Star Wars is not the sexiest franchise in the universe. Not to say there are not sexy people in it. In fact, almost all the leads of Star Wars live-action projects are pretty darn hot. (Lookin’ at you, Chewie). But if “sexy” means “showing skin,” well… the galaxy far, far away often comes up short in that regard. (Star Trek, on the other hand, is all about the sexy. You should check it out). However, episode six of The Acolyte took a big right turn into sexy town, and we can safely say that the fans are all about it. And it all centered on our hunky dark side warrior, Qimir (Manny Jacinto).

After the end of episode five, Qimir takes the kidnapped Osha (Amandla Stenberg) to an “Unknown Planet,” where he strips down to nothing, and takes a dip in the ocean. Osha is supposedly unconscious during all of this, but she wakes up and sees the whole thing. And sexy Qimir lets her know that he knows she’s watching. The camera makes sure to show off his glistening wet muscles, stopping short of showing any actual nudity. Although, the episode makes it a point to let us know that this dark side warrior definitely lets Osha see the goods. Even if we, the audience, were robbed. As far as we can tell, this is the first implied full nudity in Star Wars in almost 50 years. Well, better late than never we say.

Has Star Wars Ever Implied Nudity Before?

Of course, Star Wars has shown some skin in the past. Rather famously, in fact. In Return of the Jedi, in Jabba the Hutt’s palace, we had his Twi’lek dancer Oola gyrating while wearing a very revealing outfit. Of course, Princess Leia as Jabba’s prisoner had Carrie Fisher in a metal bikini that left very little to the imagination. It was an outfit that signaled the sexual awakening of many. However, it stopped short of anything too racy for a PG movie. Natalie Portman as Padmé in Attack of the Clones had a creature shred her top to give her a Britney Spears bare midriff, which kind of counts too.

Years later in Revenge of the Sith, a very buff Anakin Skywalker wakes from a nightmare about his wife Padmé, and we see his sweaty, chiseled bare chest. They made it a point to linger on Hayden Christensen’s shredded body. In The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) lets Rey (Daisy Ridley) see him shirtless in his quarters, and she tells him to put his shirt back on. Possibly the first time Star Wars nudity, or partial nudity, makes another character uncomfortable. Of course, all stop short of actual nakedness.

Has Star Wars Ever Had a Sex Scene?

There’s “sexy,” and then there’s “sex scene.” We can safely say that Star Wars is even more chaste in this regard. Sure, we know that Anakin and Padme did the deed, because Luke and Leia are proof. Same with Han and Leia, because Kylo Ren/Ben Solo came from somewhere. But audiences were only ever allowed to see kisses between these characters. Anakin and Padme are only shown in bed sleeping in Revenge of the Sith, with Natalie Portman in a nightgown.

The first real implication of a sex scene in Star Wars was in Andor. In episode two, Cassian’s friend Bix (Adria Arjona) drops by for a booty call with Timm (James McArdle). And in the morning, she gets out of Timm’s bed and dresses herself. It’s clear that the two had a romantic rendezvous, but the audience didn’t get to see it, only its “morning after” aftermath. Even the franchise’s most adult entry, Andor, pulled its punches in this regard.

Is Qimir in The Acolyte Episode 6 Star Wars’ Sexiest Scene?

We are actually going to make a bold declaration, and say Qimir’s nude dip in the ocean, where he emerges to Osha and shows off his naked bod, is Star Wars’ sexiest scene. Everything about it is coded as “seduction.” We even have Qimir lustily saying the words “desire” to Osha when trying to sell her on the dark side. We can’t think of a scene in any Star Wars that has leaned into sexy territory more than this one. Heck, we barely see Pedro Pascal’s face in The Mandalorian, much less bare biceps. Hopefully, The Acolyte, and Star Wars in general, leans more into sexy in the future. Why have all these impossibly attractive heroes and villains if you’re not going to lean into it from time to time?

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The Acolyte revealed the true identity of its dark side Master in the Disney+ show’s memorable fifth episode. Qimir is no mere trader; he’s Mae’s mysterious mentor and the villain of the series. When Sol confronted Qimir on The Acolyte, the unmasked Force user said he has no name, but the Jedi might call him “Sith.” There’s plenty of reason to believe that’s exactly what he is, but there’s also reason to believe he’s something else. Qimir might be the forefather of the group that Kylo Ren will one day command, the Knights of Ren.

Is The Acolyte‘s Qimir a Sith Lord or a Knight of Ren Ancestor?

Qimir might be precisely what he said the Jedi would name him, a Sith Lord. He embraces the dark side, wields a red lightsaber, has an incredible mastery of the Force, fighting abilities few have ever matched, hates the Jedi, and wants a pupil. That sounds exactly like a Sith.

Yet, The Acolyte gave us reason to doubt if Qimir is one. Sith Lords always have “Darth” monikers and aren’t exactly shy about calling themselves Sith. Yet he did not actually call himself a Sith. Qimir also did not use the Sith term for a Padawan. He didn’t tell Sol he wants an apprentice. Qimir wants an “acolyte,” a word with clear religious connotations.

The Sith Rule of Two demands the Order always has a single Master with a single apprentice. The Acolyte‘s Qimir is searching for his own when he should already have one, if he is a Sith Lord. (Mae clearly was not truly Qimir’s Sith apprentice before she betrayed him.) And while the Sith are a religious order, there’s another group of dark side users in the galaxy far, far away who are more overtly religious in their beliefs.

That sect always wear masks, unlike the Sith. They also worship a red lightsaber and not a person or even the Force. This dangerous tribe is also known for its fearsome fighting abilities, especially in close combat. Its members even live in the shadows, enemy of both the Jedi and the Sith. (Two groups that have sought to control who had the “freedom” to use the Force.) That Star Wars group is known as the Knights of Ren, who will one day be led by the fanatical Kylo Ren, and it could just be The Acolyte‘s Qimir connects to them.

The Connections Between Qimir, Star Wars‘ Ren, and Kylo Ren

That might seem like a tenuous connection on the surface. (Even if Qimir dresses more like a Knight of Ren than a Sith.) For one, the evidence that Qimir is a Sith is compelling. The other is that the Knights of Ren won’t be founded for many more years after The Acolyte. They form only a few years after Luke Skywalker blows up the first Death Star. That’s more than a century after the era of the Disney+ series. But The Acolyte‘s fifth episode gave us plenty of reason to wonder if Qimir will ultimately be the person thought of as the first Knight of Ren.

Qimir Resembles Ren, the Leader of the Knights of Ren

For starters, Qimir wholly resembles the infamous Star Wars character known as Ren.

Star Wars comics introduced the leader of the Knights of Ren. He’s the one who lured Ben Solo to the group and, therefore, the dark side. Known simply as Ren, this gregarious, friendly, charismatic figure was unconcerned with concepts of good or evil. He simply embraced the dark side and did what he wanted. He lived without rules and answered to no one. As Qimir might say, Ren had freedom.

Ren didn’t even want others to follow him. He wanted them to follow the ideas he believed in. That made his Knights more akin to acolytes than apprentices. The skilled warrior who could kill Jedi also had great hair under his sinister mask. He also wore a cape and had muscular arms he was happy to display.

That all might as well be describing Qimir. If not for the huge gap in their stories, we might think that Qimir and Ren are the same person. (Which we can’t actually rule out, considering lifespans in the galaxy far, far away. But for now, that possibility seems doubtful.)

Qimir Played Kylo Ren’s Theme During The Acolyte Episode Five’s Final Moments

If Qimir’s resemblance to the Knights of Ren leader wasn’t enough, The Acolyte actually played Kylo Ren’s theme music during Qimir’s final scene in The Acolyte‘s fifth episode. If there was any doubt, The Acolyte wanted us to at least notice the possible connection between its dark Master Qimir and the Knights of Ren leader, it made sure we heard that connection. Viewers certainly did.

When Qimir healed Osha and spoke of triumph and despair at the end of the episode, The Acolyte played Kylo Ren’s theme. In the language of Star Wars, that musical is basically big flashing red lights.

Does any of this prove The Acolyte‘s Qimir will go on, even indirectly, to found the Knights of Ren? No, we don’t have enough evidence of confirmation yet. What we can’t do is dismiss the possibility.

Nor can we ignore the even more intriguing potential the show has raised.

The Story of the Sith, the Ren, the Jedi, and the Force May All Unite Through The Acolyte‘s Qimir

We’ve been waiting to meet the Sith who will bring the dark Order out of the shadows and onto a path of prominence. It’s the one that leads to the near-total destruction of the Jedi and Darth Sidious becoming Emperor. But what if Qimir is something more than even that? What if he is the dark side figure who will not only make the Jedi fall possible, but give birth to Kylo Ren?

Those two stories are one and the same already. The Knights of Ren’s own journey will lead them into the arms of the Sith they hated. Kylo Ren will lead them, but he’ll do so while unknowingly following Palpatine. It would be fitting if the story of the Sith, the Ren, the Jedi, and the Force was always connected as all things are.

The Sith will one day claim Anakin Skywalker as their own. It might also be the story of how Ben Solo will follow his grandfather to the dark side following a different way that leads to the same place.

The post Is THE ACOLYTE’s Dark ‘Sith’ Master Connected to Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren? appeared first on Nerdist.

From Mickey Mouse horror movies to streaming shenanigans to the Minecraft live-action movie casting news, here are some of our favorite odds and ends from pop-culture news that bubbled up in the last little while.

Odds & Ends in Entertainment News

Jump to:

• Jack Black Will Play Steve in Live-Action Minecraft Movie, Jennifer Coolidge and More Join Cast
• Adam Driver Is Done with Star Wars, His Kylo Ren Will Not Return
• Oppenheimer and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are Heading Back to IMAX Theaters
• What If…? Season 3 Is Coming Soon, Meanwhile Season 2 Almost Had a Truly Dark Spider-Man Story
• John Wick Director Would Make a Star Wars Movie “If Disney Could Survive Me,” Wants a Swing at the MCU’s Blade
• A Second Steamboat Willie Horror Movie Is on the Way
• The MCU’s Echo Series Will Be Dubbed in the Choctaw Language
• The First 10 Star Trek Movies Are Moving to Max

Jack Black Will Play Steve in a Live-Action Minecraft Movie, Jennifer Coolidge and More Join Cast

Who doesn’t love a good live-action adaptation of a beloved game? According to Deadline, Jack Black, who recently had a well-received turn in the animated adaptation of Super Mario Bros., will take on the character of Steve in a live-action Minecraft movie. Steve, of course, is one of Minecraft‘s original player characters. He is made of blocks and has no official backstory. Thus, we’ll be extra interested to see how he, and the game, get adapted. Jack Black also recently confirmed that he will be singing in the Minecraft movie and doing so alongside co-star Danielle Brooks. The actor additionally confirmed his role as Steve in the live-action Minecraft movie with an Instagram post.

Additionally, The White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge has also joined the cast of the Minecraft movie, according to Deadline. There is no word yet on the role she will play. Jason Momoa is currently set to star in the Warner Bros. movie.

Finally, it is reported that Kate McKinnon and Jemaine Clement have also come along the now star-studded movie.

Check out Jack Black performing the hit song “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Adam Driver Is Done with Star Wars, His Kylo Ren Will Not Return

Daisy Ridley’s Rey will soon be back in a new Star Wars movie. But those hoping to see Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren strike back may end up disappointed. In a recent interview with the SmartLess podcast, which we saw via GameSpot, Driver revealed that more Star Wars content may be happening “but not with me.” Driver also noted, “I’m not doing any more.” Alas, we would say, never say never… But Driver seems pretty set in his thoughts for now.

It also turns out that Kylo Ren’s redemption arc wasn’t planned.

Oppenheimer and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are Heading Back to IMAX Theaters

‘Tis the season for movies that are in contention for awards to head back to theaters. Two such movies, Oppenheimer and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be doing exactly this in a big way. Both of these incredible movies will return to IMAX for a limited run. Oppenheimer will be back on IMAX theater screens beginning on January 12.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will hit IMAX on January 19. Both these movies are well worth watching on a huge screen, so don’t delay in getting your tickets.

Here’s what we thought of Oppenheimer and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse:

What If…? Season 3 Is Coming Soon, Meanwhile Season 2 Almost Had a Truly Dark Spider-Man Story

What If…? season two only just released, but Marvel Studios has revealed that season three will be “streaming soon.” Although we don’t know exactly when soon is, we do already have a full clip from the next season of the animated show. In it, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, voiced by Sebastian Stan, teams up with Red Guardian, voiced by David Harbour, and the pair go on an odd-couple road trip. Per Empire, Bill Foster/Giant Man, voiced by Laurence Fishburne, and a character named Ranger Morales also feature. We’ll take it.

Meanwhile, when it comes to season two of the show, What If…?‘s writer A.C. Bradley revealed there was almost an incredibly dark episode revolving around Spider-Man. Bradley noted, “I did write an episode, which is forever going in a drawer, that was very, very dark. I was calling it ‘Children of Men with Spider-Man.’” We can only imagine what on earth that might have entailed.

If you haven’t seen What If…? season two yet, you can check out its trailer below.

John Wick Director Would Make a Star Wars Movie “If Disney Could Survive Me,” Wants a Swing at the MCU’s Blade

Chad Stahelski, director of the John Wick franchise, recently discussed whether he’d make a Star Wars or MCU movie. Speaking with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Stahelski had quite a few thoughts. When it comes to Star Wars, the director had mixed feelings. He noted, “I’m a Star Wars guy. The first Star Wars changed my life path. Maybe someday out there, Disney if you’re listening, hit me in a couple of years. I have a couple of takes for Star Wars. I’d take a swing at that, see if Disney could survive me.” Of course, he also discussed the difficulties of not having creative control in franchise situations, but ultimately, he’d want to take a swing.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the MCU, the John Wick director shared, “Of all the things out there, I would take a swing at Blade in a second. Like that’s one that gets under my skin, like ‘Ah! I’d take a swing at that one.'” And further offered, “We’ve talked about it, but look they’ve got a good formula… they have their thing going and I think they’ve got the right people involved in Blade now… I’m not in the Inner Circle but we’ve had talks… Just for whatever reason things come together, and there’s a good fit for everything out there. But for what they’re doing they’ve got a great thing going, but if that thing doesn’t work out, in five years from now… maybe on the fourth reboot of Blade or the fifth reboot of Blade… Maybe I can pull back Wesley and jump in.”

Hey, you never know.

For now, though, it seems like John Wick 5 is slowly becoming a reality.

A Second Steamboat Willie Horror Movie Is on the Way

To no one’s surprise, a second Steamboat Willie horror movie is on the way. This one doesn’t have a trailer yet, but it does have some creepy art. And bonus, it actually takes place on a boat. That feels right. According to Variety, this public domain Mickey Mouse movie comes from director Steven LaMorte, who also directed The Mean One, a horror take on the Grinch. This Mickey movie, meanwhile, is an “untitled horror-comedy based on Mickey’s cartoon debut. In it, a sadistic mouse will torment a group of unsuspecting ferry passengers. Production is set to begin in the spring.” We’re sure this will not be the last Steamboat Willie/Mickey Mouse movie we’ll see whistling to life in the coming months.

The first announced Steamboat Willie horror movie, Mickey Mouse’s Trap, already has a trailer.

The MCU’s Echo Series Will Be Dubbed in the Choctaw Language

The MCU’s upcoming Echo series features a main character who is Native American. Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) a.k.a. Echo is a member of the Choctaw Nation. And so we are incredibly happy to hear that Marvel Studios will honor this aspect of the show by dubbing it in the Choctaw language. Director and executive producer Sydney Freeland shared the following with Entertainment Weekly:

In the process of working and collaborating with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, in working with the Choctaw language experts and consultants, it became very apparent that we needed to do a dub in Choctaw as well. And we’re incredibly proud of it.

Placing the story of Echo in the actual Choctaw language helps make our character more authentic to her heritage, because we get to delve into the specifics of Choctaw culture and traditions. I’m indigenous, I’m American, but I’m Navajo. And the Choctaw language and the Navajo language are completely different from each other; they’re as different as Portuguese and Polish. And so one of the things that was important for us was making sure that we had people who were experts in Choctaw language. But a lot of really great things came out of that collaboration — specifically, in the second episode of our series, we actually get to see a portion of pre-European contact America that I can genuinely say has never been seen on film before. That came as a direct result of our collaboration with the Choctaw Nation in trying to tell a more authentic story.

We can’t wait to see and hear the results of this incredible collaboration in full.

Before Echo arrives, you can get to know Maya Lopez with our character explainer.

The First 10 Star Trek Movies Have Moved to Max

What is life in the streaming age except constantly working to keep track of where your favorite movies can be watched? For a little while, all of Star Trek‘s films were on Paramount+. But now, as we saw via Comicbook.com, the first 10 Star Trek movies have moved to Max. Only the three Chris Pine-era movies remain on Paramount+. All we can say to those just trying to keep up is: live long and prosper.

More streaming shenanigans happen every day. The latest includes ads coming to Prime Video this January.

The post Jack Black Confirms His Role in the Live-Action MINECRAFT Movie appeared first on Nerdist.

When audiences were first introduced to Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens back in 2015, the assumption was that this “Vader 2.0” would have the same “dark side to light side” redemption arc as his grandpa. And more or less, by The Rise of Skywalker, that’s ultimately how it played out. Hey, it’s Star Wars. As George Lucas famously said once about repeating themes in his saga, “It’s like poetry. It rhymes.” But while doing an interview on The Roku Channel’s The Rich Eisen Show, the man behind the mask, Adam Driver, said that wasn’t the original arc for his character. In fact, Kylo Ren wasn’t meant for redemption at all, but instead, meant to go the opposite way. Here’s what Adam Driver had to say about Kylo Ren’s arc and the original plan for it.

I had an overall arc in mind that he wanted to do, which then changed. His idea was almost the opposite journey of Vader, where Vader starts the most confident, the most committed to the Dark Side, and by the last movie he’s the most vulnerable, and weak, and he wanted to start at the opposite, where this character was the most confused and vulnerable, and by the end of the three movies would be most committed to the Dark Side.

While he doesn’t say whose idea it was, we’re guessing Driver meant J.J. Abrams, who directed The Force Awakens. While this last-minute Kylo Ren redemption reveal might annoy some folks, changing story beats mid-stream is a very Star Wars thing to do. In the original draft of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke’s long-lost twin sister was someone named Nellith Skywalker, who was off training to be a Jedi on the other side of the galaxy. The movies dropped any reference to her, except for Yoda mentioning “another” who was their last hope. Leia as Luke’s Force-using sibling also didn’t happen until the writing process for Return of the Jedi.

Both the prequels and the sequels would have been entirely different without the Luke/Leia reveal. And that story beat came very late in the game. Another thing one can’t predict until a film starts actually shooting is the actor’s chemistry with each other. And no one could have predicted that Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren and Daisy Ridley’s Rey would have had so much on-screen chemistry as they did. We’re sure that played a role in Kylo Ren’s Star Wars redemption. As Yoda once said, “Always in motion is the future,” and that applies to crafting ongoing stories of any kind. Especially Star Wars stories.

The post Adam Driver Reveals Kylo Ren’s Redemption Wasn’t Originally the Plan for the STAR WARS Character appeared first on Nerdist.

“The greatest teacher failure is.” —Yoda in The Last Jedi

Luke Skywalker’s final Padawan should keep those words of wisdom in mind. Daisy Ridley’s recently announced standalone film—set 15 years after the end of the Star Wars sequel trilogy—will see Rey trying to do what her Master could not. She’ll attempt to reestablish the Jedi Order. It won’t be easy, but there’s much Rey can learn from Luke’s own failed attempt.

The key to success, fittingly, will be finding balance. Not necessarily between the light and dark side of the Force, though. Rey will need to find balance between the past and the future. And the best way to do that will be by finding the kind of help Luke never sought.

How Did Luke Skywalker Try to Rebuild the Jedi Order?

We know a lot about Luke Skywalker’s life between Return of the Jedi and when Ben Solo burned down Luke’s academy on Ossus. The Jedi Master’s Disney-era story has been explored in depth away from the screen. For many years after the Empire’s collapse he travelled the galaxy trying to learn everything he could about the Jedi and even the Sith. He dedicated his time to discovering ancient temples, artifacts, Force trees, holocrons, old lightsabers, and, most famously, long-lost ancient Jedi books. He continued his hunt even after taking on students.

The “sacred texts” he was ready to burn on Ahch-To were the main reason why he opened his academy. They not only taught him the ancient ways of the Jedi, they gave him the confidence he needed to finally train a new generation as he had promised a dying Yoda he would. Luke believed a new Jedi Order could maintain peace and prosperity in the galaxy just as the old one had for thousands of years. He also thought his new Order could also keep the Sith at bay.

To make that dream a reality, Luke kept an eye out for Force-sensitive beings during his Jedi lore hunt. While Leia was the first Padawan he ever trained, and he spent a year teaching Grogu, his academy’s initial class had 12 students. Of course, Luke didn’t have to go far to find his most infamous Padawan, the one who destroyed everything Luke tried to build.

How Did Luke Skywalker Fail Ben Solo?

Luke did not initially want to train another student after Grogu. But he finally agreed to teach his nephew in the ways of the Force when it awoke in the young child. He did so in no small part to help fight the darkness in Ben Solo.

Luke took Ben on missions, providing Han and Leia’s son one-on-one attention and instruction in the process. However, when other students joined the fledgling academy, Luke was unable to give his powerful nephew the singular focus Ben so desperately needed. Their inherent familial connection didn’t help Ben, either. It was a bond Luke tried to downplay in line with traditional Jedi teachings. He stressed to Ben the importance of adhering to the old Order’s ideal of detachment from personal relationships. (Just as he had with Grogu.) And, like Obi-Wan had once done with Anakin, Luke also tried to impart the importance of restraint to his nephew. The youngster’s drift towards the dark side made Ben especially dangerous because of his immense powers. Luke knew that, but was confident he could keep Ben in check.

Luke might have been able to so had he not made another mistake that further fed Ben’s feelings of isolation. The Jedi Master hid the truth about their family’s history with the dark side. Had Ben known about Anakin’s fall and redemption he might not have been as susceptible to Snoke’s growing influence.

While Snoke was leading Ben to the dark side, though, in the end it was the Jedi himself who pushed Ben Solo away. Luke Skywalker created Kylo Ren because the Jedi Master forget what he himself had learned long ago. He gave in to fear.

What Lessons Can Rey Learn From Luke Skywalker’s Failed Attempt to Rebuild the Jedi Order?

In honor of the three lessons Luke Skywalker tried to teach Rey on Ahch-To, these are three things she should take from Luke’s efforts to revive the Jedi Order. (Unlike in The Last Jedi, we hope she sticks around to hear all of them.)

Lesson #1: Don’t kill the past, but don’t be entirely beholden to it either.

Luke Skywalker had once thought the future of the Jedi lay in the past. By the time he shut himself off from the Force in seclusion on Ahch-To he believed the opposite. He told Rey the Order’s legacy was one of failure, hypocrisy, and hubris, and that the time had come for “the Jedi to end.”

But the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The past, both good and bad, has much to teach us. And knowing the past can not only give us knowledge and wisdom, it can guide us. Literally carrying the past with her helped Rey defeat the Sith for good. She had thousands of generations of Jedi with her when she stopped Palpatine forever. So while those sacred Jedi texts might not be fun reads, there’s a reason Yoda didn’t actually destroy them. Like the Jedi who wrote them and the many who studied them, they have something to offer future generations.

That doesn’t mean what worked long ago always will. A Jedi must “look past a pile of old books.” Like how a strict adherence to cutting off family relationships helped lead Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, just as it did Ben Solo. Two of the most powerful Force users ever needed their loved ones to help guide them. And in a galaxy that has suffered under continuous civil strife, multiple regime changes, and war that all resulted from the Jedi Order’s failures, what people need now from the Jedi is not what they needed before. The galaxy doesn’t need space priests.

Besides, if a Jedi can have friends they can have family. The Jedi are larger-than-life legends viewed with awe, but they’re still beings with feelings. To pretend they are not is both hubris and foolishness. And to hide their failings, both as Jedi and people, is to set them up for more failure.

Luke bent heavily towards the old ways, forgetting the lessons his own family’s recent history should have taught him. Rey should not kill the past, but she must find a way to take the best of the Jedi and adapt it to the world she finds herself living in now.

But, ironically, there is one traditional concept Luke should have taken from the Old Jedi that he didn’t. It’s a mistake, likely born of the very same arrogance he says brought down the Jedi in the first place, that might be more responsible for his failure than anything else.

Lesson #2: No one Jedi can teach every Padawan.

Padawans did not learn from a single Jedi. All Jedi Knights were responsible for educating new generations. That was true both formally and informally. Younglings learned together in courses taught by teachers, and also gained insight from Knights and Masters they came across at the Jedi Temple. Then, when they outgrew those classes, they become an apprentice to a single Jedi. They would study, travel, and train with a single Jedi Knight or Master wholly responsible for teaching them out in the actual world.

That one-on-one Master/Padawan mentorship was the foundation of the old Jedi Order. It allowed young Force-users, still learning how to harness their powers and their emotions, to get the kind of direct tutorship they needed. That’s exactly what Ben Solo needed from Luke. Had Luke been able to provide Ben that, the galaxy might never have known Kylo Ren. Nor would some of Luke’s other students have joined Ben when they burned down the academy.

Luke should have been teaching one Padawan at a time. He had done exactly that with his sister who successfully completed her training. Instead, in an effort to rebuild the Order quickly, he disregarded the system that had worked so well for so many.

Rey shouldn’t be in a similar rush as Luke Skywalker to create an entire Order all at once, not without help. She’ll need to train a Force-sensitive being like Finn first. She can also reach out to other Jedi who might still be scattered in the galaxy. (An older Cal Kestis or Ezra Bridger perhaps?). Unless she finds other would-be Masters she should limit herself to the old apprentice model. Becoming a Jedi is too hard when you don’t have a teacher dedicated entirely to your education.

It’s not like you need decades to become a Jedi Knight, anyway. It took that long when the galaxy had hundreds of them and could afford to teach Padawans slowly. But both Luke Skywalker and Rey completed their training in a short time. Shortly after they began their studies Yoda said both of them already had everything they needed to be a Jedi.

That slower, methodical, safer approach won’t guarantee Rey finds the kind of success she seeks, but that’s no reason not to try. And that brings us to the final, most appropriate lesson she should learn from Luke’s own mistakes.

Lesson #3: Don’t fear failure.

Luke ultimately failed Ben Solo because he feared what Ben might become, even though no one knew better than Luke that the darkness does not have to win out. We make our own destinies in the Force. Luke had once told Obi-Wan there was still good inside Darth Vader. That belief not only saved Anakin Skywalker, it saved the galaxy from Palpatine. Despite that, though, Luke gave up on his own nephew. Giving in to his fear, even for just a brief moment, led to so much pain in the galaxy.

That failure also drove Luke away from the Force, the Jedi, and his responsibilities. He was afraid of what he had done, what he had created, and of ever failing another Padawan. But as Luke told Rey in The Rise of Skywalker, “Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi.” To be a Jedi Knight is to confront fear head on, not run from it or succumb to it. That’s the difference between the Jedi and the Sith. Not that one feels afraid and the other doesn’t. It’s how you respond to fear.

As Yoda once said, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Luke’s fears about what Ben Solo might became led Ben to the dark side and the galaxy to untold suffering. As Did Luke’s fear over himself and the Jedi itself. He was not there when the galaxy needed him to lead them against the First Order.

Rey can’t let fear guide her actions like Luke Skywalker did as she rebuilds the Jedi Order. She can’t let fear cause her to give up, either. Nor can she be afraid to share the past of the Jedi, all of it, with her students as Luke did with Ben. She also needs to know not everyone of her students will complete their training. Neither will she be able to keep all of her Padawans from falling to the dark side of the Force. To think she could would be the kind of hubris that helped destroy both the old Order and Luke’s efforts to build a new one.

Rey must also not fear the inevitable enemies she will have to face or might even create. Luke wanted to reestablish the Jedi in part to stop the Sith. But whether Sith, Ren, or another name, that was never going to happen. There can be no light without dark. The old Jedi Order got complacent in thinking they had vanquished the dark side of the Force. It left them blind and arrogant to the phantom menace growing. The forgot the Force will always find a balance.

As must Rey. Only she must find a balance between the past and the future, between her goals and what’s possible, and in understanding that success cannot exist without failure.

Luke Skywalker might be gone, but he still has much to teach his student Rey. If she takes her Master’s most hard-earned lessons to heart, she’ll do exactly what Yoda told Luke all good students will. “We are what they grow beyond,” he said. That might be “the true burden of all masters,” but it’s what every good teacher—and every good Jedi—wants.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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“Are you afraid of the Darth?” LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales is asking the galaxy this exact question. So gather the Force to the sticking place and get ready for this new original special.  LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales is coming to Disney+ on October 1… And it aims to scare, dark side style.

A trailer for the new special offers a first look into this creepy journey.

As we see in the trailer, LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales will function as a story within a story. The official description of the show shares,

After the events of “The Rise of Skywalker,” Poe and BB-8 must make an emergency landing on the volcanic planet Mustafar where they meet the greedy and conniving Graballa the Hutt who has purchased Darth Vader’s castle and is renovating it into the galaxy’s first all-inclusive Sith-inspired luxury hotel. While waiting for his X-wing to be repaired, Poe, BB-8, Graballa, and Dean (a plucky and courageous young boy who works as Graballa’s mechanic) venture deep into the mysterious castle with Vader’s loyal servant, Vaneé.

Along the way, Vaneé shares three creepy stories linked to ancient artifacts and iconic villains from across all eras of Star Wars. As Vaneé spins his tales and lures our heroes deeper into the shadowy underbelly of the castle, a sinister plan emerges. With the help of Dean, Poe and BB-8 will have to face their fears, stop an ancient evil from rising, and escape to make it back to their friends.

Viewers will follow along with fan-favorite Poe Dameron and his beloved droid BB-8 as they embark on another adventure. In true Star Wars style, it looks like there will be a healthy heaping of heart along with the scares. In the trailer, we see Poe tell his new friend Dean, “Without fear, you can’t have courage.” And courage sounds like it will be a must-have in this haunted hotel. We’re definitely curious to see what fears Poe and BB-8 will have to face themselves! And we hope that Finn and Poe can reunite in LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales.

Disney+

Fans can also rest assured they will enjoy the Halloween fun no matter which Star Wars era is their favorite. According to a release for the show, the three tales Graballa tells will be entitled ‘The Lost Boy,’ ‘The Dueling Monstrosities,’ and ‘The Wookiee’s Paw.’ The first offers insight into “how a young Ben Solo first meets Ren.” The second “imagines how Darth Maul and General Grievous were reborn.” And the last “gives a look at what might have happened if all of Luke Skywalker’s greatest wishes were immediately granted.”

As the trailer puts it, the three stories will revolve around “the thirst for power,” “the devotion of the undead,” and “desire.”All while cleverly taking fans through the different eras of Star Wars. Whether these tales have any truth is something fans will have to discover for themselves.

Disney+

LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales is brought to its full Sithyness through the work of many talents, including:

Jake Green as Poe Dameron; Raphael Alejandro as Dean; Dana Snyder as Graballa the Hutt; Tony Hale as Vaneé; Christian Slater as Ren; Trevor Devall as Emperor Palpatine; Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as NI-L8; and Matt Sloan as Darth Vader. David Shayne is the writer and an executive producer, and the director is Ken Cunningham.

The true Halloween Jedi Master should also keep an eye out for non-Star Wars easter eggs in LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales. “Heeeeeere’s B-14961138,” anyone?

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When it comes to deluxe Star Wars action figures, nobody beats Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys. The realistic likenesses of their face sculpts are incredibly spot-on. So much so that you see photos of some of them, you may think they are photographs of the actual actors. And this is true of their latest offerings as well, which highlight characters from across the Star Wars saga. They presented all of these figures as part of their currently running Sideshow Con.

Rey and Kylo Ren Premium Format Figures 

General Grievous Premium Format Figure

The Mandalorian Nite Owls Sixth Scale Figures 

The Mandalorian Boba Fett and Fennec Shand Sixth Scale Figures

The Mandalorian Cobb Vanth Sixth Scale Figure

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Upon release in December 2019, The Rise of Skywalker wound up being pretty divisive among Star Wars fans. Although these days, what isn’t? But before J.J. Abrams returned to direct the final installment, Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow was helming the final Skywalker film. He departed the project, but not before he and writer Derek Connolly completed a script, titled Duel of the Fates. That script leaked online last year, giving fans an idea of what might have been.

Now, thanks to Boing Boing, we’ve learned that a fan has now spent a year taking that script and bringing it to life in comic book form. Star Wars devotee Andrew Winegarner has adapted the screenplay into the first six issues of what will be a 7-issue adaptation of Duel of the Fates, and posted it online. All free of charge, of course. Winegarner hopes that eventually, Marvel Comics will publish it as an alternate universe tale. Similar to what Dark Horse Comics did in their Star Wars: Infinities and Star Wars: Visionaries series years ago.

Lucasfilm

On his website, Winegarner wrote, “Like many fans, I was disappointed with The Rise of Skywalker, a retread of Return of the Jedi that didn’t seem to follow the trajectory of the story set up in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. I was thrilled that Colin Trevorrow & Derek Connolly’s Duel of the Fates leaked, both the script and amazing pre-production artwork which I incorporate into my adaptation. Having read [Duel of the Fates], I can state that I enjoy it much more than [The Rise of Skywalker].”

This is a fascinating “What If?”-style look into what could have been. And certainly the closest fans will ever likely see that version of Episode IX in any kind of visual storytelling. This is a truly unique treat for Star Wars fans by a Star Wars fan.

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It seems in the past few years we’ve reignited our love for all things Pee-wee Herman. Which of course we should, as he is a cultural icon worthy of all our love and praise. We’ve seen young kids do meticulous tributes to Pee-wee’s Playhouse. And most recently, we saw a version of Jurassic Park that replaced all the dinosaurs with Pee-wee. Now, someone has finally brought Pee-wee Herman to the galaxy far, far away in a hilarious new video, which you can watch in its entirety down below:

The official Pee-wee Herman Twitter account recently shared the fan-made video, which was created by YouTuber Kaptin Fathead. (That’s a username that sure sounds like an insult Pee-wee himself would use, doesn’t it?) Called “The Herman Awakens,” this video simply takes all of Kylo Ren’s dialogue from The Force Awakens and replaces it with Pee-wee’s own voice. The final result is perfection.

Hardcore Pee-wee’s Big Adventure fans of course know that Pee-wee can get mighty petulant when you take away his precious bike. And Kylo Ren is the cinematic king of petulant tantrums. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. Paul Reubens of course has another famous Star Wars connection. The man behind Pee-wee also voiced robot pilot Captain Rex on Star Tours for decades. And he can now be heard as the DJ at Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge at the Disney parks.

Lucasfilm/Warner Bros.

Reports have been circulating for awhile now that Paul Reubens is actually working on a “dark Pee-wee movie” of some kind. Maybe having Pee-wee as a Sith Lord isn’t that bad of a notion? This fan made video sure has us rooting for the idea. At the very least, we hope this video inspires someone to make a custom action figure of Darth Herman. Now that’s a toy we want on our shelves for sure.

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Written by author Kristin Baver, the book will “examine the events that unfolded in the Skywalker Saga on screen as well as through books, comics, and other canonical storytelling. It gives a detailed account of the lives of key members of the family amid their travails and triumphs.” This will be the first time that the entire saga will be told this way. In a statement, Baver said “I’m so thrilled to be able to tell the story of the Skywalkers through the lens of a biographer.”

Lucasfilm/DK Publishing 

The book will be released on May 4, 2021, better known to fans as Star Wars Day. The book’s cover art by artist Matthew Ferguson pays tribute to the iconic original posters for A New Hope. It also pays homage to concept art that become the cover of the original film’s novelization. All of those early promotional materials always put Luke and Leia front and center. Daddy Vader always looked behind them of as well.

This new book tackles the Skywalker Saga as if it were a historical biography. It will trace the family from Shmi Skywalker all the way to Leia’s son Ben Solo. Rey Skywalker, who carries on the legacy and surname, is also a key part of the family history. It will be fascinating to see what canonical details Baver adds to the family story. Especially in regards to Anakin’s mother Shmi, who we know so little about.

Skywalker: A Family at War is available now for pre-order, and hits shelves on May 4.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm/DK Publishing 

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Disney and Lucasfilm shocked fans with a surprise announcement today, with news that a new Clone Wars spin-off series featuring the clone troopers known as “the Bad Batch”  was on the way to the Disney+ service. This show will be supervised by the one and only Dave Filoni, and is set to hit sometime in 2021. And there have been rampant rumors of a Rebels sequel series as well, focusing on Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren’s search for the missing Ezra Bridger.

Clearly, Lucasfilm Animation has a bright future. And it wouldn’t be shocking if these shows were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to Star Wars animation coming to the service. So what else would make for cool Disney+ Star Wars series (or mini-series)? We have a few ideas. Here are five different animated shows set in the galaxy far, far away that we’d love to see become a reality one day.

Darth Maul

Lucasfilm

It was the animated series Clone Wars and Rebels which turned Darth Maul into more than just a cool fight scene in one movie, and into one of Star Wars’ truly great villains. But there is still much to explore with the former Sith Lord. For example, an adaptation of the comic book Son of Dathomir would be a good place to start, as it explains missing information about him which bridged his last appearance in season five, to where we find him in the final season. Not to mention, how did he go from intergalactic crime lord (as seen in Solo) to crazy old hermit in Rebels? This might be too much for an ongoing series, but it would be a perfect limited event series. And we’d bet Republic Credits that Sam Witwer would be very down for this.

Original Trilogy Heroes

Lucasfilm

While Clone Wars gave fans 7 season of stories filling in the time between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith,we think that Original Trilogy fans deserve something similar. Over the years, there have been a metric ton of comics and novels detailing the adventures of young Luke, Han and Leia during the three years between A New Hope and Empire. A lot of those stories would make for a perfect animated series, one that could span several seasons. We never really got to see the trio reunited on the big screen for the sequels, but this would make a perfect consolation prize.

The Rise of Kylo Ren

Lucasfilm / Marvel Comics

So just how did Ben Solo go from young Jedi apprentice to despotic Dark Side warrior? We see hints of that backstory in the films obviously, mostly in The Last Jedi. But as the recent The Rise of Kylo Ren comic mini-series from Marvel showed us, there was a lot more to that story. It also explained the Knights of Ren more fully, and gave Kylo new levels of complexity. This comic mini-series would make for  a great animated mini-series adaptation, and a show could give us even more details that the comics did not. And if Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, and Andy Serkis could be lured back to do voice work? Even better.

Jedi Academy 

Lucasfilm

If The Rise of Kylo Ren is a prequel to the sequels, then this would be the prequel to that. I imagine a series exploring the lost years of Luke’s Jedi training temple, when he was still idealistic and looking to create the new generation of Jedi Knights. It could be similar to the Younglings episodes of Clone Wars, only with Luke showing his promising new students the ways of the Force instead of Yoda or Ahsoka. It would be a great way to see Luke Skywalker is full teacher mode, before he took on his nephew’s training. Also, it would be a fantastic opportunity to see Ahsoka finally meet her spiritual nephew and niece, Luke and Leia. Who doesn’t want to see that play out??

The Adventures of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi 

Lucasfilm

We first encounter Obi-Wan Kenobi, chronologically speaking, in The Phantom Menace. But he’s already a young man in his twenties at this point. It would make for a fun series to see a much younger Padawan Kenobi, learning the ways of the Force from his maverick master, Qui-Gon. There was already a comic book series based on this idea, which could serve as story material for the show. It would also be a cool way to explore the Republic era of Star Wars, before the hints of the intergalactic strife that was soon to come.

And there are tons of other no-brainer ideas for potential Star Wars animated shows. X-Wing Rogue Squadron? The adventures of Yoda and young Dooku? An anthology about Maz Kanata’s castle, and all the crazy stuff we know went on there? The possibilities are endless. Because of Disney+ and Lucasfilm Animation, there has never been a better time to be a Star Wars fan.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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Adam Driver isn’t the type of actor to play anything surface level. Even though he’s worked with prestige filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and Jim Jarmusch, the Juilliard-trained performer brings as much nuance to a character like Kylo Ren in Star Wars as he might Shakespeare.

That’s why we’re always interested in hearing about his interpretation of the Star Wars sequel trilogy’s villain-turned-sacrificial lamb. The character’s life was a tragic one: born the son of war heroes Han Solo and Leia Organa, he was lured to the dark side in his adolescence for reasons depicted in canon, like Charles Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren comics.

Lucasfilm

But Driver had an even deeper reflection on his character’s past, according to writer Lev Grossman. The author of The Magicians penned an exclusive preview of The Rise of Skywalker for Vanity Fair last year and got to talk to Driver about his character’s backstory, including his relationship with his parents.

“He said that both Han Solo and Leia were way too self-absorbed and into this idea of themselves as heroes to really be attentive parents in the way a young and tender Kylo Ren really needed,” Grossman explained in a new interview with Inverse. “There wasn’t really that much of it in the movie so I just think we have to assume his childhood sucked.”

Lucasfilm

Now, that’s a statement that’s bound to be controversial in the fandom, but if we’re being honest, it kind of tracks. We know not only from supplemental canon but from the films itself that Han and Leia’s inattentiveness played a role in Ben Solo’s transformation into Kylo Ren. Things get even murkier in The Rise of Skywalker, when we learn that Leia had a premonition before Ben’s birth that her son would turn to the Dark Side.

Was it Han and Leia’s negligence that accidentally fulfilled that prophecy? Star Wars writing can be hard to pin down, especially when you have so many creators weighing in on the “truth,” but it’s nice to know that Adam Driver brought his own perspective and depth to the role. We’d expect nothing less.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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The galaxy far, far away is a universe of limitless possibilities, a place that transcends the laws of physics and traditional science in fantastical, beautiful ways. It’s also a mysterious place, with a complicated afterlife we can’t quite quantify and Force-fueled realms that exist out of time. In the Star Wars universe, “no one is ever really gone,” because they will always exist in some way: ephemerally or physically, alive or in the unknowable space of whatever comes next.

These are all things to ponder when it comes to Ben Solo. The man formerly known as Kylo Ren—who shed his layers of pain in the final moments of The Rise of Skywalker and helped Rey save the galaxy—got an odd final note for a Skywalker. While we see the Force ghosts of his mother, Leia Organa, and uncle, Luke Skywalker, we never see what becomes of Ben after he gives his life to Rey. Is he a Force ghost now? Or did his Dark Side tendencies prevent that?

One thing we know with certainty: Star Wars characters always come back, in one way or another. Be that a prequel series, an animated show, a video, or some other canonical iteration, it’s highly unlikely we’ve seen the last of Ben Solo. But how could he appear in the future? Here are some of our best guesses, based on what we know for the Star Wars universe and the character.

Lucasfilm 

The Force Dyad

This is less of a way Ben Solo could return, and more of a reason for it. We learn in The Rise of Skywalker that Ben is one-half of a “Force dyad,” the other half being Rey. In lore, we know that this relates to the Sith “Rule of Two,” and that through a mysterious Force bond, the two became a singular powerful entity; the most powerful entity. Emperor Palpatine drained their bond from them near the film’s end, before Rey channeled the Jedi of yore and defeated him once and for all. But symbolically, it would seem Rey’s fate and Ben’s will forever intertwine, especially since he gave his life to save hers.

There are a few implications that come from that. We know that to heal something with the Force, you insert a bit of yourself into the body you’re healing. That means Ben is likely still a part of Rey in some way, cementing their bond forever. Perhaps this mean that going forward, Rey may carry elements of Ben’s character with her: his intuition, his charm, his knowledge, what have you. But does that mean Ben’s essence is literally trapped in her? Probably not.

Lucasfilm

The World Between Worlds

This is a popular fan theory, and for good reason. The World Between Worlds was introduced in Star Wars Rebels and is the ultimate “here’s how we can see dead characters again” get-around. It’s responsible for bringing Ahsoka back from the brink of death during her confrontation with Darth Vader. It also showed us Palpatine trapped in time, looking for ways to manipulate the Force so that he might never be destroyed. It’s a plane where time exists all at once, but we don’t know exactly what that means as our time there has, to date, been rather brief.

It’s very possible that in some future animated series or film, we’ll visit Ben Solo in this place. Perhaps when he existed as Kylo Ren, or perhaps as some other manifestation. This would be an interesting way to remind us of the character without necessarily shoving him into the main plot of another series. (Not that we’re opposed to that, of course.) We already know he exists in this place in some way as it is, since Ezra hears his voice in the Rebels episode set in the World Between Worlds. We also know that Rey was studying the World Between Worlds in the Jedi books she took from the tree on Ahch-To. Might she go there to retrieve or interact with Ben?

Lucasfilm

The Afterlife

Kylo Ren was a member of the Dark Side, but the Ben Solo in him snuck light through the cracks. When he fully transformed back to Ben, and wielded his grandfather’s blue lightsaber, we got to see the man he could have been without that dark temptation: brave, skilled, spunky, romantic. It’s one of the great tragedies of Star Wars; that good men like Anakin and Ben, both manipulated and brainwashed by Palpatine, never got to live out the lives they deserved.

However, Star Wars is also about the choices we make and how that determines our fate. And Ben Solo as Kylo Ren, even under manipulation, made choices. But that doesn’t mean they needed to be punishable by death; it’s frustrating that Star Wars seems disinterested in redemption through life, and what atonement looks like. And yet, they made their choice, so the most likely way we’ll see a future Ben Solo is as a Force ghost.

Remember that Vader was redeemed back to Anakin in the afterlife even after a lifetime of evil choices. In lore, we know that Light Side users taught him shortly after death. They intervened to help him become a Force ghost. Given that Ben crossed over at the same time as Leia, it’s likely she and Luke did the same for him. This could play into Luke’s line in The Last Jedi: “See you around, kid.” He was quoting Han, but it could also be a literal nod to being with him again one day, depending on who takes on the story next and what weight they apply to which lines.

What’s Next?

We’d love to see Ben Solo’s Force ghost aiding the next generation of Force users. Or Rey. Or both. His story should be a lesson to whatever comes next. A way to keep the Skywalker legacy alive, as both a lesson and a warning.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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Attention Star Wars gamers: we’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that April 29 will be the last regular content update for the game Star Wars: Battlefront II. The good news is that the Battle on Scarif update will be the final one, adding in the tropical world and Imperial stronghold where the final conflict took place in Rogue One. EA Star Wars made the announcement via their Twitter account.

There is one other cool bit of news coming with this final update. DICE has confirmed that Battlefront II will add new hero and villain skins, which will be based on character looks from The Rise of Skywalker. We’ll get Rey Skywalker with her newly minted yellow lightsaber, Kylo Ren with his reforged mask and all its cool red cracks, and the newly energized and reborn form of Emperor Palpatine.

Electronic Arts 

In addition, if you reach 5,000 kills with Darth Maul, the former Sith Lord’s “Old Master” appearance from Star Wars: Rebels will appear—including his mechanical legs. Finally, if players uncover the mystery of Maz Kanata’s planet Takodana, this will earn them Rey’s hooded outfit from The Rise of Skywalker.

Originally released in November of 2017, right before the release of The Last Jedi, Battlefront II’s updates have reflected the original trilogy, the prequels, the sequels, Solo, and even the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series.  Rogue One was pretty much the last major Star Wars installment to not get reflected in the game, until now. While we are sure there are many fans lamenting the end of updates, they shouldn’t be too sad about this news: EA has confirmed that a new Star Wars battlefield game will be on its way sometime in 2021.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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One of our favorite things in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was the concept of Dark Rey. The character is, for the most part, a virtuous and pure Force user, though the Dark Side occasionally tempts her. We see it in The Last Jedi, when she’s drawn to the blackened cave on Ahch-To. And we see it again in Skywalker when visions of herself with whitened eyes and a black hood, sitting on a throne, haunt her.

Lucasfilm

We also see it when she is very literally confronted with her Dark Side self in the Death Star ruins. It’s a fun sequence where The Rise of Skywalker momentarily turns into a haunted house movie. As we learn, this vision is a manifestation of Rey’s anxiety about her bloodline; she’s a Palpatine, and therefore a relative of Space Hitler. That would mess with anyone’s head, especially someone strong in the Force and therefore prone to visions and feelings. Even before she knows she’s a Palpatine, Rey’s psyche is leading her down that dark path.

Now, a new piece of concept art from The Rise of Skywalker shows another way Dark Rey might have manifested: as the successor to Kylo Ren.

This freaky image was shared by Adam Brockbank, a concept artist who worked on The Rise of Skywalker, and also on The Last Jedi and Rogue One. Concept art doesn’t necessarily mean this was ever actually going to appear in the film; it does mean Brockbank had sort of intel that inspired the idea of “Rey Ren”. He specifically refers to this image as “Dark Rey,” meaning it would likely have appeared in her flash visions or in the Death Star.

It’s an interesting concept, because it relates Rey’s darkness specifically through the prism of Kylo Ren. That’s not a totally bonkers idea; as we learn in the film, Rey and Ren are “Force dyads,” an ancient bit of Force magic that unites a Dark and Light Side user in a sort of ying-yang partnership. This makes them quite literally soulmates of a sort (be that romantic or otherwise), so it’s natural that Rey might look inwards and see herself as a female version of Ren.

Rey as Ren is also evident in another bit of concept art Brockbank shared. In this image, we see Dark Rey in an outfit that’s nearly identical to the one Kylo Ren wears throughout all three sequel trilogy films. It’s got some flourishes that make it distinctly “Rey” (i.e. the belt that crosses similarly to Rey’s regular outfits) but the style and material is very Ren.

Not gonna lie… it would have been great to see this distinct parallel between Rey and Ren in the final version of The Rise of Skywalker. Mostly because Rey in Kylo’s helmet is just super badass. But we’re happy we got to see this concept art at all.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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For some, this was a fitting end. For others, there simply wasn’t enough time with Ben Solo, and his redemption felt weak if he was only meant to die moments later. Because of this dissatisfaction, Ben Solo fans have spent the time after the film’s release speculating how the character might return. This is Star Wars, after all; “no one’s ever really gone.”

Oddly enough, one of the things fueling most of the Ben Solo appreciation and speculation fodder right now is a couple of two-minute episodes of Star Wars Roll Out. The show, which airs on the official Star Wars Kids’ YouTube channel, features Star Wars characters as rolling bouncy balls and is geared at kids. If this sounds like a random place to derive speculation from—well, welcome to the Star Wars fandom. It’s one of the joys, finding meaning in every crumb they feed us.

Here’s the description for this first video:

Sweet but chaotic Ben Solo keeps bungling the plans of his dad Han and his Uncle Chewbacca. When he secretly tags along on their mission to capture some crystal butterflies, a gang of rival Bug Hunters make Ben look like the least of their problems!

And here’s the description for this one:

Han Solo and Chewbacca have been captured by the Bug Hunters, but Ben Solo just might be able to set them free–while wrecking the evil gang’s plans!

As you can see, little Ben Solo develops an affection for these critters, who seem to appreciate his service. So where do the theories come in? Well, for starters, butterflies are extremely symbolic in terms of storytelling. Throughout mythology, you’ll see the butterfly as a symbol of resurrection, rebirth, and renewal, as well as long life and love. Blue butterflies are used most often in television, art, and film—mostly because they’re so beautiful, but also because they’re so rare.

For a character like Ben Solo, who goes through a transformation not unlike a butterfly transitioning from its caterpillar stage, this is a really potent symbolic use. If could merely be a representation of what we see onscreen in The Rise of Skywalker, but it could also hint at what’s to come in future Star Wars stories. Could these butterflies hint at the potential resurrection of Ben Solo in some way? His death was ambiguous, and we never saw him as a Force ghost in the end, which leaves the door open for future tales.

If all of that sounds like a lot to exposit from a children’s TV YouTube video… well, you’re not wrong. But Star Wars is anchored by the Lucasfilm Story Group, a team of creatives whose job it is to keep the canon linked and fill in the gaps of the movies. If they know about a future for Ben Solo, it’s possible they might pepper in some clues along the way.

Lucasfilm

It’s also in theme with Star Wars animation, which uses mystical animals to represent Force-users. Ahsoka Tano is often represented by a convor named Morai, and Kanan Jarrus by a loth-wolf named Dume. In fact, Morai appeared when Ezra Bridger saved Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds. Could Rey follow the butterflies into the same mystical plane and retrieve Ben?

Even if this is all a huge reach and merely wild speculation, the blue butterflies are still worth acknowledging, as they’ve come to mean a great deal to Ben Solo fans. The blue butterfly emoji is popping up in usernames and in social posts, and many have taken to fanart to link their favorite character and his favorite insects.

Some have even worked the blue butterflies into the text of the film.

And don’t worry, Ben Solo and his butterflies are also hanging out in Animal Crossing.

We have no idea what the future holds for Ben Solo and these little critters, but we’re grateful for the thoughtfulness they’ve provoked and all of the amazing art they’ve inspired.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm/Younglings Podcast

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…  Is there anything in the world so hotly contested as the Star Wars sequel trilogy? Neither politics nor religion seems to bring out the same level of passion and debate as the galaxy far, far away’s most recent entries do. It’s a deeply imperfect saga, but its biggest problem is that it can’t keep its mouth shut.

This inability to stop offering immediate, unnecessary answers to questions that will be answered in due time is perhaps the biggest problem in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and more specifically within The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker.

Now I know this is likely opening a can of brain worms, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about since 2015, so now that some of the dust has settled, The Rise of Skywalker is finally available on digital platforms, and we’re all trapped indoors, it’s the perfect time to get into it. That said, let’s keep it civil in the comments. You’re welcome to disagree, just don’t be a total wiener about it.

Much like the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy is a concept that sounds great on paper. It’s flawed in its execution though. There is plenty to like in both trilogies and plenty to make you raise a questioning eyebrow too. But there’s one important difference: mystery.

With the prequel trilogy, we know what comes afterward. We know what it is building up to and where it is ultimately going. With the Star Wars sequel trilogy, we had no earthly idea what The Force Awakens held in store and how it would continue to evolve in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. This is fitting considering that The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams is famously associated with a storytelling concept known as “the mystery box.”

First coined in Abrams’ 2007 TED Talk, the “mystery box” is basically the Schrödinger’s cat of storytelling. When the proverbial box is unopened, according to Abrams, “it represents infinite possibility. It represents hope. It represents potential.” And Abrams uses that mystery as “the catalyst for imagination.”

“Now it’s not the most ground-breaking idea,” Abrams continued. “But when I started to think that maybe there are times when mystery is more important than knowledge, I started getting interested in this.”

Look, it’s easy to crack jokes about shows like Lost, which was basically a Matryoshka doll of mystery boxes with fewer answers than some viewers may have wanted. However, the mystery box itself can be a compelling way to bring audiences further into your story.

Lucasfilm

Abrams even references the original 1977 Star Wars as an example. He refers to R2-D2 and C-3PO meeting this “mysterious woman,” who we now know is Princess Leia, as a mystery box. He goes on to mention Luke’s discovery of Leia’s holographic message and the enigmatic name “Obi-Wan Kenobi” as another example of the mystery box in action. Abrams’ most visible instance of the mystery box in The Force Awakens is Supreme Leader Snoke, the shadowy, craggy-faced puppet master behind the scenes. There are multiple instances in his Star Wars films of blowing the mystery box wide open to reveal a major piece of information.

However, the way in which the movie reveals these key pieces of information undercuts the revelations themselves. If they had not spilled these particular beans, the films would be much stronger for it. The first instance is perhaps the most grievous example:

No, not that Grievous. He’s perfect. I’m talking about the revelation that Kylo Ren is actually…dun dun dun…Ben Solo.

We discover that Kylo Ren, our most visible villain and our new Darth Vader proxy, is actually the son of Han and Leia about halfway through the movie. Han and Leia have two conversations about their boy who was tempted over to the dark side followed immediately by ham-fisted cuts to Kylo Ren, thereby eliminating any shadow of a doubt he is the wayward son to which they were alluding.

When Kylo Ren and Han Solo meet face-to-face for the first time in years on the catwalks of Starkiller Base, they share an emotionally charged moment. Kylo’s rejection of his past identity followed by the cold-blooded murder of his father is absolutely brutal. But it could be so much better.

Lucasfilm

In his TED Talk, Abrams said, “When people do sequels or rip off movies… they’re ripping off the wrong thing. You’re not supposed to rip off the shark or the monster. You know, if you rip something off — rip off the character. Rip off the stuff that matters.”

Despite its brand new diverse cast of characters and sleek new designs, The Force Awakens is, for better or for worse, a remake of A New Hope. A lonely hero from a desert planet yearns for adventure before embarking on The Hero’s Journey, Han Solo nearly dies because he owes gangsters money, a giant murder-orb superweapon—the list of similarities continues.

But imagine if they’d left this particular Star Wars mystery box closed until Kylo Ren and Han Solo have their fateful family reunion on Starkiller Base. Imagine if the first time you find out that Kylo Ren is actually Ben Solo is in this exchange:

“Take off this mask. You don’t need it.”

“What do you think you’ll see if I do?”

“The face of my son.”

Instantly, you have a revelation that feels shocking and satisfying instead of the knowledge that we’ve been sitting with for at least 30 minutes. It raises the emotional stakes of the moment. Plus it pays homage to one of the greatest reveals in cinema history—Darth Vader revealing that he is Luke’s father in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back-–while inverting the scene in a savvy way.

Instead, the fact that we’ve been thinking about the implications of the encounter for too long undercuts the potential pathos of the scene. It becomes blindingly clear that Han Solo is about to die the moment he steps onto that platform above yet another bottomless pit. Seriously, the First Order has an upsetting amount of OSHA violations.

Lucasfilm

Now you might be saying, “Sure, Dan, but anyone can play armchair quarterback after the fact.” And you’re right. I am nitpicking here, but the exact same thing happens with two more pivotal moments in The Rise of Skywalker so I’m not going to apologize. The first of these–and spoiler alert if you haven’t seen Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker yet–is Chewbacca’s apparent death at Rey’s hands after she shoots out Force lightning and obliterates the transport ship on which Chewie was presumably held captive.

Before we have any additional context, this moment is honestly incredible. It shows Rey, giving in to her anger, out of control and tapping into the dark side of the Force. It also is our first major tease of the film’s other big reveal, which I’ll get to in a minute.

The problem with the Chewie reveal isn’t that he miraculously survived; it’s that we find out he survived almost immediately afterwards. Neither Rey nor the audience gets to sit with these emotions and consider the consequences of her actions. The mystery box is torn open far too early, which hamstrings its effectiveness.

Lucasfilm

If you delay the revelation that Chewbacca is alive and well, albeit in captivity, until they infiltrate Kylo’s ship above Kijimi, then Chewie’s rescue isn’t so obviously telegraphed. The audience gets a much needed sigh of relief and it feels like an unexpected victory in the face of insurmountable odds.

And look—I’m not an idiot; I understand they can’t kill Chewbacca because that would make it super weird to see him walking around Galaxy’s Edge in Disney theme parks like a big, furry revenant. Still, you don’t have to immediately let us—and your heroes—off of the emotional hook. Keep us waiting longer before you open the mystery box like a greedy child on Christmas morning.

Last but not least is the most controversial mystery box of all: Rey’s origins. Since The Force Awakens, we have been wondering if Rey was actually the scion of one of the galaxy far far away’s most powerful families. Because legally, it seems like you have to be in order to matter in this story.

Lucasfilm

Rian Johnson tried to put his own twist on this mystery box in The Last Jedi. He had Kylo reveal that Rey was a “nobody.” This twist that effectively obliterated the idea that heroes in this world can only come from those Important Families™ we’ve met before.

Not everyone was on board with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but Rian Johnson made a bold choice to pay off the mystery box that had been gifted to him by J.J. Abrams and The Force Awakens. When The Rise of Skywalker rolled around, the filmmakers effectively took that box back, shook it up until its contents broke apart, then dumped it out on the floor to reshape it in a much different image.

While I wasn’t a fan of the big reveal that Rey is actually a Palpatine, I made my peace with it. What rankled me more is the fact that once again, they dropped this truly massive identificatory bombshell midway through the film. Once again, they should have saved this until Rey confronts Palpatine in his H.R. Giger-worthy final form on Exegol.

Lucasfilm

Kylo Ren can tell her, Palpatine can tell her, or even better, Rey can piece it together herself. She can acknowledge the strange kinship between herself and ol’ Sheev while still rejecting his legacy. There are so many more effective ways to do this without sacrificing mystery as a storytelling tool. Instead, we see the video game tooltip version of this revelation. It’s like Clippy, the Microsoft Word paperclip popped up to say, “You look like you’re trying to find your real parents. Would you like some help learning you’re a Palpatine?”

It strips the narrative of its power and makes the whole thing feel like an on-rails theme park ride. It should be a journey you’re taking along with the characters. If you really love the mystery box as much as you claim to, then for the love of god, let us sit with it unopened just a little bit longer.

If this sounds like I’m saltier than Crait over minute details, then you’re correct. But that’s because I genuinely love Star Wars and the galaxy far, far away. I want it to live up to those expectations. Your mileage may vary and you may not share any of these complaints. But what’s the point of fandom if not to get lost in the sauce of fictional worlds and get into it with your friends?

So tell me—do you agree with my assessment of Star Wars’ mystery box problem? Which Star Wars sequel trilogy movie is your favorite? What would you change about the sequels? Let me know in the comments below and give me a thumbs up while you’re there.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

Dan Casey is the creative director of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).

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We at Nerdist are planning to bunker down for the foreseeable future thanks to the coronavirus–a precaution that will prevent the spread of disease and keep us all safe. But what sounds alarmist is actually a great opportunity to spend time with the people we love and catch up on home media. There are plenty of things for adults to binge on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. But if you’ve got small kids, it may be overwhelming to know how to keep your little ones occupied at home.

Thankfully, Disney has your back. For kids who dig Star Wars–or parents that want to get their kids into the franchise–there’s a brand new season of Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures to enjoy. Lucasfilm dropped the first three episodes today on their Star Wars Kids YouTube channel and on StarWarsKids.com, and–as expected–they’re delightful little morsels of the galaxy far, far away perfect for inducting kids into the fandom. Here’s the trailer for the second season.

The idea behind Galaxy of Adventures is to reimagine key scenes from Star Wars in a new, animated context for younger viewers. Episodes are, on average, only about a minute long, and spend time with our favorite characters. The second season takes us into the world of the sequel trilogy. In the first episode, “Force Calls to Rey,” we meet the scavenger Rey on the planet of Jakku and witness the moment when she first finds Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber–the beginning of her adventure.

The second episode, “Kylo Ren and Darth Vader – A Legacy of Power,” we are introduced to the villainous Kylo Ren and learn of his connection to his grandfather Darth Vader and the temptation of the Dark Side.

The third episode, “Rey and Friends vs. The First Order,” is unique in the Galaxy of Adventures. While all previous episodes focus on moments that take place in the three main film trilogies, this one tells an original story. Though brief, it’s a glimpse at what Rey and her Resistance friends–Finn, Poe, and BB-8–get up to in-between the major events of the films. Here, we see them retrieve information from the First Order and flee from Stormtroopers.

According to StarWars.com, the second season of Galaxy of Adventures will contain more original content, showing us what happens between the events of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, as well as incorporating tales set in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Disneyland and Disney World theme park.

We love these little shorts, and we love the idea of introducing kids to the world of Star Wars via animation. With the future of–well, everything–feeling uncertain, there’s no better time to spend time with your family in the galaxy far, far away. It’s a portal to imagination, to possibility, and to dreams of tomorrow. Team up with Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, and the Resistance, and start fighting for a better world–it’s an important way to stay positive right now.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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The epic conclusion to the Skywalker Saga left many fans with mixed feelings to say the least, as well as a number of unanswered questions. Thankfully, The Rise of Skywalker’s official novelization is here to provide closure for atleast some of these mysteries. Dan rises to the occasion to bring you the answers to 10 of our most burning questions on today’s Nerdist News!

Are your satisfied with these answers? Are there any other questions you still have? Let us know in the comments!

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Regardless of which side of the fence you find yourself on in regards to The Rise of Skywalker, one thing is known – it had a very interesting production and post production. The final film we saw in theaters was significantly different than what was originally conceived of by J.J. Abrams and crew. They deleted many scenes and concepts. However, we know about them thanks to production art from various sources. But if you’re wondering what a “J.J. cut” of Episode IX might have looked like, then Marvel Comics will have you covered very soon.

Marvel Comics

According to an interview with the comic’s writer Jody Houser for StarWars.com (via SlashFilm),  Marvel Comics’ forthcoming adaptation of the film will include several new scenes and longer versions of existing ones from the film. Houser said “I think one of the great things about adaptations in other mediums is you do get the chance to build out elements of the story there may not have been time or a place for on the screen. Giving light to new scenes gives the creators in these other mediums a chance to add to the story, rather than just translating it for the page.”

These scenes could possibly involve things like Kylo Ren’s meeting with a mysterious oracle, which would show how he learned the location of Vader’s Wayfinder device. This and other lost moments recently surfaced via The Art of the Rise of Skywalker book. So with the inclusion of these scenes, could we finally see Finn actually tell Rey that he’s Force sensitive? Will we also see excised scenes of Rose Tico’s? I for one would really like some mention of who the heck Grandma Palpatine was.

I imagine we could see more scenes explaining things like the Sith Eternal cult, the planet Exegol, the Sith Fleet, and other things the movie left pretty vague and mysterious. Although, with some of those I’d be surprised if we got that much more of an explanation than the recent Visual Dictionary already gave us. But it would be way less awkward in a comic book for a character to just stop in the middle of a scene and give a giant exposition dump. That’s just a staple of the medium.

Marvel Comics

This is a tradition that goes back to the original Marvel adaptation of Star Wars way back in 1977. The writers and artists from that comic were basically working from concept art and script pages, not the final film that everyone eventually saw in theaters. So there were references in the comics to things that later changed. These included a humanoid (but still alien) Jabba the Hutt. The word “Sith” made in into print in the comic adaptation decades before anyone spoke it on film. But it was a word in the original shooting script.

The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comic adaptation will drop its first of five issues in May, from the creative team of Jody House, with art by Will Sliney, and cover designs by Phil Noto.

Featured Image: Marvel Comics / Lucasfilm

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In the aftermath of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, there has been plenty of conversation among fans devoted to what they would have liked to see go differently. Some, who were enthralled by the inventive vision Rian Johnson set forth in The Last Jedi, would have preferred a Rey not born of Palpatine blood and a more suitably sized role for would-be Resistance hero Rose Tico. And while we are left only to dream about these possibilities, a new leak of an earlier script for the Star Wars saga’s tenth episode—back when it was to be directed by Colin Trevorrow (remember those days?)—shows us what we almost wound up seeing in the film.

This week, filmmaker Robert Meyer Burnett revealed via YouTube an early version of Trevorrow’s script, which he co-wrote with his writing partner Derek Connolly. Though Redditors were dubious about its credibility, sources for The Playlist confirmed its validity–and that it was handed into Lucasfilm one week before Carrie Fisher’s untimely death.

Trevorrow and Connolly’s script differs from another leaked screenplay reported by the blog Making Star Wars back in December. That version was penned by Jack Thorne (the playwright of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which may have itself been an omen), who was brought on to rewrite the script shortly before Trevorrow was fired and after Fisher’s passing. Both ideas were scrapped when J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio joined the project, but the script Burnett and The Playlist read take us to the very beginning of production–and shows us what Episode IX would have been without the fussing, firing, and reworking.

For starters, Trevorrow’s version had a very different title…

Lucasfilm/Disney

A different title!

…Duel of the Fates, a phrase that should be familiar to many a considerable Star Wars fan, as it refers to the musical theme composed by franchise mainstay John Williams for The Phantom Menace. To be frank the application of this title probably deserves a bit of unpacking in its own right, but for now we’re going to focus solely on the more tangible differences between Thorne’s script and writer/director J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio’s final version. Namely…

The dead don’t speak?!

…an entirely different, seemingly shorter, and less exposition-heavy opening crawl:

The iron grip of the FIRST ORDER has spread to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Only a few scattered planets remain unoccupied. Traitorous acts are punishable by death. Determined to suffocate a growing unrest, Supreme Leader KYLO REN has silenced all communication between neighboring systems. Led by GENERAL LEIA ORGANA, the Resistance has planned a secret mission to prevent their annihilation and forge a path to freedom…

Notice, if you squint hard enough, zero mention of Emperor Palpatine, whose mysterious revival in The Rise of Skywalker was introduced in the form of the film’s opening crawl. Palpatine is mentioned in Trevorrow and Connolly’s script, but he’s not a resurrected corpse. Instead, we see his likeness captured in a Sith holocron–an object familiar to fans of Star Wars: Rebels–as he relays a contingency plan to Darth Vader in the event of his death. The details of this plan send Kylo Ren on his mission in Duel of the Fates, and are also in keeping with the canon Aftermath novels, where Palpatine’s contingency plan leads to the formation of the First Order.

Lucasfilm/Disney

Finn and Rose, together again

Duel of the Fates also sent our favorite First Order defect and maintenance worker-turned-soldier on an undercover mission to an enemy base. Said sequence would have entailed the instigation of a signal to Resistance sympathizers (a more thoroughly activated version of what we see at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, you could say), some good ol’ heistin’, and a psychological showdown with Hux (whom we can assume would not turn out to be a spy in this version of the story).

Perhaps most prominently, Finn was meant to once and for all contend with his past as a Stormtrooper, the humanity of his colleagues-turned-enemies, and all the emotional ramifications that belong in between. The conclusion of this exploration of Finn’s origins was meant to involve him leading a legion of newly defected Stormtrooper to the side of good. And apparently that’s not the only army Finn and Rose were intended to amass!

Hey, it’s broom kid!

Force-sensitive youngsters, like the broom-wielding orphan the duo met on Canto Bight, would have served a sizable role as part of the Resistance in The Rise of Skywalker, led duly by Rose and Finn. (We may have even gotten to see a couple more fathiers!) Given that The Last Jedi closed out on a shot of the plucky young stable boy using the Force to call his trusty broom to his side—and, more than that, to demonstrate the sentiment that a hero can come from anywhere—one would have expected this theme to carry over into The Rise of Skywalker.

On the contrary, some might say that the retconning of Rey as a Palpatine entirely undermines the central idea set forth by Johnson’s Last Jedi script. Now, jury’s out on whether or not Duel of the Fates’ take on Rey’s parentage would have proved a more satisfying conclusion to her arc as set up in the trilogy’s first two movies, but it certainly would have been different.

Lucasfilm/Disney

Rey Nobody lives on

Say what you will about Trevorrow as a filmmaker, but he was at least willing to carry over important story beats from The Last Jedi, instead of totally retconning them, a la The Rise of Skywalker. In Duel of the Fates, Rey being a nobody was thematically important to her entire arc. The plot saw her more actively involved in continuing the Jedi order than fretting over the past for the third movie in a row. Instead, the film was to end with Rey training the Force sensitive kids Finn and Rose rounded up on a remote planet

That doesn’t mean Rey’s parents weren’t mentioned at all, however. In fact, we were meant to learn that Kylo Ren killed her parents on the orders of Snoke. Speaking of Kylo Ren…

Bendemption? Nope.

Trevorrow and Connolly clearly saw the character of Kylo Ren very differently than Abrams and Terrio did. Duel of the Fates doubled down on his villainy. The plot involved the Force ghost of Luke Skywalker “haunting” his nephew as he grew more isolated and dangerous. With Snoke out of the way and Palpatine still dead, Kylo Ren was the big bad of the story. He spends most of the film connecting with a Sith lord named Tor Valum—who trained Palpatine—and shoving out the light that continues to tempt him.

Rey’s attempts to save the man formerly known as Ben Solo failed in Trevorrow’s script. Kylo Ren refuses to turn and is “extinguished” in a fight against Rey, who is joined by several Force ghosts to take down Kylo once and for all and restore peace to the galaxy. There was nothing even resembling a redemption arc in this version.

Lucasfilm/Disney

But wait, there’s more!

There are plenty of other tantalizing things in Duel of the Fates. The name alone alludes to a stronger connection to the prequels, and Coruscant–home world of the Jedi Council—was a main setting. Chewbacca would have flown an X-Wing, Mandalorian beskar played an important role, there was a new droid that looked like Darth Maul, and more.

Curiously, General Leia’s role was not at all “central” to the plot and she had no role to play in Ben’s arc, so who knows how this would have played out. It’s interesting to think about what could have been, but alas, Duel of the Fates was never meant to be.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm/Disney

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There’s a lot to talk about in the world of Star Wars, but one of our favorite topics is the fashion in that galaxy far, far away. The reigning queen of intergalactic couture is a literal queen–Padmé Amidala–but she certainly passed her style onto her next of kin. Her daughter, Leia Organa, also gave us some of the most iconic looks in all of Star Wars, from her white gown and cinnamon bun hair to her braids and white winter vest to that memorable camouflage poncho.

The sequel trilogy hasn’t been as fashion-forward as previous Star Wars movies, but leave it to the grandson of Padmé and child of Leia to hog all of the style talk this time around. Yes, the man previously known as Ben Solo is the real fashionista of the Disney-era Star Wars movies. You’ll recall a certain shirtless moment in The Last Jedi that was the topic of memes and drooling for a few solid years. Some might argue that shirtlessness isn’t “fashion,” but those high-waisted pants are here to put a pin in that debate.

 
Lucasfilm

But that wasn’t the last time Ben would capture our hearts with his styling. In the latest film, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, after finding his way from alter ego Kylo Ren to family guy and tender lover Ben Solo, he arrived on the planet Exogol with a brand new look. No longer trapped in a confined black outfit and cape, he came to help Rey in something the fans have lovingly dubbed his “Good Boy Sweater.” It’s basically just a tattered black henley, one that was likely under his costume this whole time, but it definitely captured the hearts of Ben Solo fans everywhere, eventually inspiring fan art – and of course, memes.

The “Good Boy Sweater” fan art is incredible.

Star Wars fans are a talented bunch, and they put that talent to the test in some of these lovely renderings of the Good Boy Sweater. Check out this awesome painting from @GizSkyriser, which updates Ben’s look to match the outfit Padmé wore in Attack of the Clones.

You have too much of your grandmother’s fashion style young Skywalker Amidala Organa Chewbacca Solo!#GizTheSkyriserArt #BenSolo #KyloRen pic.twitter.com/bFTGCeXgsz

— Daria??space baby (@GizSkyriser) January 9, 2020

Twitter user @Fahrennheit used their talent to turn the Good Boy Sweater into a turtleneck.

Good boy sweater but make it turtleneck vogue. I saw someone else drew him in a turtleneck and I had a MIGHTY NEED. #StarWars #bensolo #KyloRen #BenSoloDeservedBetter pic.twitter.com/dGY4ElfXaY

— Mads ? (@Fahrennheit) January 6, 2020

This art from @kierqe shows Ben embracing Rey while wearing the sweater.

Be with me
I can’t believe that was her mantra and I still feel so alone.
Old art but I changed him into the good boy sweater pic.twitter.com/EyQKXX3msq

— Kierqe | Currently in Bat Boy therapy (@kierqe) December 24, 2019

This sketch from @wnikeartist gives us more time to appreciate the Good Boy Sweater since it got such limited screen time.

Yeah so legit we had *not time* to appreciate Ben Solo being Ben Solo so I’m fixing this

Good boy sweater and hero Ben#bensolo #BenSoloDeservedBetter #BenSoloLives pic.twitter.com/Ujc0aBXbH9

— Terri ? (@wnikeartist) January 8, 2020

We’re super into this lovely rendition from @SithPinkyy.

Kylo Ren whoo????? I only know Ben Solo Skywalker Organa Prince of Alderaan?.
And I love him. ?#BenSoloDeservedBetter #BenSolo #bringbensoloback #Imstraightjustforhim #StarWars #TheRiseOfSkwalker pic.twitter.com/TwXGKZ6uI1

— Sara✨Ben Solo is us✨ (@SithPinkyy) December 23, 2019

This black and white portrait from @SarahSchmidtty is so well done and also shows Ben wearing his father’s trademark dice.

Tell me, what is heaven if our souls are split in two #trosspoilers #goodboysweater pic.twitter.com/TI3sjc7jqb

— Rey from Nowhere (@SarahSchmidtty) December 31, 2019

The sweater also had a part to play in the “Ben Solo Challenge.”

Social media loves a good “challenge” meme, and Ben Solo was the subject of a recent one. The “Ben Solo Challenge” was popular on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok for a few days, and had fans reenacting the scene from the end of The Rise of Skywalker when Ben pulls the Skywalker legacy lightsaber from behind his back. This was the perfect opportunity for some fans to wear their own Good Boy Sweaters to properly evoke the character.

I put on my good boy sweater for a day late’s #BenSoloChallenge !! pic.twitter.com/pE3Tm5B9xY

— kitty @ i support ben solo’s redemption arc (@istrangefellows) January 7, 2020

NICKY HAS THE GOOD BOY SWEATER THIS IS NOT A DRILL https://t.co/bmfYEQQY4V

— ????? (@rensorgana) January 6, 2020

#bensolochallenge This is so much fun! I want to see as many of these from as many people as possible! (Credit to @testtube27 for starting this whole thing) pic.twitter.com/GLdmCafpR6

— Jundland Jake (@JakeFromYavin) January 6, 2020

#BenSoloChallenge Purple good boy sweater. pic.twitter.com/JxTsXYTFYb

— Dr. Doom account now (@LavaCastle) January 7, 2020

Adam Driver supports the Good Boy Sweater.

OK, so technically Adam Driver probably doesn’t know this is even a thing in the fandom. But that hasn’t stopped fans from incorporating the actor who plays Ben Solo into the meme-ification of the Good Boy Sweater all the same.

ben solo showing up to palpatine’s downfall with a good boy sweater on pic.twitter.com/tgUB1noTiv

— ʙʀɪ (@bentargaryen) January 2, 2020

I’m telling you guys, Adam just wore the good boy sweater in from lunch break at the TROS set and they were like waitaminute we got something here https://t.co/kixLbLXRyK

— tumblerina twilight teen ✨(#trosspoilers) (@KTF_Reylo) January 8, 2020

good boy sweater ? pic.twitter.com/rMaS3b1FUq

— adams whore 🙂 (@imadamsbitch) January 6, 2020

he’s wearing the good boy sweater yes king pic.twitter.com/vjqqgnIySp

— claudia (@kyloafterglow) January 2, 2020

In conclusion.

At a time in Star Wars fandom when debates proliferate and tensions continue to mount, the Good Boy Sweater feels important to highlight. It shows the fandom’s passion and humor and ability to find something good to latch on to even as a storm swells around this thing they love. The Good Boy Sweater is happy and pure and we love it. And that’s what Star Wars is all about: Not fighting what you hate, but saving what you love.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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No matter how you felt about the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga, everyone left the theater with more than a couple questions about how certain plot points went down. Thankfully we got ahold of The Rise of Skywalker’s Visual Dictionary, and it gave us answers to a lot of them! Dan runs down our top 6 Rise of Skywalker revelations in today’s Nerdist News!

Do you think these questions should have been answered in the movie? Tell us in the comments!

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Kyle celebrates the holidays with squid brains, responds to your comments, and more!

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While The Rise of Skywalker brought the Skywalker Saga to it’s conclusion, it didn’t exactly tie up EVERY dangling thread. Dan queries the cosmos with six burning questions on today’s Nerdist News!

What are YOUR biggest questions after The Rise of Skywalker? Tell us in the comments!

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The saga that started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away has come to end… but not without some shocking twists and crazy turns! Dan navigates through the biggest revelations and reveals of Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker on today’s Nerdist News!

What did you think of Rey’s big twist? Tell us in the comments!

This video is made in paid partnership with EA. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available now on Xbox One, PS4, and PC: http://bit.ly/35rHnel

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How does Force Lightning work, and how powerful would it have to be to fry up some Jedi?

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As the countdown The Rise of Skywalker’s premiere ticks down, some lucky folks have already set their eyes on it! While there are no reviews yet, the reaction tweets are flying in at hyper speed! Dan smuggles the hottest takes past the First Order (including his own!) on today’s Nerdist News!

Which Star Wars trilogy is your favorite! Let us know in the comments below!

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For two years, Luke Skywalker’s role in The Last Jedi has not sat well with a certain sect of Star Wars fans. Their argument is that Luke’s failures and self-imposed exile as shown in the sequel trilogy is a smear on his character, and that his Joseph Campbell-style “Hero’s Journey” as initiated by George Lucas is tarnished by this portrayal. The thing is, Luke’s story in the Sequel Trilogy is one hundred percent in keeping with the one heroic myth that Luke Skywalker most adheres to: the myth of King Arthur and Camelot.

Lucasfilm

The legend of King Arthur has been around for some 1500 years. And there are many, many versions of it. But the best known is Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, first published in 1485. Malory combined all the best known myths and legends about Arthur and distilled them into one narrative, and that has been the basis for most Arthurian books and films ever since. George Lucas was clearly influenced by Arthurian legend when creating Star Wars, and not just with Luke. The Jedi Council is made of 12 knights who gather in a circle, for instance, like the Knights of the Round Table. That’s not a coincidence.

Most Arthur-themed films tend to cover one aspect of the legend, and gloss over the rest. But there’s one movie that encompasses most of the broad strokes of Arthurian legend: John Boorman’s 1981 fantasy epic Excalibur. The film covers Arthur’s life from birth to death, and even gives a decent helping of the story of Arthur’s father, King Uther Pendragon. Boorman does make some changes to Le Morte d’Arthur to be sure, but it is still by far the most accurate representation of the myth on film. So for my comparisons to Luke Skywalker, I am going to draw from and cite Excalibur first and foremost.

Warner Bros/Lucasfilm

In the film and in legend, Arthur’s father Uther (Hereditary’s Gabriel Byrne) was a powerful knight and a skilled warrior, who nevertheless made some very bad life choices. Merlin (Nicol Williamson) gifts him with the mystical sword Excalibur, hoping that with it he can unite the land. But Uther’s lust for power, and for the wife of his ally the Duke of Cornwall, led him down a dark path. Anakin Skywalker in the prequels is very much in the Uther mold, and his fall to the dark side also centers around an unhealthy possessive attachment towards a woman. Pendragon seduces the Duke’s wife, Igrayne, and she bears him a son named Arthur.

Warner Bros / Lucasfilm

After Uther’s death, Merlin realizes that it is Arthur who is the true future king. He spirits him away from his mother and his young half sister Morgana, and sends him to be raised as a simple peasant in the countryside. This is very similar to how Obi-Wan takes an infant Luke to be raised as a farm boy on Tatooine. Unlike Arthur, though, Luke has a twin sister. But since Arthur has a slightly older half-sister who is also royalty, there is a similarity there too.

Warner Bros / Lucasfilm

When Arthur comes of age, he alone is able to pull Excalibur from the same stone his father plunged it into before his death. Merlin then informs Arthur (now played by Nigel Terry in the film) of his true lineage and destiny, and explains to him about his father…without getting into too much detail. All of this is echoed by Obi Wan giving Luke his lightsaber in A New Hope, and explaining that his father was a great Jedi Knight once, while also skipping certain truths. Much like Merlin and Arthur, Obi-Wan is an old wizard who sets Luke down on his path to becoming a leader.

Warner Bros / Lucasfilm

As we know, over the course of the Original Trilogy, Luke destroys the Death Star and helps bring down the Empire. Similarly, under Arthur’s leadership, the foreign invaders are repelled from Britain, and he becomes King. He establishes the glorious kingdom of Camelot, and the land is united. The end of Return of the Jedi suggests the same thing. With the Empire gone, a New Republic will be formed and everything will be made right again. And for a long time, that’s pretty much where the official canon story of Star Wars ended.

However, that’s not where the Arthurian myth ends. After years and years of peace and prosperity, Camelot falls into complacency. Due to Arthur’s neglect, his wife Guinevere falls in love with her husband’s best friend, the roguish knight Lancelot. The devastation of their affair causes Arthur to sink into a deep depression. During this time, his half-sister Morgana (played by a young Helen Mirren) seduces him and becomes pregnant with his child. She gives birth to a son named Mordred.

Warner Bros / Lucasfilm

Obviously, this is where Star Wars differs from Arthurian legend the most. Lucas was never going to go that icky with his big family-friendly saga. Luke obviously never has sex with Leia (thank the Maker), and she is his friend, not an enemy. But before he knew she was his sister, there was undeniably a love triangle thing happening with himself, Leia, and his BFF Han Solo. So shades of the famous Arthurian love triangle do sneak into Star Wars too, sort of. Nevertheless, Ben Solo is still both Luke’s nephew and his surrogate son in a way, as he essentially raises him. It’s a less gross version of Arthur and Mordred’s relationship.

Warner Bros / Lucasfilm

As Arthur sinks further into depression and isolation, the kingdom of Camelot withers with him. In Excalibur, Merlin says to him, “You are the land and the land will be you.” This applies to the Star Wars galaxy as well. After Luke’s failure with Ben Solo, he retreats to Ach-To, essentially to die. But as the opening crawl to Episode VII tells us, “In his absence, the First Order rises.” By cutting himself off from the Force and retreating, evil is allowed to flourish once more.

In Excalibur, a young idealist Knight named Percival manages to break through to the ailing King Arthur. Percival (although in most myths, it’s Sir Bedevere) grew up on stories of the mythic King. To him, Arthur is a living legend. This is very similar to how Rey sees Luke in The Force Awakens. It is she who ultimately gets through to Luke, and convinces him (with some nudging from Yoda) to live up to his legend status and confront his evil nephew once more in final battle.

Warner Bros / Lucasfilm

Mordred is very much the basis for Kylo Ren. He grows up jealous and covetous of Arthur’s kingdom, and feels entitled to it all. Not in the film but in some tellings of the legend, Arthur even tries to kill Mordred as a child. When Arthur confronts him, he offers Mordred his love as a father. Mordred’s responds with, “That’s the only thing of yours I don’t want.” Arthur and Mordred battle, and the two kill one another in the battle of Camden. In Excalibur, as in many retellings of the story, Arthur is whisked away to the isle Avalon. Probably to die, but also possibly to transcend into a higher existence. It’s never made clear in some myths, and Excalibur leaves it vague.

Luke’s final confrontation with Kylo in The Last Jedi is almost exactly like Arthur’s final fight with Mordred. Like Arthur and Mordred, Luke emerges after a long exile to finally become the legend others regard him as. Much like Arthur, in his last act Luke realizes his life is not meant to be an ordinary man’s life, but the “stuff of future memory.” Something that will inspire others to greatness themselves. Like Arthur, Luke transcends into something greater than himself.

Obviously, there are changes made in the translation from one story to the other. It’s unlikely that Kylo Ren will die without having been redeemed in some fashion in The Rise of Skywalker, as redemption is too baked in to what Star Wars is all about. Mordred never gets as sympathetic a portrayal. But for all of those out there insisting that Luke’s arc betrays some kind of heroic principal set in mythology, I suggest cracking open a book on Arthurian legend. Or maybe even just watching Excalibur. Because he template for Luke’s journey has been around for over 500 years.

Featured Image: Warner Bros / Lucasfilm

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The Rise of Skywalker director JJ Abrams hinted in a recent interview that the hotly anticipated finale to the Skywalker Saga will feature never-before-seen Force powers! What could they be, and how will the fans react? You decide if the Force is with Dan on today’s Nerdist News!

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With less than a month to go before The Rise of Skywalker’s premiere, we just can’t stop speculating about how Emperor Palpatine could make his return. Dan counts down the top 5 possibilities from the expanded universe canon and beyond on today’s Nerdist News!

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A long time ago George Lucas forever changed the world when Star Wars came to theaters in 1977. Now the Skywalker family saga that has been at the heart of the galaxy far, far away is ready to come to an end. The Rise of Skywalker will mark the ninth and final film about the most famous—and infamous—clan in the universe. It’s why fans are looking back as much as they are looking forward. Now we can do both with Empire magazine’s upcoming special edition. The magazine’s multiple covers will celebrate 42 years of the franchise and give us a glimpse at what we can expect from the final movie.

The saga ends. Empire’s MASSIVE new #StarWars: #TheRiseOfSkywalker issue arrives Thurs 28 Nov – with exclusive images and interviews, bonus Skywalker Saga magazine celebrating the nine-film epic, and a limited-edition Dark Rey art card. READ MORE: https://t.co/yN3RoznU6P pic.twitter.com/J5cmvNcBuU

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 22, 2019

Empire, which has a long and storied history covering all things related to the Force, has announced its largest ever Star Wars issue ahead of The Rise of Skywalker‘s release. It will be available everywhere in three special commemorative covers when it goes on sale November 28. Each pays tribute to the new trilogy, from its greatest heroes—both old and new—as well as its most sinister villains. The first features Rey, Finn, Rose, Chewie, BB-8, and Naomi Ackie’s newcomer Jannah.

The first of Empire’s three exclusive collectible #TheRiseOfSkywalker covers for our biggest ever #StarWars issue – the new generation of heroes. pic.twitter.com/gXaaVOnBi1

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 22, 2019

The second combines the sequel trilogy with with original films, as Poe Dameron joins General Leia, Lando Calrissian, C-3PO, and R2-D2.

The second of Empire’s three exclusive collectible #TheRiseOfSkywalker covers for our biggest ever #StarWars issue – the leaders of the resistance. pic.twitter.com/86528XBkfB

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 22, 2019

The third cover is a celebration of the Dark Side, as Kylo stands in front of the Knights of Ren. This is maybe the best look we’ve had yet at the deadly Dark Side fighters who helped him destroy Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Temple.

The third of Empire’s three exclusive collectible #TheRiseOfSkywalker covers for our biggest ever #StarWars issue – Supreme Leader Ren and the Knights Of Ren. pic.twitter.com/DnDROraEC6

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 22, 2019

Our favorite cover is all of them.

Empire also says the special issue will include “brand new images and insights from the final chapter, and all-new interviews with Sequel Trilogy stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Kelly Marie Tran, the legendary Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams, franchise newcomers Naomi Ackie and Keri Russell, and writer-director J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio.”

That’s not all it will though. It will also come with a “bonus Skywalker Saga magazine” that celebrates all nine films.

With this month’s issue of Empire comes a bonus #StarWars Skywalker Saga magazine – the ultimate celebration of the nine-film epic, with fresh interviews, features, archival material and more. pic.twitter.com/FadBV4BW31

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 22, 2019

There’s even an exclusive “Dark Rey” art card illustrated exclusively by Rory Kurtz.

Also coming with the new issue of Empire – a Dark Rey art card, illustrated exclusively for Empire by @RoryKurtz. pic.twitter.com/rhfJxoTmtY

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 22, 2019

However, the real gem of the collection is a gorgeous special cover, illustrated by Paul Shipper, for subscribers only. It features Rey’s Skywalker lightsaber raised together with Kylo Ren’s modified lightsaber, as Emperor Palpatine looks on from behind them.

And finally, this month’s stunning subscriber cover is an exclusive original illustration by @paulshipper. May the force be with you, always. READ MORE: https://t.co/yN3RoznU6P pic.twitter.com/PRN9oMJuqV

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 22, 2019

It’s like we just heard a million Reylo voices scream out in joy… just like all Star Wars fans will in a month, even if we’re going to be sad it’s all over.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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In a recent interview, Daisy Ridley may have let slip that The Last Jedi may not have been the last word on Rey’s parentage! What possibilities does this unlock with December’s The Rise of Skywalker? Dan haggles for more portions of info in today’s Nerdist News!

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One of the most beautiful Japanese traditions is that of kabuki theater. The dance dramas are known for their elaborate and colorful makeup and costumes, stylized performances, and broad postures, creating a heightened experience for the audience. The performances are usually set in the samurai era, but sometimes extend into other time periods—or even in a galaxy far, far away. To celebrate the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a kabuki performance of Star Wars will take place in Tokyo later this month.

And this isn’t just some little production, either. According to SoraNews24, Star Wars Kabuki will star Ichikawa Ebizo, one of the most famous and popular kabuki performers in all of Japan, and an “A-list Japanese entertainment industry icon.” The performer is apparently a huge fan of Star Wars, and is serving as a supervisor on the project.

“Star Wars Kabuki will depict the love and loss felt by the Skywalker family over the past 40-plus years,” Ichikawa said in a press release about the upcoming performance. “Whether you ’re a Star Wars lover or a kabuki lover, it ’s a great piece to enjoy.” Ichikawa will portray the complicated, villainous Kylo Ren—the grandson of Darth Vader and nephew of famed Jedi Luke Skywalker—in the generational portrayal.

The full title for the kabuki performance is Star Wars Kabuki-Rennosuke Hikarigatana Sanbon, which translates to Star Wars Kabuki-Ren and Three Light Sabers. We’re curious what those three lightsabers could be referring to. Since the emphasis seems to be on the relationships between fathers, sons, and family, it’s likely that the kabuki will focus on the lightsabers of Vader, Luke, and Kylo, but that’s just a guess. It could be even more open to interpretation in the actual performance.

Star Wars feels like a natural fit for the kabuki theater. George Lucas was heavily inspired by samurai films when he created the original trilogy. The saga as a whole draws heavily from Eastern culture, from costumes to set pieces and beyond. Even so, we have to imagine how spectacular some of these familiar costumes and props will look through a kabuki lens. We have to imagine Kylo Ren’s mask—itself inspired by Japanese tradition—will look even more impressive on a colorful kabuki stage.

Star Wars Kabuki-Rennosuke Hikarigatana Sanbon will run for one night only on November 28 in Tokyo. However. the location is currently unknown. The performance will take place just a few weeks before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters on December 20.

Featured Image: Star Wars Kabuki 

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The Knights of Ren are one of the more mysterious and intriguing things in new Star Wars canon. We know virtually nothing about them, except Kylo Ren is their “master” and their faces are obscured by ancient-looking armor. From our brief glimpses of them in The Force Awakens and behind-the-scenes images of The Rise of Skywalker, we can see that they carry a variety of interesting weapons, including swords and axes. For a while, it was common fan consensus that the Knights were former students of Luke Skywalker. When Ben Solo turned to the Dark Side, he recruited them as pawns for Snoke. But that’s never been the official story, and an upcoming comic by Charles Soule proves how wrong we were to make those assumptions.

Soule took to Twitter to share a sneak preview of the second issue of his Marvel comic series, The Rise of Kylo Ren, featuring art by Will Sliney. The cover is mind-melting in its implications; it shows Ben Solo fighting against the Knights of Ren alongside his uncle, Luke Skywalker. But it’s the description for the comic that offers even more insight about what really happened that fateful night.

This is the cover to THE RISE OF KYLO REN #2, written by me with art from @WillSliney. Out in January.

And yes, that’s Luke Skywalker and Ben Solo fighting the Knights of Ren. pic.twitter.com/dPdbmHQTSz

— Charles Soule (@CharlesSoule) October 24, 2019

Here’s what the description tells us about the issue and the beginning of Ben Solo’s corruption:

“With the new Jedi school in ruins and fellow students hot on his trail for the murder of their master, Ben Solo flees to the only friend he has left in the galaxy… a man named Snoke. But Snoke has plans for Ben… and ideas about the Force that are as dangerous as they are intriguing for the troubled young Jedi. If Ben wishes to be truly free… the answers might lie with the Dark Side. And the Knights of Ren! But it won’t be the first time he’s tangled with the Knights. In the past, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker journeys to the Unknown Regions and brings young Ben Solo along for the mission. Can even Luke Skywalker stand against the fabled Knights of Ren?!”

That’s a lot of new information to digest so let’s break it down. First, we now know that Ben Solo did not orchestrate the destruction of Luke’s Jedi school. But he took the blame for the event–and for Luke’s supposed death–from his fellow classmates. We also know that the Knights of Ren predate this event entirely, and are in fact a “fabled” group long before Ben joined their ranks. Luke once brought Ben along on a mission to the Unknown Regions, which, if you’re familiar with canon, is also where Emperor Palpatine has likely been hiding this entire time. Does that mean the Knights of Ren are Palpatine’s puppets? Did he send them to destroy Luke’s academy in some overarching plot to lure Ben Solo to the Dark Side? It sure seems like this new information will lead us to whatever conflict is brew in The Rise of Skywalker.

Another interesting thing to note: On the cover, only one of the Knights is holding a lightsaber. Was this the previous master of the Knights of Ren? And did Ben Solo kill him to become Kylo Ren?

Lots of fascinating stuff to chew on here. We cannot wait to get our hands on The Rise of Kylo Ren #2 when it hits shelves in January 2020.

Featured Image: Marvel/Will Sliney

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The final trailer for the final film of the final trilogy of the Skywalker saga has dropped! But did you catch all the hints of what’s to come? Amy breaks it all down on today’s Nerdist News!

What was your favorite detail from The Rise of Skywalker trailer? Tell us in the comments!

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The Star Wars sequel trilogy is almost over—but it feels like it’s just getting started. That’s because, in a way, it is; Star Wars canon will go on, and these new characters will continue to exist in comics, cartoons, novels, games, and probably future films, too. “No one is ever really gone,” Luke Skywalker reminded us in The Last Jedi. And yet we can’t help but feel a little emotional that the epic Skywalker saga will soon come to a cinematic close—and a little nervous, considering how much is riding on the upcoming final chapter, The Rise of Skywalker. What will become of classic characters like Lando Calrissian and Leia Organa? And what’s going on between Leia’s son, Kylo Ren, and our mysterious heroine, Rey? The new trailer for the film implies that the Skywalker legacy will live on through one or both of these characters, and also heavily hints that their relationship is more than just some typical Force bond. Is this a love story, after all?

The Reylo fan community dates back to the first film of this new saga, The Force Awakens. Even though Rey’s lineage was shrouded in secrecy—leaving room for her and Kylo to possibly be relatives—their intense chemistry and clear Force connection hinted at something deeper, something like soulmates. Then came The Last Jedi, where their Force bond was made explicit, and the romance aspect became almost undeniable. Even director Rian Johnson said the scene where the two touch hands through their bond is “the closest thing we’ll get to a sex scene in a Star Wars movie.” Now that it’s pretty clear they aren’t related, where does that leave their fractured relationship in The Rise of Skywalker?

There are a few major clues in the trailer that imply the Rey and Kylo thing might come to fruition (in some shape or form) in the film. The biggest one is actually sensed through a line that Emperor Palpatine delivers:

He’s clearly referring to Rey and Kylo here, but what does he mean? Well, if you recall, Palpatine was there in the prequel trilogy for the fall of Anakin Skywalker. What was Anakin’s undoing? His love for his wife, Padme Amidala. Is Palpatine implying that after all this time, he’s about to once again witness a Skywalker man lose everything he’s built for the woman he loves? If that’s the case, this would be the inverse of Anakin and Padme’s love story. Instead of falling to the dark side, Kylo’s love for Rey could turn him back towards the light. (Kylo and Rey as an inverse of Anakin and Padme is a popular fan theory in the Reylo community, and is referred to as “Reverse Anidala.”)

Kylo’s possible return to grace is also telegraphed in the final moment of the trailer. We see Rey look at the camera with a smile, clutching the Skywalker legacy lightsaber. Who is she smiling at? The background could be a major clue. Notice that there’s blue smoke and a flash of lightning.

That matches up pretty perfectly with another shot from the trailer, of what looks like Kylo arriving in the giant room where Rey confronts Palpatine. Is he coming to rescue her? Are they about to work together? Either way, her smile and hopeful face—along wit that little nod—indicate that something is making her happy in that moment. And those matching backgrounds really imply that it’s Kylo. Will he become Ben Solo once again?

There’s a lot to unpack and we won’t know for sure until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters on December 20.

Featured Image: Disney/Lucasfilm

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With December’s Star Wars “The Rise of Skywalker” concluding the nine-film Skywalker Saga, expectations are high and there are so many questions that still need to be answered before it all comes to an end! Will Kylo be redeemed? What’s going on with Reylo? What is going on with the Emperor? Luckily Dan Casey is here to help break down the top 9 questions that need to be addressed in “The Rise of Skywalker.”

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director JJ Abrams confirmed a major fan theory about the upcoming space epic this week, and it made our brains jump to light speed with the possibilities! Amy explains on today’s Nerdist News!

Do you agree with the kintsugi theory? Let us know in the comments!

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When the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker debuted back in April, fans were surprised to see that Kylo Ren’s helmet was back in action. The notoriously moody villain smashed the helmet to pieces in The Last Jedi, after all, seemingly taking his own advice by letting the past die. So why is it back this time around, and what’s with the red cracks?

The helmet has figured prominently in not just the trailer but in other marketing materials for the film, like the first official poster, as well as toy advertisements as seen in the first previews for Triple Force Friday. The poster even emphasizes those red cracks in the form of lightning protruding behind Kylo Ren, making it all the more noticeable. But why? In a new interview with Empire Magazine, the director of The Rise of Skywalker, J.J. Abrams, spoke out about Kylo’s reforged helmet, and confirmed a popular fan theory in the process.

Here’s his full quote:

“Having [Kylo Ren] be masked, but also fractured, is a very intentional thing. Like that classic Japanese process of taking ceramics and repairing them, and how the breaks in a way define the beauty of the piece as much as the original itself. As fractured as Ren is, the mask becomes a visual representation of that. There’s something about this that tells his history. His mask doesn’t ultimately hide him and his behavior is revealed.”

That Japanese concept that Abrams is referencing is something called “Kintsugi,” or “Kintsukuroi,” which is the art of repairing broken pottery by dusting the lacquer used to glue the pieces back together in gold or silver. The idea is to treat the breakage of the piece as a part of its history, instead of something to hide.

Fans have been talking about Kintsugi since we first glimpsed that broken helmet with the red glue in the trailer. In fact, Caitlin Plesher from the Star Wars podcast Skytalkers wrote an entire piece about the method and how it could relate to Kylo Ren’s redemption back in April. “Above all else, Kylo’s mask is a metaphor for there still being value in Kylo—Ben Solo—as a person,” Plesher writes. “A character that is continuously drawn to the light, a figure who is literally cracked, and now the mask that he used to hide his face for so long has become a ‘diagram of the points of impact’ in Kylo’s life and a symbol for his own transformative repair.”

“KINTSUGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!” pic.twitter.com/8fFLVr8k8P

— El Hijo de Funko de Kylo (@JoshSchippe) September 30, 2019

So what does this mean for Episode IX? Well, for one, it seems that Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio are working East Asian concepts into the film. The recent D23 footage for The Rise of Skywalker seemed to confirm another fan theory about the “red string of fate.” Together, all of these ideas seem to hint that Rey and Kylo’s connection will run deeper and Kylo will find his way towards the light.

We’ll find out for sure when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters on December 20.

Feature Image: Disney/Lucasfilm

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SNL’s Matt the Radar Technician was a fan favorite, if apocryphal Star Wars character. But did Lucasfilm actually make a sketch character canon in the Star Wars universe? Dan Casey breaks it down now.

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Reports are circulating that new Force powers will be on display in December’s Star Wars feature “The Rise of Skywalker”. What could they be, and who shall wield them? Jacki has all the details on today’s Nerdist News!

What Force powers would you like to see on the big screen? Let us know in the comments!

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While the release of the new Rise of Skywalker footage may have stolen the spotlight, D23 also saw the debut of the first official trailer for the highly anticipated Disney+ series, The Mandalorian. Though brief, the trailer offered fans plenty of juicy details to pick apart and theorize over, and Jenny is here to break it all down in today’s episode of Nerdist News!

What was your favorite moment from the trailer? Let us know in the comments!

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“Evil Rey” might be the most intriguing moment from the new The Rise of Skywalker footage, but Rey and Kylo Ren’s fight atop the likely remnants of the Death Star might be the final showdown in the Skywalker family saga. It would be Rey’s time to face the same decision Luke did in Return of the Jedi when he fought Darth Vader. But the environment their battle takes place, amid a raging and turbulent sea, recalls another famous duel in the Star Wars films, when Obi-Wan and Anakin faced-off on Mustafar for the soul of the galaxy. Each environment, one fire and one water, connects to the fine line between the Light and Dark sides of the Force and what it means to find balance.

Water and fire naturally seem to stand opposite one another. Water brings life; fire destroys it. The molten lava rivers of the volcanic Mustafar perfectly mirrored Anakin’s complete descent. As he gave in to his anger, he killed the man he was, as well as his friendship with his mentor and the hope he represented for the galaxy. His soul was consumed by the flames long before his body.

via GIPHY

It’s easy to think if fire—like their red lightsabers—captures the evilness of the Sith, that water represents the Jedi, who are serene protectors of all life in the universe. It’s an idea that fits with the monk-like imagery of still water and gentle waterfalls. It’s an easy connection, and it’s wrong. Just like water can be ice or steam, it can also take on many forms. When a storm rages and the sea rises it can eradicate entire cities, the same as fire. Like someone wielding the Force, water is neither inherently serene or dangerous; it can take life the same as it can give it. It is defined by how it’s used. Luke came to the same realization as he fought his father in Return of the Jedi. Defeating Darth Vader was not the same as winning. Not letting Palpatine use him as a destructive force defined who he was.

via GIPHY

Luke refused to give in to his anger and kill his father, and in doing so he saved both Anakin Skywalker’s soul and the galaxy. And how did he celebrate? By burning Vader’s armor, because while fire can epitomize evil, it can also be a symbol of rebirth. On Mustafar, it turned Anakin into Vader; on the forest moon of Endor, it turned Vader into Anakin. Fire is no different than water or the Force, because it’s defined by what you do with it.

via GIPHY

When Rey stands opposite Kylo Ren as the waters rise against them, each will find themselves in the same spot Luke and Vader did, the same as Obi-Wan and Anakin did. The environment will mirror their internal struggle against the Light and Dark Side. Each blow bringing their souls closer to the edge, a storm of self-doubt and passion that could ruin each of them and the galaxy if not contained.

via GIPHY

Because while fire and water feel like opposites, they are far more alike than different. Water in one form gives life, but if ice were to consume your home or your heart, you’d need it melted by fire, for it also gives warmth. Only with both do you find balance. And as Rey and Kylo Ren both find themselves fighting amid a raging storm, the fine line between the Light and Dark Side of the Force will be ever-present, just as it was on Mustafar so long ago.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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We’re two weeks away from our next big Disney info deluge at D23, but thankfully there are fan theories to break down until then! Amy has the latest on the potential redemption of Kylo Ren in Star Wars Episode 9 on today’s Nerdist News!

Do you want to see Kylo Ren redeemed in Episode 9? Let us know in the comments!

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When Disney acquired Lucasfilm back in 2012, they hit the reset button on Star Wars tie-in materials. Any previously released books, comics, and video games were renamed Star Wars Legends, as the company created their own official canon in the lead up to Episode VII, The Force Awakens. In doing so, they opened doors for brand new characters, letting Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, BB-8, and others grow on the page before and after hitting the big screen.

But there’s one new character who has remained mostly in the new canon shadows: Kylo Ren, a.k.a. Ben Solo, the son of Han and Leia who was seduced by dark Force-user Snoke and brought to the dark side to serve with the tyrannical First Order. Kylo’s name has popped up in the occasional novel, and his threat has been felt from afar, but to date, he hasn’t been explored as the main character of his own canon novel or comic.

All of that is about to change. At today’s Lucasfilm Publishing panel at San Diego Comic-Con, author Charles Soule announced that he’s working on an official Kylo Ren limited-series comic, The Rise of Kylo Ren. Better yet? The comic isn’t just about Kylo Ren, but will also finally shed light on his association with the mysterious Knights of Ren.

As just announced, I am writing THE RISE OF KYLO REN – a limited series comic launching in December, just before Episode IX.

You know the one story everyone’s dying to see, about Kylo and the Knights of Ren? That’s this.

You’re not ready (hell, I barely am.) pic.twitter.com/CiBehByvy1

— Charles Soule (@CharlesSoule) July 20, 2019

To date, we know very little about the Knights. Are they Kylo’s former classmates at Luke’s Jedi Academy, who went rogue when Ben Solo turned dark? Are they an order of Dark Side obsessives who follow Kylo blindly as he wages personal wars? And where the hell were they in The Last Jedi?

Looks like all of that and more will be answered, and soon. According to the panel, The Rise of Kylo Ren will hit shelves this December, before the release of The Rise of Skywalker. We’ll keep you posted with official dates as they become available.

Images: Disney/Lucasfilm

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“It’s time to let old things die. Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi, the Rebels—let it all die.” If murdering Han Solo didn’t make it obvious, Kylo Ren has become obsessed with forgetting the past. “Kill it if you have to,” he told Rey. But for someone who claims he only wants to move forward, the new Supreme Leader has picked a weird name and design for his newest stormtroopers. The Sith Troopers are reminiscent of a much older fighting squad, which might reveal just how much Ben Solo will also be looking back in The Rise of Skywalker.

Lucasfilm has revealed the new line of stormtroopers joining the First Order in The Rise of Skywalker: the stylish, red-clad Sith Troopers. Their name alone is a curious choice, since Kylo is a Knight of Ren who just said he wants to let that ancient Dark Side order die forever. That’s far from the unit’s only connection to the past, though. In addition to sharing a color scheme with Snoke’s Praetorian Guard, who Rey and Kylo literally murdered, Sith Trooper armor also looks more like the sharper-designed style worn by Clone Troop-era stormtroopers. While their gear contains elements of both the original trilogy and sequel stormtroopers, there’s a clear and obvious connection with the prequel Clone troopers, especially in the helmet.

After Palpatine became Emperor, stormtroopers helmets became more rounded with fewer sharp edges and straight line, a style that continued with the First Order. These were the helmets for stormtroopers in A New Hope and The Force Awakens.

Notice Sith Troop chest armor also isn’t smooth like older stormtroopers either. It’s more plated like the Clone troopers.

If we didn’t know anything else about The Rise of Skywalker, this could be nothing more than an aesthetic choice or practical development. It’s possible Kylo Ren likes the older look and doesn’t care about its connections to the past, or the new head of stromtrooper gear decided a streamlined look offered a wider range of vision or movement. But the first trailer for the film has made clear Star Wars will end the Skywalker family saga by exploring the family’s entire story.

Even beyond the title, the wreckage of the Death Star, and the return of Emperor Palpatine (in whatever form that will take), we hear Luke in the trailer telling Rey, “We’ve passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now, but this is your fight.” Rey will have to move forward, but she does so with the weight and wisdom of the past, the same way Luke was only able to defeat Vader because of what Obi-Wan and Yoda passed on to him.

Since her and Kylo are equal opposites of the Force, why should it be any different for him? Whether Kylo is on a path to redemption as Ben Solo, or a path of destruction as Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader might not be capable of killing the past no matter how much he wants to, because we all carry our past with us. That was Luke’s final lessons for his nephew. “Strike me down in anger and I’ll always be with you, just like your father.”

His new Sith Troopers could be a sign Kylo really did learn from his former master and is embracing history and what it can teach us, good and bad. Or they could be a sign Ben Solo can’t do the impossible and move on from the past. Either way those sharp red stormtroopers prove it’s not easy to let old things die, and The Rise of Skywalker might show why you shouldn’t want to.

Images: Lucasfilm

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The closest thing we have to a modern American myth is Star Wars, which filmmaker George Lucas based on the teachings of Joseph Campbell. The famed professor of comparative mythology spent his career studying the stories of the world and compiling them into works like The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Goddesses, compendiums of culture that show the universal tenets of storytelling and myth. Lucas used his Star Wars series to tell stories of purity and depravity, and the grey areas in between. In the sequel trilogy series, we have our own corrupted soul at the center of the story: Kylo Ren, once known as Ben Solo, a young man with a good heart groomed into a role of darkness.

Mythology is shaped by society, geography, and history; but these stories share core commonalities: origins of the world, great floods, heroes and martyrs. They also share morals, and one key tenet of morality—seen across religions and traditions—is the concept of salvation. It is human nature to fail, and thus it is human nature to desire and seek out redemption. From the Greek legend of Hercules to the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh to the Buddhist story of Milarepa, the persuasion of evil and tyranny is beset with redemption and, eventually, exaltation. Most heroes fail. Many of them so maniacally that they seem beyond forgiveness. And yet, they are saved—and they grow into more righteous versions of themselves. Like his grandfather Darth Vader, Kylo Ren seems destined for a redemption story. In fact, the core ethos of the sequel trilogy is redefining what it means to fail, but also what it means to rebuild.

Kylo Ren is no Darth Vader. Unlike his Imperial grandfather, whose tragic fall from grace was a galactic legend, Ben Solo’s descent was one of copycat arrogance. Anakin Skywalker was a penniless slave, plucked from the desert planet of Tatooine after a fateful encounter with a pair of Jedi knights who sensed his tremendous power. Ben Solo was, by turn, born into a life of privilege and fame. His mother was Princess Leia Organa and his father the war hero Han Solo, who together saved the galaxy from the evil Empire. At a young age, Ben’s preternatural strength in the Force was sensed by both his uncle, Luke Skywalker, and the evil Snoke, who sunk his hooks into the boy and groomed him until he turned to the dark side. His turn was so catastrophic that it destroyed his family: Luke, afraid that he instigated it, fled into isolation, while Han and Leia split up and reverted to old, self-destructive habits.

Ben’s turn was not organic, like Anakin’s, but machinated. The mask he chose to wear was just that: a choice, unlike Vader’s, which was a necessary breathing device after a near-death experience. Everything about Kylo Ren is a modulation, even his ability and desire to kill. Under the persuasion of Snoke, who forged his own Empire, Kylo murdered his father. But not before showing his vulnerability. “I’m being torn apart,” he told his father through tears, before stabbing him with his lightsaber and throwing him to his death. It’s clear from the onset of The Force Awakens that Ben is a new kind of villain—an impressionistic one, whose heart was never quite blackened the way Anakin’s was. We see him struggle with the light through both films in the sequel trilogy, whereas Vader never faltered until the end of Return of the Jedi. Vader’s evil was decided; Kylo’s feels tangential. And unlike Darth Vader, Kylo Ren has an equal, the light side’s answer to his fall: the scavenger Rey.

In The Last Jedi, we see that Kylo shares a Force bond with Rey, whose purity is similar to that of Luke in the original trilogy. The bond is so strong, it defies easy categorization. Is it passion, is it love, is it instinct? It’s likely all three, as Kylo and Rey appear two halves of the same whole; indeed, yin and yang imagery is peppered through the film, a reminder of the polarity of the Force, and how it is only truly balanced when dark and light join hands. Rey sees the good in Kylo when no one else does. She calls him “Ben,” she flees Luke’s island when he shirks her desire to save him, and she remains resolute. She says, “I saw his future. As solid as I’m seeing you. If I go to him, Ben Solo will turn.”

Defeating Snoke doesn’t sway Ben back to the light; instead, it only furthers Kylo’s desire for his power. In Campbell’s teachings, there is a concept of “fall and salvation,” or the ethical cycle of redemption. Assuming the role of Supreme Leader puts Kylo in the “purgative state.” He’s not yet reached illumination—he’s still stuck in the depths of his choices, thinking he has no one but Rey, and then losing her too. She leaves him and closes the door on their bond. He’s alone.

But hope isn’t lost. Not if Luke Skywalker is to be believed.

When Luke confronts Leia at the end of The Last Jedi, she is at her wit’s end. Her husband is dead, her child is lost to the dark side, her scrappy Resistance is so low in numbers they can’t possibly win. Luke arrives as a Force projection to face Kylo, but not before reminding his sister one powerful truth: “No one is ever really gone.”

The phrase carries a number of readings, but key among them is that Kylo is still salvable. Luke knows this firsthand, having witnessed Vader’s sacrifice and final good deed. Anakin Skywalker achieved Karma, a Buddhist concept that is the sum of a person’s actions in all states of existence, and which decides one’s fate in future existences. Karma is inherently redemptive; good deeds restore good faith. If, in The Rise of Skywalker, Kylo is able to fully acknowledge his failures, he too can find salvation. And because he fell from a shorter height, his goodness may not be transactional. He could, indeed, get to live.

Luke sacrificed his life to face Kylo and restore hope to the galaxy. His parting words to Leia were those of hope that her son wasn’t lost. Han also died after promising Leia their son could come home. If Ben Solo remains Kylo Ren, or dies a villain, the sequel trilogy—and, in turn, Luke and Han’s sacrifices—makes little sense, and serves little purpose. This should be, as has been laid out, the story of how Rey and Ben bring balance to the Force and peace to the galaxy. Redemption is necessary for balance, for peace, for karma. Ben Solo, like the great fallen and restored heroes before him, deserves salvation, and his own place in myth.

Images: Disney, Lucasfilm

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Snoke was wrong to put so much trust in his young apprentice Kylo Ren, but he was right about what Rey represents. She stands as the Force’s hopeful counterbalance to Kylo Ren’s evil. And make no mistake, he is the worst kind of evil. Born with every advantage in the galaxy and gifted with powers few have ever dreamed of, he could have been an agent of good and peace in a fractured galaxy. Instead, he gave into his worst instincts, like the petulant child he is. And yet, despite all of that, many Star Wars fans hope Rey and Kylo will end up in each other’s arms after she saves his soul and pulls him back from the Dark Side. But she deserves so much better than “Reylo,” and he deserves so much worse.

The case against them ending up as a couple isn’t just about how terrible Kylo Ren is, but that’s a big part of it. Ben Solo’s parents were two of the greatest heroes in the galaxy, his mother a literal princess. It would be impossible to be born into more privilege than he was, even without his nearly unmatched Force abilities. And who did he have as his personal tutor to harness his amazing skills? His uncle, Luke freaking Skywalker.

Even if we empathize with an overwhelmed teenager making a terrible decision, we’re all responsible for the decisions we make. Any understanding or compassion we’d extend to Ben ended when he put his lightsaber through Han Solo. That wasn’t the action of a scared young kid, but of an evil man embracing who he wants to be. Even when he murdered Snoke, it wasn’t about doing the right thing, like Rey thought; it was about killing his past. That past included when he was a good person.

That moment is also when the hope of Reylo should have died for good. After they fought side-by-side against Snoke’s Praetorian Guard, when it looked like their bond might become what so many were hoping for, Rey expected Kylo to save the Resistance from the First Order. Not only was he ready to let them die, he told Rey that they should rule the galaxy together, like Anakin once said to Padme. But unlike Anakin, who loved Padme, Kylo tried to manipulate Rey by using her greatest insecurity, her parents, against her.

“They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They’re dead in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You’re nothing. But not to me.”

He told Rey, his Force-equal and the one person trying to save his soul, that she was “nothing,” except to him. She only had value to him. You don’t need to be a psychologist to recognize those are the words of an abusive man trying to coerce a vulnerable person into an unhealthy, toxic relationship. It’s one of the most despicable personal moments in Star Wars history, but it didn’t work on Rey because she’s better than Kylo is bad.

Ben Solo was born with every advantage Rey wasn’t. Abandoned at a young age on a harsh planet, she had every reason to give in to hate and resentment. Instead, she grew up hopeful and kind, all while learning how to take care of herself. In a galaxy desperate for a hero, you couldn’t do better than a self-reliant, self-made person who held onto her soul through every hardship and obstacle. Even after everything she experienced in The Last Jedi, from learning the great Luke Skywalker was a broken man who turned his back on the Force, to accepting her parents had sold her like a slave, to Kylo breaking her heart after she was the only person who believed he was still good, she still stayed true to herself. No disappointment could break her, and when Kylo offered her ultimate power, she turned him down without blinking.

They might be equal in their use of the Force, but Rey and Kylo are total opposites as human beings. The idea that they should end up as a couple extends to him a fate he doesn’t deserve. Nothing he has ever done in his squandered life of infinite opportunity makes him worthy of her love. Far worse though is what that would mean for her. A truly great person with a good heart, Rey deserves a lifetime with someone worthy of the wonderful human being she is.

The dream of Reylo is about hope itself, that no matter how dark things get hope is never lost. But the dream of Reylo is entirely about Kylo Ren. It makes Rey’s story—a story that is honorable and good—about him, and she doesn’t deserve that any more than he deserves her.

Kylo Ren’s soul can be saved, just like Darth Vader’s was, but that doesn’t mean the person who saves it should also end up with him. “Darkness rises, and light to meet it,” but light doesn’t have to love darkness to do it.

Images: Lucasfilm

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Another rumor about who are Rey’s real parents has been swirling around the internet, but this one’s more than a little suspect. Jessica breaks down why on today’s Nerdist News!

What do you think of the new rumor? Let us know in the comments!

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