The One Thing That J.J. Abrams Would Change About Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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There’s one moment towards the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that certainly looks like Leia (Carrie Fisher) snubs Chewbacca following a major event that, by rights, should have united them together. And it’s the one thing that director J.J. Abrams wishes he could change.

Despite its gargantuan but not at all unexpected showing at the box office, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has its faults. In fact, even Abrams himself admits that mistakes were made along the way as he sought to reconnect with audiences burned by George Lucas’ prequels – the biggest, by his own admission, is one those same cinemagoers have interpreted as a diss against the mighty Chewbacca.

Near the end of the movie and with the Starkiller Base now a newly formed sun; the Resistance fighters return to their base. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) has just been slain by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), his son – his and Leia’s son. This is Leia’s husband, estranged though they were, and Chewbacca’s best friend and partner in crime for decades.

You would think that the two would seek to comfort each other over the loss of their acquaintance. Still, much to the chagrin of audiences across the world, Leia walks right past Chewie and embraces Ray, someone she hasn’t met before.

Not intended as a slight or snub, J.J. Abrams told Slashfilm that it was really just a matter of positioning and blocking.

“Had Chewbacca not been where he was, you probably wouldn’t have thought of it. But because he was right there, passed by Leia, it felt almost like a slight, which was definitely not the intention.”

Still, it sounds as though Abrams had never intended for them to embrace either but, he has a very practical reason for why Chewbacca walks right by. Sure, he may have been hurting for the loss of his close friend and co-pilot, but, perhaps more pressing was Finn, who was still wounded and in need of immediate medical attention.

The intention, Abrams said, was to have Chewie rush off with the former stormtrooper in his arms to find a doctor. There would be times for hugging it out later—it’s not like they haven’t before. The way it was staged, however, that apparently wasn’t clear for many.

As to Leia and Rey’s embrace, Abrams added:

“The idea being that both of them being strong with the Force and never having met, would know about each other — that Leia would have been told about her beyond what we saw onscreen and Rey of course would have learned about Leia. And that reunion would be a meeting and a reunion all in one, and a sort of commiseration of their mutual loss.”

Of course the embrace could be a sign that Leia and Rey share a bond beyond the Force – that in the familiarity that appears on Leia’s face when she sees Rey, as proof that she knows her and that the younger woman is in actually part of the Skywalker bloodline. The fact that it’s also Rey who is the one who goes to find Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), despite the fact that she just heard about him for the first time earlier in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, also seems to support this.

Could Rey be the one weakness that brought about the downfall of Ren – the ultimate killer of Leia’s husband?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 18th in the UK.

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