Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 8 Parents J.J. Most Likely Wanted For Rey

Rey's lineage was a huge part of Abrams' trademark mystery box approach in The Force Awakens. Her parentage was shrouded in mystery, and many fans took this as a sign that she was a descendant of a core character of the saga. Thus, the Internet was treated to a full two years of tin-hat theorizing, speculating as to who Rey really was.

In the end, The Last Jedi revealed that Rey's parents were nobodies. As Kylo Ren oh-so-delicately put it, "They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You're nothing.".

Subsequently, the Internet exploded. The people who had been forming these theories for years (and went in solely hoping to see their theory proven as 'the right one') were sorely disappointed and pointed to this as proof that Last Jedi was ruining the lore(?).

BUT, in a recent interview, Simon Pegg (he of Unkar Plutt fame) revealed that he believes J.J. Abrams had other intentions in mind when it came to revealing Rey's parents.

His comments have reignited the debate, though keep in mind that if Abrams did, it was early in the process, as the director himself has clarified he had read Johnson's Last Jedi script (and loved it) well before he began post-production on Force Awakens.

Nevertheless, here are the options Abrams was most likely to have been mulling over.

Generally speaking, Abrams is an original trilogy kind of guy. He grew up on and fell in love with the original film and its subsequent sequels, so that's where his love for the franchise is most prominent. The Force Awakens had a never-ending stream of references to the original trilogy (especially A New Hope) but the prequel references were few and far between.

The things Abrams did embrace about the prequels were the things he knew fans would like. Having Kylo Ren mention the Clone Wars isn't going to offend any original trilogy purists nearly as much as, say, dropping a Jar Jar Binks reference. So he knew he was safe.

One of the most beloved and underrated characters in the prequel trilogy is Liam Neeson's Qui-Gon Jinn. In recent years, as Neeson has made the transition from a more traditional thespian to a full-blown action movie star, Qui-Gon's reputation has grown alongside him.

Having Rey be a descendant of Qui-Gon would have allowed Abrams to capitalize on this resurgence in popularity and would give Rey a legacy father, who was also a bit of a rule breaker.