Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to arrive later this year and both Lucasfilm and Disney are keeping a lot of information close to the vest. One of the most intriguing mysteries is just who some of the newcomers are and if they are related to the returning characters we already know and love.
Prior to the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney, there was a vast expanded universe through other mediums like a bevy of books. Within these, we were introduced to plenty of characters like Mara Jade, who married Luke Skywalker and their son Ben Skywalker.
There were a few more children on the Solo side, via Han Solo and Princess Leia, the twins Jaina and Jacen, along with their younger brother Anakin. The children played a major role in the novels, with Jacen becoming one of the big bads of one of the series as Darth Caedus.
With the children being such a major part of the expanded universe, instantly fans wanted to grab onto the belief that we’d see similar outcomes in the new movies, even with the expanded universe completely out of canon now. It is very possible that we see characters show up with the same names as from some of the books, but the main ones we know of so far do not share any of them.
Rey is the main female protagonist that seems a lot like Luke from the trailers we’ve seen so far. A lot of the speculation however has been that she is the daughter of Han and Leia. In addition, Kylo Ren is the very mysterious bad guy in the movie that many have tried to tie to the Solo family as well. The belief by many is that Rey and Kylo Ren will take a role similar to that of Jaina and Jacen in the expanded universe, but would they really reuse that story here or are fans just hoping to hold onto a piece of the now gone expanded universe?
According to Making Star Wars, their sources tell them a few different things on the topic. One said that none of the new main characters being introduced are the descendants of either Luke or Han and Leia, while another specifically just say Rey is not a Solo.
One other source said that the movie itself doesn’t answer at all whether Rey is a Solo, but it wouldn’t surprise them at all, as it does present the idea of it. This makes you think that if one of the new characters is a Solo or Skywalker, maybe it takes the path of Luke and isn’t revealed until later. The only reason I would say this is kind of unlikely though is that these characters almost have to interact in some way with the potential parents in the movie, unlike Luke that did not truly face off against Darth Vader until the end of Empire Strikes Back.
With this movie likely serving as somewhat of a passing of the torch to the younger protagonists, it is hard to believe that they would go so far against the expanded universe as to have either Luke or Han and Leia have no children, as they would almost certainly have to get in on the action that will be going down against the Empire, whether on the good or bad side.
While San Diego Comic-Con would have been expected to have a major Force Awakens blow out this week, instead they are holding back with what is said to be a smaller panel with no new trailer or footage revealed. It’s possible we get more details on some of the characters there, but I doubt they’d reveal something as big as the parentage of of something like Rey or Kylo Ren quite yet. Make sure to stay tuned regardless as we will let you know if they reveal anything important this weekend.
