very important to the Star Wars family and that was the hardest part.”

Sources

 

TBH, those quotes don't really indicate to me anything to do with who Reys family are. TFA had Han Solo as the key legacy character, TLJ will presumably be Luke and 9 will be Leia (somehow), doesn't mean any relation to Rey, just that she will have many scenes, just like Han did in TFA.

In my opinion, it is highly unlikely she is related to Han, Leia or Luke. TFA and what we have learned so far about the post ROTJ era make it very unlikely, unless some extremely convoluted storytelling takes place.


Now, i am unashamedly pro Rey Kenobi (convoluted, but a lot less convoluted than Rey Skywalker or Rey Solo IMHO). I want to address the Battlefront 2 lightsaber issue where Rey in her TLJ outfit was seen wielding Obi WANs lightsaber on the menu screen. A developer stated it was a bug, but how could that bug occur? in her TFA outfit she is wielding the blue Skywalker lightsaber seen in the movie, so it should be simple to keep the lightsaber the same. So if this is a spoiler and she does end up with the Kenobi Lightsaber, there must be a valid reason for her to have it. Being related to its original owner is a very valid reason.

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker could be DLC characters to be added in later like Finn and Captain Phasma.

Battlefront is just Star Wars Smash Bros. It's not the Episode VIII video game.

Grandpa Kenobi is the most convoluted of all because it would need to be explained who his woman is and who their child is. And then that child has to be explained who they had a child (Rey) with and additionally how they got separated from Rey.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is just an unseen, unnamed Easter Egg who means nothing to people whose first Star Wars was The Force Awakens.

Solo is the easiest path: No additional explanation needed as to who Han and Leia are or who Kylo Ren is. The only story needed to be told is how their daughter and sister was lost to them.

It's also the best option to fuel the conflict between the new Darth Vader type of villain and the new hero that is at the forefront of the story. It retroactively casts TFA in a different light between Rey and Han Solo and Leia going forward just as the OT retrospectively added context in Episode V and VI. The real story is withheld until after the introductory episode.

 

I agree both options are pretty convoluted at this point, but Rey Kenobi is far more complicated than Solo/Skywalker. Remember, these trilogies are supposed to be able to be watched alone. If TFA was your first Star Wars movie then you have no idea who Obi-Wan is and how he relates to this story. Furthermore you'd have to introduce him in the next two films, explain his relationship to Luke, and also give him a child and grand child. How is this less convoluted than another lost Anakin family member?

 

according to who?

 

I think what can be gleaned from Colin's quotes are that the 9 movies MUST be connected... and what connects them is the Skywalker story and they the "resolution" has to be "deeply satisfying". Rey being a random orphan doesn't seem to fit that scenario at all.

 

Actually, people are focusing on this too much.

IMHO, it is a detail of the story, at best.

I'd rather have a very good story with randoms than a sloppy and lazy story with relations between characters.

 

INT RESISTANCE BASE

LUKE SKYWALKER sits REY down on an old chair.

Unfurls three large pieces of parchment.

LUKE: Okay, so one more time....Leia is my sister even though we didn't know and kissed like a dozen times

LEIA: Twice.

LUKE: Sure. Whatever. Anyways. She's my sister. So Han is my brother in law and Ben is my nephew. This much is easy.

REY: Okay...

LUKE: Now I had a mentor named Obi-Wan Kenobi. And he had a thing for a Duchess named Satine. Now there was a Mandalorian named Sabine everyone thought was theirs because of the name but really has nothing to do with this.

LEIA: Stay on target....

LUKE: Well apparently Ben...that's what we called Obi-Wan, not your cousin....well blast.

REY: Wait what?!?

LUKE: Yeah, Obi-Wan got randy with some girl on Tattooine years ago, who had a daughter who I met. Then I had a daughter with her and Han and Leia adopted you; then when Ben, sociopathic, talks to helmets Ben, went bonkers they left you off on Jakku with San Tekka who you ran from and were found by Plutt.

REY: I don't....

LUKE: Yep. You are a Kenobi-Skywalker-Solo. Your real name is Shmitine. A blend of my grandmother's name and the love of Obi-Wan's life.

 

I'm sure fans would love that even if the story is crappy as Hell.

 

Everyone gets what they want.

 

You forgot to shoehorn Palpatine somewhere in this backstory.

 

REY: Wait. So who was my mother exactly?

LUKE: Oh well, the woman Kenobi hooked up with, your grandma, was actually the bastard daughter of Sheev Palpatine, the Emperor who kind of started all this mess after years of peace. So Obi-Wan told her as much when confronted with her being pregnant with your mom.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 26, 2017, Original Post Date: Jun 26, 2017 ---

The only people this doesn't service is Rey Random. And that deeply upsets me.

 

J. J. Abrams: "I had the script for Ordinary People with me the whole time while I was writing Regarding Henry just to reference it—because there was something about that script that just felt like movies, just felt like the real deal and was inspiring. So I’d keep referencing it, just kind of remembering that feeling of a great movie—desperately trying to emulate that."

J. J. Abrams: "I realize that that blank page is a magic box, you know? It needs to be filled with something fantastic." "I used to have the 'Ordinary People' script that I'd flip through. The romance of the script was amazing to me; it would inspire me. I wanted to try and fill pages with the same kind of spirit and thought and emotion that that script did." "In terms of the content of it, you look at stories, you think, well, what are stories but mystery boxes? There's a fundamental question -- in TV, the first act is called the teaser. It's literally the teaser. It's the big question. So you're drawn into it. Then of course, there's another question. And it goes on and on. Look at 'Star Wars.' You got the droids; they meet the mysterious woman. Who's that? We don't know. Mystery box! You know? Then you meet Luke Skywalker. He gets the Droid, you see the holographic image. You learn, oh, it's a message, you know. She wants to, you know, find Obi Wan Kenobi. He's her only hope. But who the hell's Obi Wan Kenobi? Mystery box! So then you go and he meets Ben Kenobi. Ben Kenobi is Obi Wan Kenobi. Holy ****! You know -- so it keeps us -- (Laughter) -- have you guys not seen that? (Laughter) It's huge! Anyway --" "So there's this thing with mystery boxes that I started feeling compelled. Then there's the thing of mystery in terms of imagination -- the withholding of information. You know, doing that intentionally is much more engaging."

https://www.ted.com/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box/transcript?language=en (2007)

J.J. Abrams: "I never want to focus on any one thing. When I did ‘Felicity,’ I ended up creating ‘Alias,’ and Damon and I created ‘Lost’ because it was different from anything we had done before. So after Star Trek, I'd like to try something more intimate, but chances are whatever I end up doing next will have some level of special-effects work in it. Then again, two of my favorite movies are Ordinary People and The Philadelphia Story!"

http://www.filmjournal.com/keep-trekkin-jj-abrams-injects-new-life-classic-sci-fi-franchise (2009)

Colin Trevorrow: "I was watching Ordinary People and Kramer vs. Kramer [for The Book of Henry for inspiration], but then we were also watching Rebecca, and Rear Window, and Psycho. We were watching Hitchcock stuff because that's really where the movie takes you. It was important to me that we take people on a journey that normally you would go on in a big summer blockbuster. Feeling that sense of fear, dread, terror, love, family and romance. All of those things that we love about movies I felt were compacted into a tale between two houses.

https://www.fandango.com/movie-news...-henry-and-teases-star-wars-episode-ix-752372

Colin Trevorrow: You know, I just don’t know another movie that this movie’s like [The Book of Henry] [Laughs]. It’s really hard. And that was one of the goals. I think that there’s an element of the Hitchcock-ian suspense thriller in it, so there’s a little Rear Window in the beginning. There’s a little Kramer vs. Kramer, or Ordinary People, early-80s family drama that you feel, but beyond that, I’m just not sure if I have anything to hold that against, because it was a true original. And I feel like I can be a hype-man for the story, ’cause I didn’t create it, and I just found it to be something unlike anything I have ever experienced.

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-book-of-henry-colin-trevorrow-interview/

Jordan 'Buck' Jarrett in Ordinary People is the sibling who dies in a tragic boating accident with his brother and the family is never quite the same again.

 

I still understand the point of destroying the EU to make it again and changing names to blown out people's mind with a I'm your brother / sister.

It sounds so lazy.

 

If Rey is Lukes daughter, her and Kylo's story is still significantly different then Jacen and Jaina's

 

The post-Endor story is already getting incredibly complicated, and we've only had four novels covering it.

The movies only have to relay a few relevant points, the EU can fill in the details and complicate the hell out of it.

 

I don't think its anymore complicated just different.

We haven't had a series of novels focusing on Luke, Han and Leia - going into detail on what they did, other adventures etc.... I think they are telling the story in a way thats harder to follow because of the characters they've chosen to follow and focus on.

 

I was responding to the notion Rey being Luke's daughter would be too complicated. No matter what happens, the actual backstory is going to be far more complicated than what can be learned from just the films - and already is.

 

The main problem is the amount of flashbacks needed and off screen explanations.

I don't think this story is going backwards.