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‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’: J.J. Abrams And Writers Talk Kylo Ren In A Franchise Altering Scene [Spoiler]

By Tony Smejek
Published on: 13:24 PST, Dec 21, 2015

Writers of the American Guild discussed Star Wars: The Force Awakens in a post-screening question and answer session with director J.J. Abrams and co-writers Michael Arndt and Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi’s Lawrence Kasdan. An interview with Entertainment Weekly had all three revealing details on what led to the most shocking act in The Force Awakens. Be warned, if you continue on, you will be spoiled!

Apparently, there’s the consideration of what someone is truly capable of, be it good or evil. That being said, in Star Wars, there comes a time or “coming of age” of a character. With John Boyega’s former-storm trooper character, Finn, came a realization in his life that he may be better off doing something else other than committing war atrocities under the order of Captain Phasma.

With The Force Awakens actress Daisy Ridley as Rey, her character comes under duress when her survival instincts kick in as her and Finn are on hot pursuit by The First Order. At first she’s a scavanger, barely scraping by on rationing food for sold salvage and now joins Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron along with the Resistance.

Entertainment Weekly continued on comparing real world physics, citing “potential energy” where stored energy is accumulated over time in an object until it’s put to use.

In the Star Wars universe, the Force is comparable to just that. In this case, instead of objects it’s people, but when energy is finally unleashed, a tipping point if you will with the potential of the character going to “the dark side” or the light.

“In our real-world physics, that’s the term used for the stored-up power that an object has yet to unleash, and in Star Wars, it’s basically the same thing, but applied to people — the likelihood of a character to rise toward the light or sink into the darkness. Every Star Wars story is a coming-of-age tale.”

The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams and his writers had to come to some kind of method by which to demonstrate Kylo Ren’s level of evil. By adding shock value to the story and forever giving Ren the stigma of an epitome of a new kind of evil by impaling Han Solo. Fans might think this might be comparable to Ben Kenobi giving up his life and letting Darth Vader strike him down. An act of love perhaps? Martyring himself?

One would probably surmise that Han was taking a serious risk even approaching Kylo Ren holding a deadly light saber. Perhaps Solo was aware of the consequences, too. This was likely Abrams’ way of going out with the old and in with the new as a method of introducing an evil character to the Star Wars universe.

“Star Wars had the greatest villain in cinema history. So, how you bring a new villain into that world is a very tricky thing. We knew we needed to do something f*****g bold. The only reason why Kylo Ren has any hope of being a worthy successor is because we lose one of the most beloved characters.”

Now, in The Force Awakens comes the cementing and the finality of the villainous character played by Adam Driver. Even Abrams found shooting that scene rather troubling, according to Polygon. Harrison Ford had no hard feelings whatsoever in regards to the killing of his character. In fact, he was rather “nonchalant” about it.

“To see Harrison reach out and touch Adam. I know this sounds stupid, but literally watching it, I forgot — I forgot that he wasn’t his son. He did it so beautifully.”

Now, Star Wars 8 is upcoming and being helmed by Breaking Bad and Looper’s Rian Johnson and scheduled for release come May 26, 2017. Since Kylo Ren already “broke bad,” what kind of style do we expect to see coming from Johnson?

[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images Entertainment]

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