Since the first Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer, I’ve been dang excited about the new movie, which is finally coming out this December, and haven’t shied away from news from the set, interviews, videos and the wonderful SDCC panel. However, I haven’t focused too much on coming up with theories on what could happen in the movie. That is, until this week. This week, some details and hints were released by the production and a theory fit into place in my brain. Either I’m absolutely brilliant … or this is the most obvious thing in the world and everyone will figure or has figured it out.
So, as I mentioned above, there have been new details officially released about the movie in the last month or so. Part of that is the set of new photos that came out in the last week. With those photos, they dropped some hints about the new characters that make up the main cast. The most intriguing thing I took from it was how JJ Abrams said that they’ve been keeping both Rey and Finn’s last names a secret.
If both characters’ last names aren’t being revealed on purpose, the answer seems to be that you’d recognize their last names. For a while now I’ve guessed that scrappy scavenger Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) is actually Han and Leia’s daughter. This new hint about her last name backs up that idea, as does the fact that Han’s prominence on the new poster suggests he’s going to be a big part of Rey and Finn’s adventure. There is of course the possibilty that she’s Luke’s daughter or the child of someone else from older movies (Wedge Antilles is still a long shot), but for now let’s just put it out there that Rey Solo and/or Rey Organa is a distinct possibility.
Now we get to Finn, played by John Boyega (who, sidenote, I finally saw in Attack the Block and if you aren’t pumped about him being in Star Wars, check out Attack the Block and come back to me) and this makes it a little easier. After all, if his last name is one we’d recognize and there are only a handful of black characters from the previous films, it narrows it down a bit. So I’m just going to say it.
I’m guessing Finn is Finn Calrissian.
Again, he could be related to Mace Windu or one of the not white character found in the stories outside the movies (like Star Wars Rebels, for instance), but considering Lando is the most prominent black Star Wars character, I’d put good money down that Finn is Lando’s son.
I have some varying thoughts about this.
The first is that it’s kind of frustrating to have Finn be related to who was for a long time the “only black guy in Star Wars.” I liked the idea of this new guy being thrown into the fray and having no connections to the last generation of rebels. Not every black person is directly related, you know? Also there’s something interesting about a kid who has promise in the force but isn’t the son of someone.

Here’s what does work about this scenerio — think of the potential for Finn and Rey. We’ve already seen several photos and clips in the trailer featuring them working together. There’s that spine-tingling moment of Rey holding out her hand to Finn on the ground and Finn, after hesitating only a second, takes it. Everything seems to say these two and their adventure together are at the core of The Force Awakens — imagine if it turns out that these two unlikely partners are the children of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Our two young heroes, by coincidence or by fate, creating a bond their own fathers had. The parallel between the old generation and the new. During the SDCC panel, the cast was asked if they see themselves as part of the light side of the force or the dark side. Boyega said he’d see himself more as a smuggler and Ridley, who was sitting right next to Boyega, said she’d be his copilot. If that isn’t a hint, folks, I don’t know what is.
I fully admit that there’s a chance I am totally wrong with my hypothesis – maybe in six months I’ll look back on this post and laugh at how very wrong I was about my predictions. And I also fully admit that this prediction could be super obvious and ten other blogs have already suggested this. That said, I look forward to December and seeing if I’m right about this … and hopefully seeing the idea executed wonderfully.
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