There are 588 days left until the next Star Wars movie of the new trilogy is released in December 0f 2017.

While the fans wait for the new movie to be released, we all get to contemplate what we think will happen in it.

Warning: spoilers beyond this point for those who somehow have not seen The Force Awakens by now.

Here are some things I think will happen:

Jedi Training for Rey
With the way The Force Awakens ended, I think it’s fair to say that Rey will probably be spending some time with Luke Skywalker on the mysterious island that he’s secluded himself on for the last nineteen or however many years. What I personally would love to see is a training montage of Luke passing the Jedi ways on to Rey just as Yoda did in The Empire Strikes Back.

While some may say that a training montage would make it TOO similar to The Empire Strikes Back, especially those who believe that The Force Awakens was a rip off of A New Hope, I think a Jedi training montage is the next necessary and obvious step for Rey. She’s on this mysterious island, face-to-face with the man whom she herself believed was a myth, holding his lightsaber after having just managed to use it in her first known lightsaber duel against a Sith apprentice and survive. She has raw, newly discovered abilities that need to be honed so that she can learn to control them. Because of this, there’s very little chance that we won’t get a training montage of some kind. Would it be a bit too much like The Empire Strikes Back? Only if there’s a scene like this:

Hopefully Luke won’t start speaking in backward sentences like Yoda.

Now, as I said in the Who Is Rey? post, I think that Rey is going to end up being Luke’s daughter. If this is the case, then I think we could get either even more of a small glimpse, maybe in the form of a Force vision or just a flashback sequence, of what else happened that led to Rey being left on Jakku, or we might finally get the full story. Hopefully, we’ll also get a glimpse at whomever Rey’s mother is, as well, if she does end up being Luke’s daughter. (Here’s hoping for a Mara Jade equivalent, EU fans!)

Of course, if we get the full story, then we’ll possibly get another “I am your father” moment, which may or may not be a good thing. On the other hand, I don’t think we completely need an “I am your father” moment, at least not with the same shock value (and let’s face it, pretty much nothing can top the biggest cinematic reveal of all time). In other words, we might not need Luke to say “by the way, I’m your father.” I am still pretty convinced that there was a bit of fatherly emotion in Luke’s eyes when he looked upon Rey at the end of the movie. So maybe they’ll put off the “I am your father” moment to the third movie. Would that be better or worse? It’s hard to decide.

Redemption for Kylo Ren?
Honestly, I think Kylo is probably not going to end up being redeemed. If he’s redeemed at all, it should not, and really CANNOT, happen in the third movie, otherwise it WILL pretty much be too much of a ripoff of Return of the Jedi. I’m not the biggest fan of Kylo Ren right now, and I think one of the biggest reasons I have behind this is the fact that he doesn’t seem very villainous. He took off his helmet in front of those he should, and does, see as enemies (once with Han and another time with Rey), which to me shows a sign of weakness. We never once see Darth Vader’s face in the original trilogy until Return of the Jedi when he’s already been redeemed and he’s dying.

On the other hand, that sign of weakness may be a sign that despite the fact that he committed patricide, he might still be redeemable. But should Kylo be redeemed? Should he be killed? Should he be allowed to live despite having been the one who murdered Luke’s Jedi (and Han)? How should he be redeemed, if he’s to be redeemed at all, and who should be the one to redeem him? These are hard questions to answer, and the plot of the next movie is definitely going to effect those answers.

So far Kylo has proven to be little more than a spoiled brat who throws temper tantrums, which certainly has him following in his grandfather’s footsteps. I think it’s safe to wait until we at least see a trailer before I can answer these questions and determine whether or not I think Kylo should and deserves to be redeemed.

Romance?
One of the biggest things about Star Wars is the romance (forgetting the awful romantic dialogue between Anakin and Padme in the prequels for a moment). Han and Leia are two of the most romantic, memorable characters in cinema. Their romance and the five words they say to each other just before Han is put into carbon freeze (“I love you”/”I know”) is one of the biggest parts of The Empire Strikes Back, and is one of my favorite scenes in that entire movie.

There seems to be a new romance developing, however, possibly between Rey and Finn. Their interaction seems very similar to the way Han and Leia’s was in A New Hope (and no, I don’t think this makes The Force Awakens qualify as a ripoff of A New Hope), which is an enjoyable aspect. At the end of The Force Awakens, Finn is unconscious after being wounded by Kylo Ren, and Rey says her goodbyes, promising that they’ll see each other again, before she leaves to find Luke.

While I think that there’s the possibility of a romance developing, I’m not sure that I see it happening in the next movie (especially because it would possibly qualify as a ripoff of one of the original trilogy movies). I think that while they’ll certainly be reunited, if Finn and Rey are meant to have a romantic relationship, they won’t really pursue it until the third movie, if at all (but let’s face it, what kind of Star Wars movie doesn’t have romance in it?).

Everything Else
The Starkiller Base was destroyed, Han was killed, Rey went to find Luke . . . what’s next for everyone else? It’s hard to say. Hopefully we won’t see round two of yet another super weapon being built and they’ll go for a different approach. We don’t need to see any more super weapons in these movies. One thing I definitely want to see: MORE Captain Phasma! It feels like she got such little character development in the first movie, and the Game of Thrones/Brienne of Tarth fan in me hopes that Phasma (played by Gwendoline Christie) will prove to be a badass in the next movie who will be the feared villain that Kylo tries to be. There’s a small part of me, due to how much he looks like Luke, that has a slight hope that General Hux will turn out to be Luke’s son that’s spying on the First Order, but considering his actions in The Force Awakens, it’s pretty doubtful.

Luke and Leia Reunited
While it’s beyond sad to think about the fact that Luke and Han will never see each other again, there’s still another part of the trio that can be reunited with Luke, which is Leia. I’m sure Leia will continue being busy with her duties as General, but she still wants to find Luke, and quite frankly, if anyone REALLY deserves some form of happiness after all this time, it’s Leia. Her son may be being manipulated by Snoke, her husband (I’m assuming that Han and Leia were married but separated) may be dead, and her brother may be off on an island living as a hermit, but she still deserves some happiness and the chance to reunite with her brother. Hopefully Rey’s arrival on the island will make Luke realize that he can’t keep hiding from the mess that was made with Kylo and that he needs to deal with it (just like Obi-Wan before him . . . hopefully not in the same way), which will lead to a reunion between Luke and his sister that lasts for more than a few minutes.

Jedi Academy Rebuilt
With Luke’s hopeful return to the known galaxy, we might see him, at some point, decide to recruit as many Force sensitives (Rey, and maybe even Finn) to begin training once more so they can fight against Kylo, the Knights of Ren and the First Order. The Jedi can’t continue if more generations aren’t trained, after all. He might be very resistant to rebuilding the Jedi Academy due to not wanting history to repeat itself, so maybe the Jedi Academy won’t be rebuilt. Or, maybe he’ll rebuild it as a sort of Jedi Council that trains and protects each other but isn’t quite an academy. There are a few possibilities that could end up being the case.

What I Don’t Want to Happen
While I’m sure there are other things I don’t want to have happen in the next two movies, one of the biggest things to me is for Luke, Leia and Chewie to NOT die. Technically, Luke’s death would make sense and follow a pattern set up by the previous movies (Qui-Gon dies for Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan dies for Luke). After losing Han, however, we should NOT have to lose Luke, too. Han’s death was bad enough (but it was something I was prepared for, both because I already knew Harrison has wanted it to happen since Empire Strikes Back and because I read a spoiler before seeing the movie), and I don’t think I could stand it if Luke died as well. The same goes with Leia and Chewie. There’s no need for any more of the original trilogy characters to die.

We’ll see what happens as we count down the days to when the first trailer is finally shown, which is likely to be some time next spring.

 


Written by Allison Kelly of PixelByPixelDesigns