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Daisy Ridley infuriates Star Wars fans with JJ Abrams revelation: 'Rey twist kept changing'

‘Every day more proof is surfacing on how Disney blew it,’ one fan tweeted

Jacob Stolworthy
Saturday 12 September 2020 10:33 EDT
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Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker - Trailer

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Star Wars fans are furious following Daisy Ridley's revelation that JJ Abrams kept changing a key plot point midway through filming.

The debate over the divisive 2019 film Rise of Skywalker was revived following an interview with the Rey star, who claimed that her character's lineage kept being chopped and changed.

One of the film's most controversial moments came when it was revealed that Rey is the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.

Her ancestry was teased way back in Abrams' The Force Awakens after it is revealed she has an affinity with the Force, just like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). 

However, Rian Johnson steered fans away from this idea in The Last Jedi, in which it's claimed that her ancestry is unimportant.

Fans felt that Abrams reintroducing the plot point in the trilogy’s final chapter was emblematic of the fact there was no clear story set out for the new series of films when Disney first announced them.

Backing this up is Ridley's reveal that the Palpatine twist was something Abrams himself was not sure of until very late on.

"At the beginning, there was toying with an Obi-Wan connection, and then it really went to that she was no one," she told Josh Gad as part of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

"When it came to episode nine, JJ pitched me the film and was like, 'So yeah, Palaptine's [your] grandaddy.' Then, two weeks later, he was like, 'Yeah, we're not sure.' So it kept changing. Even when I was filming, I wasn't sure what the answer was going to be."

Star Wars fans have reacted with fury on social media.

"Daisy Ridley was supposed to be Rey Kenobi, then Rey Nobody and then Rey Palpatine in the worst planned and written trilogy in the history of cinema," one person wrote, adding: "Kathleen Kennedy, @rianjohnson and @jjabrams , everyday more proof is surfacing on how you blew it."

Another angry fan wrote: "It’s just another sliver of proof that [Disney and Lucasfilm] had no idea what the f was going on with the sequel trilogy story."

One tweeter added: "Rey Palpatine wasn't planned, then neither was all of the other plot points built around it – let that sink in."

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