Imagining a Better End to <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>
This post contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Earlier this week, the actor John Boyega riled up Star Wars fans by pointing out that in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, love is rarely kind. “Star Wars romance 😗👀🙂,” he tweeted, along with images of Rey and Kylo Ren—the hero and (mostly) villain of Disney’s trilogy that just concluded—battling. In one picture from the latest film, The Rise of Skywalker, Daisy Ridley’s Rey stabs Adam Driver’s Kylo with a light saber.
The tweet’s effect on Star Wars fandom wasn’t unlike that of Princess Leia’s thermal detonator on Jabba’s palace. Many die-hard viewers are sensitive about Rey and Kylo’s relationship, though the reasons for that sensitivity vary depending on the diehard. Ever since Darth Vader’s grandson invaded the mind of the scavenger from Jakku in 2015’s , some fans have “shipped”—slang for fixating on a hypothetical relation—the idea of Reylo, a.k.a. Rey and Kylo, getting together and bringing balance to the Force. Other fans have argued for the fiercely independent heroine and the murderous man-child to hook up, for the reasons hinted at in the Boyega tweet. Vocal contingents of both fan factions are critical of’s resolution: Kylo turns back to good, reclaims the name Ben Solo, helps Rey kill Emperor Palpatine, kisses Rey, and then immediately dies.
