'Star Wars': Who Actually Decided The Identities Of Rey's Parents?

Ever since Star Wars: The Force Awakens decided to keep the identity of Rey's missing parents a secret, fans have been wondering just who the heck these unseen characters are. Are they pre-established characters within the ongoing Star Wars saga, or are they individuals we have yet to meet? A new interview with the cast and crew of Star Wars: The Last Jedi reveals we're one step closer to learning the identity of Rey's parents, and curiously enough, the answer might be more obvious than any of us thought.

In The Force Awakens, we learn that Rey (Daisy Ridley) was abandoned on the planet Jakku by her family as a young child, and that she's been waiting for them to return ever since. The deliberately mysterious nature of Rey's parentage instantly raised a flag or two for Star Wars fans, and had them wondering who these unseen characters are. Many fans have their own theories, with the general consensus seeming to be Rey is related to Luke in some way. But the only people who really know are those involved with the films. Like Daisy Ridley herself, who told Rolling Stone in a new interview that she learned who Rey's parents were directly from J.J. Abrams on the set of The Force Awakens.

What's strange, however, is that while Abrams decided who Rey's parents were from the start, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was given free reign to answer the question himself. And apparently he came up with the same answer as Abrams. "I wasn't given any directive as to what that had to be," Johnson says in the interview. "I was never given the information that she is this or she is that."

As the Rolling Stone piece points out, the fact that both Abrams and Johnson came to the same conclusion regarding Rey's parents individually strongly suggests that the answer is likely very obvious and starring us directly in the face. Or perhaps Abrams and Johnson are just playing a game of misdirection, and the answer will catch us completely off guard. Recently, there were rumblings that the identity of Rey's parentage might have been revealed in the new Star Wars Battlefront II game, although it seems unlikely that Lucasfilm would give away such a big reveal in a game that arrived before The Last Jedi hit theaters.

Personally, I find the secret about Rey's parents to be one of the least compelling elements of the entire new Star Wars saga. I'm much more interested in pretty much everything else going on. But I recognize some people like to eat this stuff up, and more power to them. We'll likely know the answer for certain (or maybe not) when Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15, 2017.