The Dork Side of the Force Jedi Council discusses which character from Star Wars: The Force Awakens we are most excited to see when the movie hits the big-screen.
We are just under a month away from the worldwide theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The actors are now doing more interviews, online magazines are publishing photo spreads that reveal never before seen secrets and scenes from the film, and television spots are beginning to center on each individual character. Our Jedi Council looks at the characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and chooses one that we are most intrigued by; the one we are most excited to see when the film hits theaters in less than a month.
David “Razor” Harris: My wish is simple: I want to see Luke Skywalker. So far, there has been zero sightings of the current scion of the house of Skywalker, and quite frankly I love it. The closer we get to the premiere of The Force Awakens, more and more scenes are being revealed through the many television spots popping-up all the various Disney controlled networks and it’s starting to unnerve me a bit.
Look, I’m normally the guy who loves a certain amount of spoilers going into a film…I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the business I’m in — with reporting on everything Star Wars — but spoilers just do not bother me. However, I do not like when a film gives almost everything away in the trailers and teaser leading to its theatrical debut. That’s not to say that The Force Awakens has given all that much away, but we’ve seen quite a lot of new scenes lately, and like I said, it’s starting to worry me.
Back to Luke: Who, what or where is Luke Skywalker? If the question of “Who is Luke Skywalker?” hooked J.J. Abrams into directing The Force Awakens, then I can only imagine how important he will be to the overall plot of the story. The “What is Luke Skywalker?” has also become a hotly debated topic among Star Wars fans. Has Luke turned to the Dark Side of the Force, or is he still a paragon of the Light as a Jedi? The “Where is Luke Skywalker?” may be the entire overarching theme of The Force Awakens, as Rey and BB-8, along with Finn, Han and Chewie, and even Kylo Ren himself all seem to searching for the only son of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.
This is why I am most excited to find out about Luke, in The Force Awakens, because quite frankly, there can be no passing of the torch — from the old generation to the new — without Luke making his indelible and legendary mark on the new story.
Joe Prescott: Now that we’re approaching the big day we’ve been fed, I’m assuming, all the info on the new characters that Abrams and Lucasfilm want us to know and salivate over. We got the new footage recently that shows Finn wielding the lightsaber, whereas a year ago all we saw was him wandering confused in the desert. With Rey, she’s gone from scavenger to fighter to (maybe) a Skywalker relation. We’ve seen Han Chewie and Leia, and we are to believe one of them will perish.
Max von Sydow as Lor San Tekka
The intrigue for these characters has been lessened for me by media reports and footage, plus being the main characters I feel we’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the upcoming sequels, which can only be a good thing! So for me, the biggest intrigue is with the characters we haven’t seen yet. I’m a big fan of Max Von Sydow, and we haven’t even seen him yet let alone know of his character. Oh and the Guavian Enforcers look deadly and awesome, and my fingers are crossed that the Raid guys are involved with them as they look like ninjas and are described as such in the SW Archives. Getting major Asian martial arts stuntmen and actors involved in a major Western cultural phenomenon such as Star Wars can only ever be a good thing, and I for one am super excited to see these guys in action (go watch The Raid: Redemption if you haven’t already, simply the best action movie since ever!)
But I digress. We are less than 4 weeks away now. Any more info Disney give us will no doubt be useful as I’m sure we’ll be bombarded with new stuff when we watch the movie, far too excited to absorb it in one sitting! But that’s the beauty of these movies, the sheer density of the galaxy and the many discussion points it offers. That’s why we’re here, that’s why you’re reading this and that’s why we love Star Wars!
Michael Valverde: When I first saw General Hux, it was a picture of him standing upright. I could tell right away that there is a military mind of dedication. He holds himself in that way. I also could tell in his black clothing that he was not going to be on the light side of things. This grabbed my interest immediately. I am a dark side visionary by heart, and anyone described as ruthless, trained, and has knowledge of weapons, is someone I may enjoy right away.
According to the official Star Wars website, General Hux is a “young, ruthless officer in the First Order,” and adds, “General Hux has complete confidence in his troops, training methods, and weapons.” Hux is also a commander of Starkiller Base. (The name pays homage to the original name of Luke Skywalker).
Since Hux serves the First Order, is his servitude like Grand Moff Tarkin, or is he more like Darth Vader, where he is a servant, but there is some good in there somewhere? Depending on this could be his fate. Most of the time, the overlords such as Tarkin never make it to the end. Hux seems as though he fades to more of Moff Tarkin side than Vader, because of scenes where he addresses the crowd of Stormtroopers at the gathering of the First Order.
Looking at the interview that Domnhall Gleeson (General Hux) did for EW he describes his character: “There’s an air of superiority, and being better than those people around you,” he said. “He’s pretty ruthless. A strong disciplinarian would be a mild way of putting it. You don’t get that high up in your life that quickly unless you’re pretty ruthless. You have to put a few people down on the way to get there.”
Where I also find that Hux maybe more like Tarkin and Ren more like Vader is Gleeson’s statement: “He’s kind of opposite Kylo Ren. They have their own relationship, which is individual and unusual. One of them is strong in different ways than the other. They’re both vying for power.”
Maybe here is where Kylo Ren get’s his comment about “Nothing will stand in our way, I will finish what you have started.” Either case I can see these two main characters getting in a disagreement, and it either fleshes out, or it kills one of them.
Either case, we understand who has military prowess. The one thing that may pop up is Hux’s relationship with Captain Phasma. Does he rank ahead of her, or they at a level playing field? In fact speaking about the arrangement, where does Ren fit in this? Is he running the show as Moff Tarkin did, or is he the Vader who is a disciple under Hux and perhaps Phasma. We will soon find out on December 18th.
Ani Bundel: I’m old school. I want to see Leia. I want to know how Disney has rewritten the Expanded universe I’ve had in my head for all these years. I want to know if they improved on Leia’s story, I want to know if she ever married Han. “General Leia” is a promising start, but I want to know what else has happened to her in the last 30 years. I want to know if Kylo Ren and Rey are her twins. I want to know if she ever became a Jedi. I want to know if she has a blue lightsaber. I want to know what Han has been up to, and if he ever figured out how to reform, or if he’s been that bastard you wish you didn’t love for the last three decades.
And fine, I do want to know what’s up with Luke.
Elaine Tveit: Considering all the footage we’ve seen so far, there’s no doubt in my mind who the next main hero of The Force Awakens is going to be. Rey is introduced to us as a scavenger on Jakku, but there’s clearly something more to her than her humble circumstances suggest.
The biggest mystery surrounding her is her family, who, according to Entertainment Weekly, left her on Jakku when she was only five years old. Of course, everyone thinks she’s part of the Solo or Skywalker lineage, and it would certainly bring up a world of new questions is she was.
But Rey is shaping up to be a well-rounded character outside of the questions about her family. She is obviously resourceful, somehow being able to eke out a living on her own for at least thirteen years or so. She’s wicked with a staff, yet compassionate, too. Or so it would seem; we really don’t know her motives for freeing BB-8 from a Jakku native on a luggabeast yet.
They do become chummy at some point, though, and she also doesn’t seem to have any qualms about helping Finn, either. That goodness is refreshing to see; she doesn’t appear to be set up to be a dark, moody heroine.
Just as there are many theories surrounding her past, there are many possibilities for her future as a heroine. Will she be another Luke Skywalker and save the day for the whole galaxy, or will she be one player among many? One thing is certain: She’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.