Star Wars: The Last Jedi's director says Rey's reaction to who her parents are is more important than their identity

One of the big, burning questions going into Star Wars: The Last Jedi is ‘who are Rey’s parents?’ Director Rian Johnson, though, is changing tack. He’s not as concerned with who they are (though it’ll probably be answered very soon), but just how Rey deals with that information.

"What does it mean to [Rey], what does it mean to us. I really, really believe that [the reveal of Rey’s parents] has to be rooted in something that has an emotional impact, and that's the only thing that matters,” Johnson says, “Surprise is fine, but surprise by itself is cheap.”

Johnson even rolls back to the years to Star Wars’ big parental reveal to hammer home his point: “The emotional and deeply-rooted resonance of 'I am your father' is why we remember it. Not because, 'Oh my god, I never would have [guessed] that he was.”

I think we can all get caught up sometimes in the thicket of theories surrounding the core of a film like The Last Jedi. Sure, it’s fun to guess and prod the cast and crew a little when it comes to revealing a little more than they should but, in the history of storytelling, a good story never has been a great narrative because of one shock reveal.

Rey’s parents will probably be someone we know, but that shouldn’t be disappointing or delightful in and of itself. This is Rey’s story, not Rey’s parents’ story – and Rian Johnson is only too keen to point that out.

For more Rey reveals (remember, only focus on her reaction to these): there’s a possible look at how she gets her own lightsaber, as well as these new images showing her with Kylo Ren, who isn’t her dad. We think.

Image: Lucasfilm