Lucasfilm Rey and Kylo Ren on Star Wars.
Rian Johnson, director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, revealed what Rey and Kylo Ren saw when their hands touched in that iconic scene in Episode 8. He commented on what was going on in the character’s minds during an interview with author Sariah Wilson.
Rian Johnson Said They Both Saw Their Futures, But Misread What They Saw
The scene where Kylo Ren and Rey touch hands through the Force, which you can watch above, is often debated among fans. The scene was so powerful that Rey cried, but what exactly did the two of them see? And how did it impact their moments in the rest of the film and the film to come?
Sariah Wilson, USA Today bestselling author, interviewed Rian Johnson and shared the most interesting parts of her interview on Twitter. Wilson shared on Twitter that she got to speak with Johnson after winning two charity auctions that included Zoom calls with Johnson and Daisy Ridley, who portrayed Rey.
In her interview with Johnson, she specifically asked what the two saw when they touched hands.
I asked Rian Johnson when Kylo & Rey touch hands, what did they see? Because they both had visions & it was enough for her to ship herself to him and he killed Snoke for her.
Again, he likes some degree of interpretation. The essence of it is that she, besides kind of connecting
Wilson wrote in a series of tweets:
I asked Rian Johnson when Kylo & Rey touch hands, what did they see? Because they both had visions & it was enough for her to ship herself to him and he killed Snoke for her.
Again, he likes some degree of interpretation. The essence of it is that she, besides kind of connecting directly to their humanity, he loves the notion of why these two people connect is that they have so much in common in that they are both incredibly powerful and both have this disconnect from the authority that they think is going to give them purpose to that power. That’s why the connection between them is so strong and he loved the way Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley played it and said you can’t ask for more.
The reason she went to him, the reason she had that faith, is what she says to Luke in the next scene – she saw that if she goes to Kylo, he will turn. While Kylo never expresses it, Rian imagines he saw a similar thing. He saw that she will join him. And so they both saw a connection between them. The problem is they both slightly misread it. He said that as I’m aware, since I write about romantic relationships, as so often happens, you see one thing and it doesn’t make it untrue but it’s true in a slightly different way than you expected.
He was using his hands to illustrate his point, like Kylo and Rey were parallel to each other but ultimately arrive at separate conclusions. So everyone who thought Reylo saw a future where they were together, you were right. They just both misunderstood what that would mean/look like.
Johnson Left Several Storylines Open-Ended for the Next Movie
And laughingly asked me what that was for. I told him I had a lot of feelings about that ending and then showed him my Ben Solo Deserved Better T-shirt, which made him laugh more.
He explained that it was very much a full hand-off between 7 and 8, just as it was from 8 to 9
In the same interview, Johnson revealed that he didn’t know that Ben Solo was going to die at the end of the next movie, which was directed by J.J. Abrams. He said he tried to “tee up” a lot of elements that could be played out in the next movie, but he wasn’t trying for any specific outcome.
Wilson wrote in a series of tweets:
He explained that it was very much a full hand-off between 7 and 8, just as it was from 8 to 9… Rian did his best to tee up a bunch of things and tried to bring 8 to a point where there were lots of places the story could go. He didn’t want to be unfair to the next director and leave a lot of possibilities. He wasn’t trying for a specific outcome for the end of the series, ‘But to have lots of dramatic potential’ for 9. He answered my question again by saying he didn’t know whether Kylo would live or die, then quickly corrected himself to say he didn’t know whether *Ben* would live or die, and how the series would resolve.
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Director Reveals What Rey & Kylo Ren Saw When They Touched Hands