Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 10 Design Secrets You Probably Didn't Know

3. The Guavian Death Gang Soldiers Are An Early Kylo Ren Design

Star Wars The Force Awakens Falcon Dish Jpg
Lucasfilm

It’s hard to imagine Kylo Ren wearing any other type of mask; it’s just such a striking, Star Wars-ian design, with influences from Darth Vader’s helmet and a front visor that's stylistically similar to Rey’s desert garb. That and it’s just so menacing. But to get to that design took a rather long time, with a galaxy-spanning range of ideas being brought up for the character.

When the identity of the “Jedi Killer” was unknown, one concept was for him to have a red helmet marked with a big black circle, something that fell by the wayside as the character became more defined.

It wasn’t a total waste of time, however – the image turned up in The Force Awakens as the costume of the Guavian Death Gang who unsuccessfully try to claim their debt from Han (you think after 30+ years people would learn that rarely happens).

Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.