Star Wars: Rey's Original Name Was Supposed To Be Keera

Lucasfilm has managed to give us a whole new bunch of likeable protagonists for the Star Wars sequel trilogy with Daisy Ridley's Rey taking the lead. As it turns out, Rey was never the original name for the character, and she was very close to being called "Keera".

According to CinemaBlend, Ridley herself confirmed:

"[J.J. Abrams] told me it was meant to be Keera. And then, when we were already shooting in Abu Dhabi, he told me that he was thinking of going with Rey, which I thought was frickin' awesome. But because I had to audition so much and everything, I never really had a conversation with J.J. about it until I had read the script."

With the whole mystery behind Rey's backstory, it's possible that her real name isn't Rey at all—much like how Jon Snow's real name is actually Aegon Targaryen in Game of Thrones. Keera might actually be another fake name, but I really like how simple and local Rey sounds when I think about it.

Also, it's interesting to note that Emilia Clarke's character is rumored to be named "Kura" (formerly thought to be "Kira"). I guess the name just sounded perfect for the universe. Why shouldn't Lucasfilm try to salvage it for another character?

With Star Wars: The Last Jedi delving more into Luke Skywalker's history from the past 30 years, we're probably going to get more light shed on Rey's backstory as well. Hopefully Lucasfilm still keeps some of the biggest reveals for Star Wars Episode IX though.

Daisy Ridley returns as Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi which comes out Dec. 15.

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