Ever since the The Last Jedi came out to a mix of praise and backlash from the fanbase, the rumor mill has consistently offered suggestions for how the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX might try to “fix” some of the more controversial elements from Rian Johnson’s film. One claim that keeps coming up, for instance, is that J.J. Abrams will retcon Rey’s ancestry, connecting her to a more relevant bloodline than the humble origins suggested in The Last Jedi.
But while it’s quite possible that Rey’s backstory as the child of “filthy junk traders” wasn’t what Abrams had in mind when he worked on The Force Awakens, we’ve yet to see any evidence to suggest that the filmmaker plans to undo one of The Last Jedi’s boldest reveals. And in a recent quote from Oscar Isaac, fans are getting the impression that Rey’s lineage will stay as unremarkable as Johnson intended.
The new theory concerns a recent interview with Today, in which the Poe Dameron actor confirmed that Episode IX will be the final installment in the Skywalker saga:
“It is the end of the entire Skywalker saga. Nine stories. This is the culmination of the entire thing.”
What’s this got to do with Rey? Well, fans have been linking the comment to a statement made by Kathleen Kennedy in a 2017 episode of The Star Wars Show:
“We’re sitting down now and we’re talking about the next ten years of Star Wars and we’re looking at narratively where that might go. Future stories beyond Episode IX with these new characters, Rey, Poe, Finn, BB8… The possibilities are endless.”
From the sound of things, Kennedy in 2017 had plans for Daisy Ridley’s character beyond Episode IX. But if Rey’s story continues after the Skywalker saga ends, then the suggestion here seems to be that Episode IX will not reveal Rey to be a Skywalker, despite ongoing rumors and fan theories to the contrary.
Given how old the Kennedy quote is, it seems quite possible that Lucasfilm has since dropped plans for future Rey movies, meaning that her story would end at the same time as the Skywalker saga. But either way, it’s hard to imagine Abrams giving the heroine some last-minute Skywalker connections, especially when this would heavily undermine The Last Jedi’s message that anyone can be a Jedi, regardless of whether or not they won the birth lottery.
In any case, we’ll find out what Abrams has in mind for both Rey and the Skywalker bloodline when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.