We’re living in an age where movies are rarely able to surprise audiences. In the months leading up to a movie’s release, the fans of its franchise pore through reams of social media posts and interviews to find out as much information as they can. Marvel can’t even surprise their fans with an alien race, because someone will have seen a costume hanging up in the background of a set photo on Chris Evans’ Instagram account.

Ever since Disney announced it would be making a bunch of new Star Wars movies, fans haven’t been offline as they spend their days finding out all they can about the movies and then formulating fan theories and rumors based on them. It doesn’t matter how long Disney makes the clips in their trailers, because fans will literally go through it frame by frame. As soon as an actor is cast in a role or an unfamiliar Lego set is released, rumblings start to get around the Star Wars fan base as they try to get to the bottom of it.

And then the movies are released and we get to reflect on which rumors did or did not turn out to be true. Sometimes it was a good thing that those rumors turned out to be unfounded, because they were too silly or outlandish, but on other occasions, those rumors would’ve made for a better movie than what we actually got.

So, here are Star Wars: 20 Fan Theories About The Sequel Trilogy Better Than What We Got.

Snoke’s identity will be revealed in The Last Jedi

After Supreme Leader Snoke was introduced as a mysterious figure in The Force Awakens, it was rumored that all would be explained about this vague character and his backstory in The Last Jedi. In the end, The Last Jedi taught us nothing new about Snoke other than the fact he seduced Kylo Ren away from Luke to the Dark Side. We don’t know his race, his background, his family – we don’t even really know his agenda.

In all fairness, Rian Johnson pretty much debunked this rumor before the movie came out when he said, “Snoke is here to serve a function in the story. And a story is not a Wikipedia page.” We get that, Rian, but come on, give us something!

Max Von Sydow will be a villain in The Force Awakens

This was based on the assumption that the casting of ominous old actor Max Von Sydow in The Force Awakens was earmarked for a villainous role and the rumor that the movie would be called The Ancient Fear.

Fans put two and two together and figured Max Von Sydow was the so-called “Ancient Fear” and he would be the most incredible villain the Star Wars universe ever saw. This villain was said to “make Pazuzu [the villain from Von Sydow’s movie The Exorcist] look like a p*ssy.” His creepy, sinister presence would’ve made for a terrific, Palpatine-esque villain. It would certainly be better than the role he did get – the mere passer-on of the MacGuffin.

The First Order teaches history all wrong

One rumor suggested a scene in which we sit in on the First Order training its soldiers. It is teaching its officers that the Empire were the good guys and the Rebels were the bad guys in the original trilogy. These biased, inaccurate history lessons would explain their allegiance to an organization that is basically the same as the Empire.

It does make sense in terms of the story, and maybe that is what’s going on off-screen and it’ll be revealed in a spin-off novel or TV series, but it turned out to be false when this scene didn’t actually appear in the movie. It might have felt out of place in the movie itself, but Finn still could’ve made a passing reference to the First Order’s teachings.

Laura Dern is playing Rey’s mother in The Last Jedi

Whenever an actor is cast in a Star Wars movie without their role being disclosed, the rumor mill runs wild with predictions on who they’ll be playing. When Laura Dern was cast in The Last Jedi, one rumor came about that she would be playing Rey’s mother.

It would’ve been better than the truth, that Dern was playing Vice Admiral Holdo, a generic authority figure whose cliched character beats (she wants to get the rogue heroes in line with her agenda, she realizes there’s more to life than orders, she gets on board with the rogues, she sacrifices herself – we’ve seen it all before) were all crammed into one movie. Plus, actually meeting Rey’s mother – whether it would’ve been in visions or actually in person – would’ve been more satisfying for Star Wars fans than that confusing mirror tease and a passing reference by Kylo Ren.

Finn and Poe strike up a romance

Their chemistry was strong in The Force Awakens and Poe letting Finn keep his jacket was very boyfriend-y, so a lot of people expected them to strike up a romance in The Last Jedi. In the original trilogy, Lando Calrissian was the only signifier that people of color even existed in the Star Wars universe, so it was a landslide for diversity in the Star Wars saga when a woman, a black man, and a Latino man were cast as the lead trio in the sequel trilogy.

Now, it’s about time we had a gay storyline in the Star Wars saga. While a transitioned character is probably a while off in a Disney movie, surely a gay romance should be on the cards.

Mustafar, Tatooine, and Endor will all be locations in The Last Jedi

While The Last Jedi introduced some cool new locations, like Crait, it also introduced some that stalled the plot, like Canto Bight. George Lucas has created a bunch of well-rounded, identifiable worlds and it would be fun to revisit some of them.

Tatooine is the only planet to play a part in the stories of both the original and prequel trilogies, and Jakku was basically Tatooine under a different name. It would be a shame not to go back there in the sequel trilogy. There’s still Episode IX, of course, but it seems too late in the game now for a call-back to the prequel trilogy to be on the cards at all.

Supreme Leader Snoke was created by Darth Plagueis

Disney’s movies have decided to discount the Expanded Universe and build their own world beyond the initial six Star Wars movies, but Darth Plagueis managed to squeeze his way into the canon with a reference by Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith. So, he does exist in this timeline. While one rumor believed Snoke to be Plagueis himself, the juicier theory is that he was created, Frankenstein-style, by Plagueis. Imagine the visuals!

He’s one of the only remaining Sith Lords who could definitely make an appearance in the Disney movies. Plus, the surprise appearance of (SPOILER ALERT!) Darth Maul in Solo: A Star Wars Story shows they’re not averse to that kind of thing.

Rey and Kylo Ren will fall in love in The Last Jedi

There was a persistent rumor leading up to The Last Jedi that Rey and Kylo Ren – who had been presented in The Force Awakens as two sides of the same coin with a lot of passion and tension – would fall in love in the movie.

In the actual movie, Rey just does a little bit of flirting with the bad boy on the Dark Side over the Force version of FaceTime before resuming her post as the Resistance’s goody-two-shoes last hope. However, if she had actually fallen in love with him, as this rumor had a lot of fans believe, it would’ve been the ultimate conflict of interest. Of course, conflict of any kind is the foundation of all drama.

BB-8 will fight an evil BB-8 in The Last Jedi

This rumor came about when merchandise based on the BB droid from Snoke’s ship, the black BB-9E, was released. It was thought that BB-8 would get into a fight with BB-9E during The Last Jedi. In the end, they didn’t even meet – BB-9E makes just enough of an appearance to warrant the best Christmas item of 2017 in merchandise. The rumor would’ve been way better than the reality.

BB-8 is one of the most popular and most fun characters in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, so it would’ve been fun to give him something to do. Plus, we’ve seen he has a fire in his belly and some interesting weapons in his arsenal from his confrontation with Finn where he used a lighter as a middle finger.

There will be another Wookiee in The Force Awakens

After a casting call requested a tall, slim male to play an alien character, there were rumors that another Wookiee character would be showing up in The Force Awakens. While that casting call was probably just for Peter Mayhew’s stunt double or a different alien character, it would be great to introduce a new Wookiee into the fold. They’re a great species.

People don’t love Chewbacca for his personality or his witty remarks, because due to his indiscriminate dialect, he doesn’t have any of those. People love him because he’s a Wookiee, plain and simple. Chewie’s great and he’s with us for now, but before long, we’ll need a new Wookiee.

Luke and Rey face the Inquisitors

This would’ve been awesome. The Inquisitors are Sith villains tasked with hunting down and killing any Jedi, Jedi in training, or anyone with any connection whatsoever to the Light Side of the Force. If Luke and Rey took these guys on, it would’ve made The Force Awakens a sort of Star Wars meets John Wick. Those action sequences would’ve been spectacular and would’ve made for a great swansong for Luke Skywalker’s days as a Jedi Knight.

Also, the Inquisitors were recruited by Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, so it would’ve been cathartic for Luke to bring his journey full circle by facing the final remaining ties between his old enemies and the Sith.

Han Solo smuggles space pigs

One rumor claimed there would be a scene in The Force Awakens in which the Millennium Falcon is being pursued by bad guys and Rey drops the ship’s cargo load to make it a little lighter. What we see released into space is, according to this rumor, “livestock, potentially giant space pigs.”

A livestock smuggling scam is just the kind of thing an aging Han and Chewie might get themselves into and the sight of space pigs would’ve put a smile on a lot of people’s faces, so this should’ve happened. It probably would’ve been instead of that weird tentacled beast smuggling scam that slowed down the plot and was only used to squeeze Iko Uwais into the cast and totally waste him.

Snoke is as huge as his hologram

While we only saw Snoke in hologram form in The Force Awakens, his hologram was enormous. It stood an ominous twenty-five feet tall over Kylo Ren and General Hux whenever they went in to speak with him. So, some rumors followed that he actually was that size in person and was basically a giant.

Turns out he wasn’t. He was still tall, but nowhere near as tall as his hologram. When we saw him in person in The Last Jedi, he did stand over seven feet tall, but it would’ve been way more surprising if he was twenty-five feet tall. Plus, he’s frail and hunched over as a seven-foot humanoid. Being a giant would’ve made him much more formidable.

Domnhall Gleeson is playing Luke Skywalker’s son

Based on Domnhall Gleeson’s beard at Comic-Con looking like that of Ewan McGregor, he was rumored to play Obi-Wan’s son or grandson. However, the more tantalizing rumor is that he would play Luke Skywalker’s son. Someone heard this from four different sources before The Force Awakens came out, so it seemed very true.

A lot of fans are unhappy with the bitter turn Luke Skywalker has taken in the sequel trilogy, so it might have appeased audiences more if he had a wife and kids. This would depict his later life closer to how it’s portrayed in the Expanded Universe. Plus, the character Domnhall Gleeson was actually playing, General Hux, is just the worst.

Leia uses a weapon called “the Sledgehammer” to smash Star Destroyers

This rumor suggested the Resistance had a Death Star-scale superweapon called “the Sledgehammer,” which Leia would use to tear through entire fleets of Star Destroyers like she was playing a game of Space Invaders. This wouldn’t do much to advance the plot, but it would look incredible.

In the end, Leia did show off tremendous power that we had never seen her wield before as her Force abilities had built up over the years and allowed her to fly through space like Peter Pan. That was one of the more outlandish moments in The Last Jedi that turned fans against Rian Johnson. Maybe “the Sledgehammer” scene would’ve angered fans, too – but it would’ve been cool.

Snoke is the first Jedi

The filmmakers have made it very clear that Kylo Ren and Snoke have no association with the Sith. So, one rumor persisted that Snoke would turn out to be the first ever Jedi, which would highlight the futility of the Jedi. As the first Jedi, Snoke has realized that there’s no way to use something as powerful as the Force for good.

What Luke and Rey and Broom Boy teach us is that, even though it might be difficult, it’s still worth trying to use the Force to do the right thing, which would’ve been a great message to end on. Plus, it’s only fitting that a movie called The Last Jedi would feature the first Jedi.

Rey is Obi-Wan’s daughter (or granddaughter)

There was a rumor for a long time that Rey had some kind of relation to Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was bolstered by the fact that a combination of Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor’s voices can be heard as Obi-Wan in Rey’s vision in Maz Kanata’s basement.

Pretty much any rumor about Rey’s parentage is better than what we got, since all we got was the vague notion that her parents were nobodies who abandoned her. Some fans think that Kylo Ren was lying when he said this and Rey’s true parents – important characters – will be revealed in Episode IX. But that could just be wishful thinking and nothing is confirmed, so for now, we have to take Lucasfilm canon as gospel. And it’s sucky gospel.

Kylo Ren clones Darth Vader in The Force Awakens

Based on the shot of the charred Vader mask among Kylo Ren’s personal effects, it was thought that he might be trying to clone – or possibly resurrect – his powerful hero in The Force Awakens. The cloning technology exists in the Star Wars world since an entire army was cloned from Jango Fett and went on to overthrow the Jedi on Palpatine’s orders, so the mythology checks out, and this would’ve been awesome.

Despite J.J. Abrams’ best efforts, no Star Wars villain ever has or ever will top Darth Vader, so the only way to at least match his evil presence would be to literally create another one of him to terrorize our current heroes.

Max Von Sydow is playing old Boba Fett

George Lucas has always said he only killed off Boba Fett in such an unceremonious way in the Sarlacc because he was unaware of how popular the character had become. Revealing that Fett actually survived the Sarlacc and grew to a ripe old age by having Max Von Sydow play him would’ve been a great way to rectify that mistake – and it would’ve set the stage for a killer Anthology movie.

Unfortunately, Max Von Sydow turned out to be playing a pretty forgettable character, which is saying a lot, since he appears in the opening scene of the movie. It’s hard to be forgettable when you’re the first thing in a movie, but that’s what happened.

Han and Leia’s kids are the focus of the plot

This one could still turn out to be true, or at least partly true. It suggested the plot of The Force Awakens would revolve around Han and Leia’s 17-year-old twins – a girl, Jaina, and a boy, Jacen – being trained in the ways of the Force by Luke, only for Jacen to turn to the Dark Side with Jaini left to stop him.

Kylo Ren is confirmed to be Han and Leia’s son and he was trained by Luke and he did turn to the Dark Side. The Jaina role might be filled by Rey if she turns out to be the daughter Han and Leia left behind – loyalties and allegiances would certainly be tested in time for the big finale in Episode IX.

Which of these fan theories about Star Wars do you think would have made the series better? Let us know in the comments!

  • Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Release Date: 2019-12-20