Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 8 Major Revelations From The Filmmakers
6. Why R2-D2 Woke Up When He Did
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a movie which has left us all with a lot of unanswered questions, but among the biggest has to be how and why R2-D2 woke up when he did. Earlier in the movie, C-3PO makes it clear that the beloved droid has been in low power mode since Luke Skywalker's disappearance, but almost immediately after the Starkiller Base is destroyed, he springs back to life with a map to the Jedi's location. It all seems mighty convenient, but J.J. Abrams has now offered an explanation in regards to both why R2 wakes up at this pivotal moment and how exactly he had the rest of the map needed to track down Luke. "The idea was that in that scene where R2 plugged in, he downloaded the archives of the Empire, which was referenced by Kylo Ren," Abrams said referring to the scene in A New Hope when the droid plugged himself into the Death Star. However, why did he wake up? "BB-8 comes up and says something to him, which is basically, Ive got this piece of a map, do you happen to have the rest? The idea was, R2 who has been all over the galaxy, is still in his coma, but he hears this. And it triggers something that would ultimately wake him up." So, it's still massively convenient, but it kind of works. Either way, this is the official explanation!
