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Star Wars Author Wanted to Turn Rey into a Jedi Droid in Episode IX


Credit: Lucasfilm

The sequel trilogy's main protagonist Rey (Skywalker) is without a doubt the most divisive Star Wars character there is and her "Mary Sue" treatment never sat well with a lot of fans. Apparently, longtime novelist Alan Dean Foster feels the same way about the character, to the point that he actually attempted to tweak major things about her backstory.

In a recent interview with Midnight's Edge, Foster shared his idea for Rey which would've taken place in Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker. According to him, he wanted to include a major plot twist in the character, making her part droid which would then explain her Force-abilities we saw in The Last Jedi.

Foster explains: "But I did things... [asking] 'How come Rey has more Force powers than anybody after running around on that ocean world for 24 hours, or whatever it was?' How can I explain that away? And can I somehow tie that into the fact that she was abandoned on her planet, on Jakku? Can I bring those two things together? And what I did was, she has a disease... that was not curable unless they replaced part of her brain. It was done with electronics so that actually she is part android, or part droid, as they say in Star Wars. And that gives her the ability to learn remarkably quickly and also enhances her existing Force powers, and that's how she could throw boulders around at the end of Episode 8."

He also added that the change would've addressed how Rey was able to communicate with BB-8 and other droids in the franchise. "Also, it allows her to be instantly simpatico with other droids. I thought this would be a really fun story element as well as explaining why and how she's able to do these remarkable things."

It would've been an odd yet interesting touch for sure but honestly, I don't know if that would've done the character any better. Rey showed a lot of promise in The Force Awakens and it's just so unfortunate how Lucasfilm was able to mishandle her along the way. There's really nothing we can do about it unless, of course, they decide to remove the sequel trilogy from the canon altogether.

Meanwhile, The Mandalorian's first and second seasons are available for streaming via Disney+.

Also Read:Mark Hamill Finally Scores Luke Skywalker's Tosche Station Power Converters After 43 Years

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