The mystery surrounding Rey’s parentage has gripped the Star Wars community ever since the credits rolled on The Force Awakens and even now, three months out from The Last Jedi‘s release, fans continue to pour over each and every morsel of information in their search for answers.
Perhaps that’s for the best; after all, why spoil that oh-so-precious moment of watching those revelations unfold on the big screen? Even still, The Last Jedi‘s rumor mill continues to operate at full tilt.
The latest piece of speculation began to gain traction earlier this week, when The Ellen DeGeneres Show posted a candid interview with Billie Lourd, daughter of the late, great Carrie Fisher. In it, Lourd reflected on her time spent playing Resistance Lieutenant Connix, and what it was like acting alongside her mother, an all-around Star Wars legend. Not only that, but the up-and-coming actress also confirmed that early on in The Force Awakens‘ development, she auditioned for the vacant role of Rey before it ultimately went to Daisy Ridley.
That’s not all that surprising, really, but fans have stipulated that Billie Lourd was selected as a potential candidate for Rey because she is, in fact, the daughter of Carrie Fisher. It’s admittedly a bit of a stretch, as we can’t imagine Lucasfilm and/or J.J. Abrams would allow art to imitate life in fear of disclosing spoilers, but there are those who believe that this comment from Lourd all but confirms that Rey is the trueborn daughter of Leia – and, by effect, a Skywalker.
“Abrams called me to come in for Star Wars because he couldn’t find someone for the lead,” said the actress. “He ended up finding Daisy Ridley, who’s an incredible actress—so talented! But I went in and he ended up giving me this tiny role with a couple lines. I was super excited.”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is, at the time of writing, exactly three months away from its long-anticipated theatrical launch. Director Rian Johnson has been coy when soliciting questions about Rey’s past (and rightly so) but what we do know is that the filmmaker won’t be picking up the reins for Episode IX – that duty has been assigned to J.J. Abrams, with the new deadline being December 20th, 2019.
