A Stirring in the Force - Some Thoughts on EW's Star Wars Revelations

Kylo Ren, Photo by Lucasfilm/Entertainment Weekly

What a roller coaster it's been!  First Entertainment Weekly confirmed that not only would J.J. Abrams not be debuting a new trailer at Disney's D23 Expo this weekend but there'd be no new clips or behind the scenes footage either.  The no trailer thing matches his Comic Con promise of the new trailer coming in the fall, but I can't deny that I (like many other fans) was hoping to see something a little early at Disney's biannual event.  The real surprise is that there won't be any behind the scenes footage either, but he did promise something "compelling" for those who are attending Saturday's panel.  The poster maybe?  First looks at some of the new supporting characters?  Maybe our first look at Luke Skywalker?  Ok, that last one seems unlikely, as much as I want to see the elusive Jedi I've pretty much accepted that the first time we'll see him will be in the film itself.  And if Disney can truly pull that off without any images leaking it'll be an achievement worthy of a Jedi Master and they'll deserve a lot of respect for it.

Thankfully, Entertainment Weekly didn't stop there.  Yesterday they posted a dozen new images (like the one at the top of this post) and followed up with interviews with J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy and Lawrence Kasdan that revealed a whole host of tantalising details about Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

You can see all the photos here
"Who is Luke Skywalker?" - Why J.J. Abrams ultimately decided to direct Episode VII
The history of Kylo Ren
J.J. Abrams discussed the new names and where they came from
Han Solo comes home

Mild spoiler warnings apply to most of the articles, especially the Kylo Ren piece.  The photos are pretty much safe and the Han Solo piece definitely is.  To give fair warning I'll be talking about most of the details revealed below so if you want to go into the film completely blind then stop reading now.  That said, there will be no spoilers beyond anything that's been officially revealed, only speculation.

After reading those articles there's certainly lots to think about.  So let's start where J.J. Abrams started.  With Luke Skywalker.

Luke Skywalker (?) and R2-D2, Photo by Lucasfilm

Whilst Han Solo has been front on centre since the second teaser was released at Celebration and we got our first real look at Leia in Comic Con's behind the scenes video, Luke Skywalker remains shrouded in mystery.  All that we've seen of him is a brief glimpse of a hooded figure in that second teaser.  And that's assuming everyone's guess is right and that figure is Luke!  It's interesting then that the question "Who is Luke Skywalker?" is the one ultimately convinced J.J. Abrams he needed to make this movie.

There's an interesting line in the article - "what if there was more to that Tatooine farmboy? Or... what if there was less?" - that made me think.  It's, roughly, 30 years after Return of the Jedi, what would you have expected Luke to do in that time?  Maybe it's because I've read a lot of the old Expanded Universe (now Legends) but I would have thought that in that time Luke would have followed Yoda's instruction to pass on what he had learned and found a New Jedi Order.  Based on what we know so far that didn't happen.  Luke hasn't yet restored the Jedi Order.  Thirty years after the Battle of Endor the Rebellion isn't a New Republic, it's a Resistance.  And Luke?  Our only image of him is alone with only his faithful droid by his side.  In those circumstances, has Luke become less than what we expected him to after Return of the Jedi?  Is then Luke's story in this trilogy a different form of redemption story?  Redemption not from his own dark side but from his inaction allowing darkness to rise and spread in the galaxy?  An arc that will see him leave his apparent isolation to finally fulfil Yoda's instruction, passing on what he has learned and bringing back the Jedi.  It would certainly be a compelling story arc and one worthy of Luke Skywalker.

The article seems to support at least some of these assumptions as Kathleen Kennedy is quoted as saying "we can't explore in quite as much detail issues of compassion, the way [Lucas] did in terms of the values of the Jedi. But we're going to get there, let's put it that way.  In the arc of all three movies, that will increase."  There's a few ways you can read this but it does hint that the Jedi aren't a big part of The Force Awakens, but that will change over the course of the trilogy.

Whilst the articles don't go into any real detail about the political landscape of the galaxy (I'd expect the details for that to be laid in next month's Shattered Empire comics and Aftermath novel) they do give us more insight into the masked face of the First Order - Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren and First Order Stormtroopers, Photo by Lucasfilm/Entertainment Weekly

His unique lightsaber, as many have speculated, is something he constructed himself and is, according to Abrams "as dangerous and as fierce and as ragged as the character."  The choice of the word ragged seems to imply a lack of knowledge.  After all, all Jedi made their own lightsabers and none had the distinctive blaze of Ren's blade.  Even Luke successfully constructed a stable blade after what amounted to probably only a few months of intensive training.

Whilst his lightsaber may be home made, there's history behind his Vader inspired look and mask.  According to J.J. Abrams the origins of his already iconic mask will be explained in the film but Ren "is well aware of what's come before, and that's very much a part of the story."

The real revelation however, is that Kylo Ren is not his birth name.  Like Darth Vader, it is a title bestowed upon him when he joined the Knights of Ren.

I'll admit, at first I felt that was a revelation that should probably have been left for the film, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised what a tease it was.  It tells us very little but opens up so many more questions.  Who are the Knights of Ren?  Where do the fit into the galactic landscape?  Are they a part of the First Order or a sect with their own agenda?  Is Kylo Ren doing their bidding working with the First Order or is he something of a renegade?  Where does Andy Serkis' Supreme Leader Snoke fit in?  I had assumed he was the ruler of the First Order but is he actually the leader of the Knights of Ren?  Or both?  And most teasingly of all, if Kylo Ren isn't his birth name, does that mean that his real name may reveal a relation to one or more characters we knew before?

Also interesting is that Abrams revealed the character isn't as fully formed as Vader when we first meet him in the film and goes on to say that "there are two sides to the Force. Both sides, arguably, would see themselves as the hero of their story, and I think that applies here."  This actually links very nicely with Kathleen Kennedy's comments in the Luke article that "We're looking, obviously, for aspiration, for characters who are conflicted between good and evil, dark and light ... George spoke often about that tension in everybody between what's good and bad.  He always felt that it was easier to be bad than good, I'm not sure all people would agree, but I think that that's always an interesting conflict to explore."

It certainly sounds like Kylo Ren will have a depth and emotional complexity to his character.  If he sees himself as a hero could he be convinced he's fighting for the wrong side?  Star Wars has always been a story of redemption so it's certainly possible, even if unlikely.

In addition to Kylo Ren, Abrams let EW into some of the secrets behind the names of our new heroes and villains.  Perhaps most telling was the confirmation that it's "completely intentional" that both Rey and Finn's last names are a secret.  It certainly adds more fuel to the speculation that at least one of them is related to one or more of the legacy heroes.  That makes 3 characters who could, potentially, be related to legacy characters from the Original Trilogy.  Let the speculation begin I guess!

And finally, J.J. Abrams has confirmed he won't be back to direct Episode IX.  I guess it was to be expected but with The Force Awakens looking so good I was hoping he could be tempted back to conclude the journey.  What is interesting (but also expected) is that J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan did map out the broad strokes of the entire Sequel Trilogy whilst planning The Force Awakens but it was only the very broad strokes so Rian Johnson still had pretty much total freedom when writing Episode VII.

With the D23 Expo this weekend expect more Star Wars news very soon!  If this much information has been released ahead of the panel I can't wait to see what "compelling" surprises they have in store!