10 Times Star Wars Gave Fans What Wanted (and They Hated It)

6. Connect Rey's Backstory To The Main Characters

The Book of Boba Fett
Lucasfilm

"Who was Rey?" That was a question we all asked when we learned she would serve as the new Star Wars trilogy's protagonist. Was she a Skywalker? A Kenobi? A Binks? Because everyone seems to be connected in George Lucas' saga, we knew Rey had to be the daughter, niece, or first cousin twice removed of another iconic character.

But in The Last Jedi, we learn Rey is the child of junk traders who sold her for drinking money. Basically, she was the daughter of nobody. Although some people were disappointed with this revelation, it was nice to let Rey forge her own path, rather than tie her to an established character.

But in The Rise of Skywalker, JJ Abrams reversed Rey's origin by revealing she was the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.

Being the devil's advocate, you could defend the decision to make Rey a relative to Palpatine, if it wasn't already established that she wasn't related to anybody important. Rey can be a relative to nobody or to a significant character, but she can't have it both ways. Even though this additional detail was an obvious attempt to please the masses, it ended up infuriating everybody.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows