Now that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is out in the open and almost everyone has seen it, the filmmakers behind the massive blockbuster have started to open up about why they made the decisions they did.
We’ve heard a lot from director J.J. Abrams and writers Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasadan over the past few days, as the trio have been talking about all the various choices they had to make in regards to the story and characters.
Speaking of characters, there’s one in particular that’s quickly become a definite fan-favorite: Rey. Daisy Ridley’s female protagonist is by far one of the best parts about the film, and that’s mostly because her arc and the development of her character in general are extremely satisfying and well-executed. However, according to Arndt, the original plan for Rey was quite different when he first penned the script.
Speaking to EW, the writer had this to say (spoilers will follow):
Early on I tried to write versions of the story where [Rey] is at home, her home is destroyed, and then she goes on the road and meets Luke. And then she goes and kicks the bad guy’s ass. It just never worked and I struggled with this. This was back in 2012. It just felt like every time Luke came in and entered the movie, he just took it over. Suddenly you didn’t care about your main character anymore because, ‘Oh f–k, Luke Skywalker’s here. I want to see what he’s going to do.’
Arndt’s comments make a lot of sense. The Force Awakens is obviously Rey’s movie, and if they had Luke take on a larger role, he easily could have stolen the spotlight from her. The film needed to keep the focus on Rey if she’s to become the franchise’s new lead protagonist, and I think that they ultimately made the right choice in the way that they went with the character’s storyline.
Also interesting to note is that there was another subplot that was dropped, one which revolved around a “search for Darth Vader’s remains, or a quest to the underwater wreckage of the second Death Star to recover a key piece of history about sacred Jedi sites in the galaxy.” No reason was given for why it was scrapped, but it seems likely that there was just far too much packed into the film already.
Tell us, have you seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens yet? If so, do you feel that they did a good job with Rey’s storyline? Let us know by sounding off in the comments section below.
