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There's a lot of debate on what should've happened in the sequels, specifically with who Rey should've been—a Nobody, a Skywalker/Solo, a Kenobi, or something consistent from the get-go—but I always go back to thinking about what the Creator's original intent was for the character.

A lot has come out about his trilogy, mainly just the larger broad strokes of the galaxy with the politics and cosmology, but specifically the statement: “I imagined the saga to be about the father, the son, and the grandchildren.” This seems to narrow it down a lot when trying to figure out who Rey was in Lucas' original drafts. From the start, Han and Leia’s son would be in the mix as a young Jedi who is seduced to the dark side, with that character evolving/splitting into both Finn and Kylo Ren. With Rey, the most logical assumption is that she is Han and Leia’s daughter. Between multiple references to the offspring being compared to Jaina and Jacen, and Lucas stating that Luke would not be married or have kids, this narrows down the trajectory.

But I keep coming back to another cool possibility that may be controversial (read the title again for a guess). Despite being critiqued for having no overarching plan for the trilogy, it's been a very consistent attribute for Rey to be an unrelated nobody who functions as this story’s Skywalker. Before Rian Johnson had Rey declare herself a nobody in TLJ, Abrams was also attached to the idea of Rey as a nobody to evoke the same starting point as Luke from the original trilogy. With that, he basically sets up that same reveal in TLJ, with Maz Kanata’s quote, “The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead,” laying out a found-family trajectory for the character. Before J.J. came back to the project to do a course correction in TROS, Colin Trevorrow carried on this same message in his version of Episode IX: *Duel of the Fates*. To quote Pablo Hidalgo from a 2014 entry in *The Art of The Rise of Skywalker* book: “She's our Skywalker, but not actually a Skywalker. That way, the term Skywalker is more like a metaphor.”

I'd partially accept the idea that this was a direction driven by the new creatives and executives as a marketing gimmick that fit their agenda. But then I return to Michael Arndt, George Lucas' chosen screenwriter for Episode VII. He wanted Rey (originally called Taryn, then Thea) to be the most isolated and disenfranchised character so she would have the most character growth and the greatest journey across the films. From day one, it seemed like they wanted the lead of the film to be a nobody, despite the claims Lucas made regarding the trilogy being about the grandchildren.

Then I started thinking about it the other way around: maybe this *was* the intent. I mean, Kylo already fulfills the grandchild character type, but it is stated multiple times as "grandchild**ren**," implying multiple offspring. But again, one of the two new characters designed as the main protagonists for the films is unrelated to Anakin, seemingly from day one. If not Han and Leia’s daughter, I think Rey was always supposed to be an unrelated nobody effectively adopted into the Skywalker family, being the last one to carry on the legacy of both the family and the Jedi. I think it fits with George Lucas' mythological motifs, I think it reflects the sort of era Lucas was developing for the sequels, and I think his real life acts as an inspiration for this as well.

It's well known that Luke Skywalker is, for the most part, directly based on George Lucas himself—like his OC, basically. The story has worked as a way to portray Lucas' worldview and upbringing, and also as a way to meditate on his life choices and theoretically his divorce. If Luke is a somewhat direct correlation to Lucas, then the children of the new trilogy could reflect his actual real-world children, who happen to be adopted. George Lucas has children, all of whom are adopted. With that, I think it's reasonable to assume his comfort with exploring the themes of found family in the saga. Rey could've started out as an orphan who, in seeking out Luke and training to be a Jedi under his and Leia's tutelage, finds a new family and becomes an honorary, adopted Skywalker.

This idea of passing on the family name to an unrelated mentee is not a new idea for Star Wars—or at least, it almost wasn't. For Episode I, before Qui-Gon was the mentor to a young Obi-Wan, it was the other way around. Obi-Wan was the old mentor with Qui-Gon as the Padawan. When they duel Maul and the mentor figure is mortally wounded, Qui-Gon takes on his master's name to carry on his legacy, becoming Obi-Wan Kenobi. With Lucas having a tendency to reuse old ideas, I think it's somewhat likely he would repeat this setup in his sequels with an orphan scavenger seeking to become a Jedi.

On top of that, the mythic motifs are already there. The films take a lot of cues from ancient myth, as per *The Hero with a Thousand Faces*: Heracles, Oedipus, Taoism, Buddhism, Angels and Devils, and most notably, Arthurian myth. Luke as King Arthur, Han as Lancelot, Leia as Guinevere. The sequels carry on this translation almost to a T: Kylo Ren as Mordred, and Luke as this reclusive Fisher King archetype in self-imposed exile. According to Lucas' original plans, he would've had Darth Talon as a primary antagonist responsible for seducing Han and Leia’s son to the dark side, thus fulfilling the Morgan le Fay role.

If this trilogy was meant to follow the story of Arthur's return to confront his nephew, it makes sense to also have Rey as the primary protagonist fulfilling the Percival figure. A lower-class, unrelated knight of Arthur's Round Table is the one to find the Grail and return it to Luke to heal the land.

And if we want to go into theoretical territory, we can see how Rey as this nobody figure works well within the post-Iraq War-inspired setting Lucas intended for the sequels. I can see how being an orphan displaced by the previous conflict reflects the era in the same way Luke was an isolated farm boy during the reign of the Empire, or Anakin a slave during the waning days of the Republic. To me, if not an updated version of Jaina Solo, I think George Lucas would've had Rey be a nobody anyway. Done right, I think it would've been a perfect narrative cap to the story.

Lucas Sequels Research

Original Obi Wan Twist

Zachariah Scott is a Cinematic Artist who work on Zero company since 2023. Here is his story with more from Stephen Totilo below

More info from Stephen Totilo

"Last week was meant to be a moment of triumph for Bit Reactor, the Maryland-based game studio founded in 2021 with ambitions to create a great new tactical combat game.

On Thursday, August 27, Bit Reactor’s debut title, Star Wars Zero Company, released to stellar reviews. And, from the Gamescom show in Cologne, Germany, studio co-founder Greg Foertsch was giving interviews discussing what the studio’s next game may be.

But for many developers on the game, launch has been bittersweet. Fans love it. Critics prefer it to most recent Star Wars games. Zero Company, which is out for PS5, Xbox Series consoles and PC, is the top-selling game on Steam.

Much of the team that made it, however, is currently going without pay. They were furloughed, just weeks ahead of the game’s launch.

A rep for Bit Reactor confirmed to Game File today that the studio had furloughed many of its workers prior to the game’s release. They said it was a difficult decision and one that had been made before it was clear how launch would go. The rep emphasized that the call to do this was Bit Reactor’s alone (meaning not from publisher EA nor Star Wars license holder Disney).

While the rep declined to comment on the scale of the furloughs, a previously unreported lawsuit brought by studio co-founder Alison Kelly in 2024 noted in a filing from August 12 of this year that Bit Reactor “has furloughed most of its employees and terminated contractors…”

One source told Game File the furloughs impacted 80% of the team; another referred to there only being a skeleton crew left on Bit Reactor’s active payroll, ready to address any of Zero Company’s post-launch bugs.

The issue is that Bit Reactor, a studio formed in 2021, had run out of most of its money just ahead of the launch of its first game.

Over the weekend, Zachariah Scott, a senior technical artist who worked at Bit Reactor from early 2023 until an acrimonious exit this past May, said on LinkedIn that the studio was “concealing the fact that the team was Furloughed weeks ago.”

Reached by phone today, Scott told Game File that he spoke to nearly a dozen Bit Reactor workers over the weekend. “Everybody has essentially the same story, which is, ‘Yeah, I got furloughed three weeks ago.”

The Bit Reactor rep told Game File that the studio hoped to bring furloughed workers back with restored pay, suggesting that a successful launch of the game could be impactful.

Scott told Game File that workers he spoke to were less confident that even if there were returns, that all who were furloughed would get their old jobs again."

https://www.gamefile.news/p/star-wars-zero-company-bit-reactor-furloughs-lawsuit

The next I’m sure will get Sabine Wren or either Mando

This year I collected, Vader, K2, Paz and Marrok.

I posted this also on the game's sub, but thought people here might enjoy, too 😄

(Though first thing I saw here was the lay offs at the developer .... ugh, the corporate games industry sucks at the moment.)

Still ...

I'm not deep into the game yet (Cycle 7), but playing it, and hearing the barks from units and some dialogue ... why do I get the feeling someone on the game is familiar with Ben Burtt's Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide?

I picked it up when it came out in 2001 and it's one of my favorite Star Wars books. And it contains phrases like "Dopo mee gusha, peedunkey?" (Do you feel lucky, punk?) or "stoopas" (fools) that we hear in game, though IIRC the full phrase given was "Imperiolo stoopas" (Imperial fools). (The latter also showed up in the old Jedi Knight games).

The book also points out that Huttese doesn't have a word for "thank you" (something reference in game dialogue, in that Hutts don't have ways to express gratitude).

Love it when game devs draw on the more obscure bits of the published Star Wars material 😄

For reference: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic_Phrase_Book_%26_Travel_Guide_(real-life_book))

Essentially, it's a phrase book written by Ben Burtt (though in universe by Ebenn Q3 Baobab, who was Ben Burtt's cameo character in Phantom Menace, with the Baobab family playing a major role in the Droids cartoon). It has phrases and travel tips about Hutts, Ewoks, Droids, Wookiees, etc., all wonderfully illustrated by Sergio Aragones. The back part has Burtt explaining his work and how he found some of the languages for the movies.

I used to browse the book a lot (and it, Tales from Jabba's Palace and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina are the only "old" books I still have ... shelf space and all that), and some of the lines are just etched into my brain. Especially, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" because it felt so weird to read that phrase in a Star Wars publication, and then stumbling across it occasionally has always been fun.

The teeny Rotta’s are around 1.5cm
He fits pretty well with black series scale (unfortunately I don’t have a clone wars Ahsoka to hold him, so I went with Mando!)

Would you do it as a Republican or Separatist? Only going from political ideas, not necessarily serving Jedi or Sith, you're working for the people, no Force powers. Which side will be yours and how would you navigate the delicate politics of war to ensure your side's victory. You are not enabled out-of-verse information, once in, at the beginning of the war. You'll have your position, the knowledge you require and your external knowledge of other franchises but not from Star Wars itself. Assume an amalgam of EU and Clone Wars.

In the unlikely event that Sheev ever stood before a court to answer for his crimes, what do you think the prosecution's case would be? We don't know much about the legislation of the Old and New Republics, but what do you think the charges might be based on existing real-world law and jurisprudence?

Started with just one that being Din Djarins, then Vader, then an Artillery Storm Trooper and well it went from there.

I’m a blatant seppy apologist through and through. Two reasons for this, on one hand I do think the Systems that joined were in the right(it’s not like they knew about the sith agenda), on the other hand I love how evil the leaders can be. So anyway, my favorite characters: I like Ventress, but mainly early ventress. I like Grievous when he gets to shine. Also really liked Tawni Ames despite how little screentime she got. And I like Kalani. But, most of all? I love the droids. And I feel so sorry for them. Poor guys, they’re so polite.

Yay or nay ?

For me, I’d want to see something that involves Luke, a “Tales of the Skywalkers” kind of thing. We’ve got Anakin, Padmé and Leia as the Skywalker family so far in the Clone Wars animation style, so we’d need something to have Luke appear. Plus, I’d even want to see Rey in Clone Wars animation too.

Another one I’d want would be a “Tales of the Mandalorians”, where we could see more of Mandalore after Order 66, the Purge, and the early adventures of Din Djarin leading to when we first see him.

What would you want to see?

I really like how starting from 2008 (I forget what role he had in 2007 for The Force Unleashed) Dee Bradley Baker has been a part of Star Wars, whether it be as the Clone Troopers or as another character, in the shows, games and movies. I thought he didn’t have any Star Wars roles last year, but he was Darth Nubs. I know he’s a voice actor who’s everywhere, but it’s impressive to me how he’s been at it for nearly 20 years by now, and always finds a way to still be involved in the franchise. Though, did it start in 2008 with Clone Wars, or in 2007 with The Force Unleashed that he appeared in yearly Star Wars projects? And do you think he’ll miss a year, or keep going?

We know that the main character of George Lucas sequel trilogy would have been a young woman who set off to find Luke Skywalker. This character (named Taryn, Thea or Kira) would originate from a junkyard planet, and was likely intended as the offspring of Han and Leia.

I’m wondering what planet she was meant to be living on in George Lucas version of the sequels.

There is concept art from Ardnt’s version when he was working off Lucas treatments of her exploring the wreckage of the Death Star II, so I’m thinking it may have been Endor?

I'm working my way through the franchise chronologically for the 100th time, and Solo was my next stop, followed by Patterson's Cut Kenobi, then Jedi Survivor. Having stolen the TV from her today when she didn't notice it, she started watching and taking some interest in the movie with me, and what she reacted most to was;

• Why does that hairy brown thing? Is he an alien?
• Chewbacca? (I thought to see if could teach her the name), she said "That's a weird name", though she couldn't pronounce it.
• Why doesn't he speak Norwegian (our language) or English? Can't I make the movie our language so she can understand too?
• Is the lady on the bridge alive?
• That alien (who was looking at Han's cards)'s was scary. He had so many eyes.
• Then asked if there was many aliens in Star Wars (No, there's none.) -- She had no problems with the droids, even as they were killing each other. And no problem with Lando.
• Last thing on my mind, She didn't like what the outside of Millennium Falcon looked like. Thought it looked ugly. But she liked the inside of the ship.

Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.

I don't mean stories about Dooku and Greivous etc. I mean we need to see stories from the perspective of senators and citizens from separatist worlds. People who are not evil and genuinely believe the republic is bad. A book from the perspective of a member of the Separatist Parliament or an Andor like series about some separatist fighters during the Clone Wars could be great and a new and refreshing take on Star Wars

Mine would be BB-8 for workshop, crafting and repair work, and BD-1 for exploration and medical aid.

Hi ladies and gents,

I need your guys's honest opinions on what films i should show my gf to convince her to watch more star wars haha.

So for context, we agreed that if i watched Full Metal Alchemist with her, she would agree to watch 2 star wars movies of my chosing and if she likes them she would watch more.

Now the dilema is i need to think and choose 2 movies that will

1: Convince her to watch more

2: Make sense chronologically

And 3: Make an actual decent viewing without having to explain a lot.

My initial thought was rouge one and maybe a new hope to tie it in. Or possibly some of the clone wars? What do you think?

Took forever to get these pics (unfortunately Zero Company doesn't have a dedicated photo mode so it was challenging to angle both Hawks and Rex just right) but it was worth it, got to fulfill my childhood dream of aura-farming with the Republic's best!

And his mission was easily my favorite in the game so far. Rex's resistance movement goes way beyond what we saw in The Bad Batch with his clone insurgents even teaming up with the Umbarans, really nice growth for Rex to see him realize that the Umbarans were never their true enemy despite what happens in TCW. Overall this whole section just felt like a beautiful love letter to both The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch with how it continues the overall clone storyline. Hope we get a resolution for what happens to Rex's group eventually.

Also Rex and Hawks got to bond over hating Pong Krell which is funny.

...Palpatine, within the film. A pathological liar. Was it a lie?

If we'd assume it to be a lie, we would have the same film we have now.

But in that case, the parents we see in TROS were not her biological parents.

And this would fit with Palpatine's son not being FS. Kylo equated him with Leia while comparing his own lineage to Rey's. But Leia was FS. Did Kylo know Dathan was not FS? Did Palpatine tell him that?

Also, what about Anakin saying to her 'bring back the balance as I did'. This sounds like Chosen One. Like fatherlessness.

But not like motherlessness. Rey's predessors as SW proragonists were Luke (OT) and Anakin (PT). If you focus on their origins, who would have thought Anakin had no father in 1983-99? A magical birth. And who would have thought Luke's mother had died magically -'for reasons we can't explain', so close to Shmi's 'I can't explain what happened' to Qui-Gon?

Here's a theory.

Dyad is a sith doctrine. The dyad did not exist until Rey was conceived. Maybe little Ben -already corrupted- was used to conceive a child -'balance'- and therefore the dyad. Maybe a woman was 'raped' by the dyad sith (the anti-Palpatine sith), and the woman died when she fave birth. Or rather 'died', like Anakin when he became Vader.

Maybe the emperor's wayfinder had been her wayfinder. With the DS wreackage as her Mustafar. Unlike Vader, she would have walked away from being an agent of evil: a defeat against Palps. But she would still be alive out there. 10 years or so older than Kylo, ten years or so younger than Luke. A 40-ish woman in TROS. A woman in her 50s in Rey's film, like Luke&Leia when they died (Shmi died aged 50)