J. J. Abrams, director and co-writer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: “I’d rather let that [‘Darth
Rey’] one lie [than talk about it]. But I will say that the movie has a number of things that you wouldn’t expect to have happen and that you wouldn’t expect certain characters to do. (smiles) And that’s one of them.” (Empire magazine November 2019) (
archive)
Chris Terrio, co-writer of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: “Some of the most interesting scenes in
The Last Jedi are the conversations between
Rey and [Kylo] Ren. We’ve tried to pick up that complicated relationship that really has been present ever since the interrogation in
Episode VII. When Ren takes off his mask, there’s a nakedness about him with
Rey that he doesn’t express to anyone else. Rian developed that in fascinating ways and we’ve been able to develop it even further.” (
September 29, 2019)
Chris Terrio: “We thought about that line [‘Let the past die, kill it if you have to’] a lot. Rian [Johnson] did something [in
Episode VIII] that any good second act will do, which is create the antithesis. In The Force Awakens Luke Skywalker is a myth
Rey’s obsessed with and there’s a warm embrace of the past. What Rian suggested is the past is a mixed bag and you can’t rely upon it to tell you where to go in the future. What we’re doing with
Episode IX is trying to create a synthesis between those two points of view.” (Empire magazine November 2019)
Chris Terrio: “One of [the questions that fuels
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker] is a simple one: ‘Who is
Rey?’ Which is a question that people not only wonder about quite literally, but wonder about in the spiritual sense. How can
Rey become the spiritual heir to the Jedi? We kept coming back to ‘Who is
Rey?’, and how can we give the most satisfying answer to that not only factually – because obviously people are interested in whether there’s more to be learned of
Rey’s story – but more importantly who is she as a character? How will she find the courage and will and inner strength and power to carry on what she’s inherited?” “The second one is, ‘How strong is the Force?’ It sounds a little simple, but actually when you get down to it, that is a sort of Zen Koan that we would really meditate on – not literally in yoga poses or anything, but like we would discuss, ‘What is the Force and how strong is the Force?’ Those two things were really important.” (
October 2, 2019)
