10 Moments In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker That Surprised Us All

Rey Is A Palpatine

TLJ had told us that Rey’s parents were nobodies, but we were fully expecting J.J. Abrams to retcon Rian Johnson’s explanation in some way and tie the heroine into some established family in the following movie. Sure enough, that did happen in Rise of Skywalker…but the exact family she’s a part of came as a big shock.

Though most had previously assumed Rey is a secret Skywalker or perhaps Kenobi or Solo over the years, TROS confirms that she is actually the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine (again, something that We Got This Covered first told you months ago). Apparently, he had a son who turned against the ways of the Sith and had a daughter with Villanelle from Killing Eve. They abandoned her on Jakku, not in exchange for money, like Kylo said in Episode VIII, but to protect her from her evil grandpa’s clutches.

Fair play to Abrams here, as he managed to pick the answer to the mystery of Rey’s family that packed the most punch. Being told her parents were unimportant in TLJ was pretty tough for her to hear, but discovering she’s descended from the worst man in the galaxy is even tougher.

General Hux Is A Traitor

In the early part of the film, the Resistance is being fed useful information by a key informant within the First Order of unknown identity. When Finn and Poe are to be executed, Hux rescues them and reveals he’s the mole. Not because he’s had a change of heart, though, but because he is desperate to stop Kylo Ren from succeeding.

Hux has always been the most loyal First Order soldier, so it came as a surprise that he was helping the Resistance. It makes sense, though – he wasn’t happy about Kylo killing Snoke in The Last Jedi and it’s been clear that he’s hated him since The Force Awakens. If Kylo is now the First Order, then of course he’d want the First Order to fail.

On a secondary note, it’s also shocking when Hux is unceremoniously killed off not long after this revelation. Though he attempts to cover his treachery, Allegiant General Pryde sees through him straight away and executes him with a blaster. This is certainly not the end that fans had foreseen for him.