It may be only a matter of a few months until the first official Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One , hits theaters, but The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams has a different story in mind that he’d like to see, one that turns a little more toward the dark side of the Force.
Abrams made the comments recently while speaking to Collider during a press day for Star Trek Beyond . Praising Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and her handling of the Star Wars franchise , Abrams revealed what he personally would like to see as the anthology series of films are rolled out over the next few years.
“I gotta say Kathy Kennedy, who’s running it all, she seems to be pushing all the right buttons. There isn’t something that I’d love to see—I guess the one thing I would say is there’s a Knights of Ren story that I think would be pretty cool to tell.”
J.J. Abrams on the Knights of Ren backstory and true identity of Snoke https://t.co/mijpvAgAXk pic.twitter.com/VRX0CLJ77n
— HitFix (@HitFix) July 20, 2016
Star Wars fans were first introduced to the Knights of Ren during the run-up to The Force Awakens , when concept art detailing the organization leaked from the film’s production, as the Inquisitr noted at the time. When the film was released last year, however, the Knights of Ren surprisingly played almost no role in it, appearing only briefly during Rey’s Force-induced vision.
Knights of Ren – bring it on!!! #StarWars @fatkyloren @KyloGirlfriend @Svenn1968 @KyloRen46 @Kylo_R3n pic.twitter.com/629druK5Rx
— Mark Austin (@BobaFettANHSE) July 22, 2016
A somewhat shadowy organization affiliated with the dark side, the Knights of Ren were active in the Star Wars universe during the years between the Galactic Civil War and The Force Awakens . Though Disney has yet to fully flesh out the new canon timeline of this period, Rey’s vision revealed to fans that the Knights of Ren were at least partially responsible for the destruction of Luke Skywalker’s nascent Jedi order, and present during the events that sent him into hiding. Though they were commanded by Supreme Leader Snoke through Kylo Ren (who Snoke refers to as the “master” of the Knights of Ren, during the only other scene in which they are mentioned), it is unclear if any other members of the group possessed Force-sensitive abilities, or whether they were simply loyal to Ben Solo and his dark side alter ego.
Return by D Neville //Kylo and the Knights of Ren. #StarWars https://t.co/PlVun3exd0 pic.twitter.com/IA7V180ksk
— My Star Wars Blog (@my_starwars) June 13, 2016
Very little is known about the plot of Star Wars: Episode VIII , yet as Metro points out, it is possible that the Knights of Ren will see their backstory fleshed out in some way. Outside of the core saga films, fans could also find the Knights of Ren further explained either in Lucasfilm’s universe-building books, or in one of the upcoming anthology films. So far, there are only a handful of anthology movies that have been announced, including Rogue One and a young Han Solo movie, which is set to star Alden Ehrenreich. Both of those films are set decades before the events of The Force Awakens , however, so it remains unclear whether any of the future anthology films could involve the Knights of Ren (especially since it is also unclear exactly how long the group has been operating in the background of the Star Wars saga).
In the meantime, fans have only a few short months to wait for their next dose of Star Wars , as Rogue One hits theaters in December, and Episode VIII recently concluded its principal photography ahead of a planned release in late 2017.
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
