Rey's Character and the Likelihood of Ben Returning
Ultimately, the likelihood of Ben Solo’s return (either via the World Between Worlds or some other alternative) will depend on which version of Rey DLF decides to go with. Because throughout the sequel trilogy, there are two distinct versions of her character—the one geared towards children, and the one geared towards adults. Let me explain.
Since Star Wars is a universe and franchise that caters to both child and adult audiences, there are inevitably certain stories and characters that are geared towards specific age groups. Shows like Andor and Obi-Wan and movies like Revenge of the Sith and Solo are geared towards adults, whereas shows like Rebels and The Resistance, and movies like The Force Awakens and The Phantom Menace are geared towards the younger audience. (It’s worth noting that adults can enjoy this content as well and those shows and movies are amazing to watch even at my ripe age of 29). Additionally, there are characters that are, by nature, geared towards one of the two audiences. Characters like Chewbacca, Darth Maul, Grogu, Ashoka, Padme, Hux, Ezra Bridger, BB-8, Sabine, Finn, and Rose are characters that are more approachable to younger audiences—whether that be through their story arcs and settings, character arc relatabilities, easily defined moral compasses, and easy to understand motives and objectives. On the other hand, characters like Anakin, Poe, Leia, Han, Ben Solo, Cassian, Jyn, Bix Caleen, Mon Mothma, and Qi’ra are all characters who, by their relatability and the context and subject matter of their story arcs, tend to be geared towards older audiences.
Of course, there is a natural amount of crossover depending on which show or movie the character is in at the time, but generally you can see which characters are intended for a more mature audience and which were designed for a younger audience. And that’s not to say that children can’t relate to characters like Anakin or Jyn or that adults can’t relate to characters like Ashoka or Ezra. The distinction is simply that certain characters are going to be more easily digestible and easy to understand to a younger audience than others. For example, characters like Hux and Darth Maul are very clearly bad, while characters like Chewie and Grogu are very clearly good. However, adults can be given characters like Cassian Andor or Qi’ra who are more morally ambiguous and who make both good and bad choices and the older audiences have the cognitive ability and life experiences to understand the nuances.
When it comes to Rey, she has been in both these camps with the audience seeing two distinct versions of her character throughout her tenure. This isn’t the same sort of crossover we see with characters like Luke or Obi-Wan who can easily play in both fields, this is an instance where we’ve seen two distinct versions of her character.
The first version is the child-friendly version of Rey. This is the Rey we see most frequently in JJ’s movies but it’s at its most apparent in Rise of Skywalker. It’s the Rey we see playing with BB-8 in the desert and sliding around on hills. The girl who misses her parents, who has to ask for permission to go on missions, and who has to borrow somebody else’s lightsaber because she’s too young to have her own. This is the version of Rey whose understanding of the Force is very black and white and whose temptation to the Darkside is very cut and dry without any ambiguity or nuance. This version of Rey mainly focuses on parental figures and her duty as a Jedi, and her own personal desires for connection or her struggles with temptations are often a watered down version of themselves.
The second version is the more adult-centered version of Rey. This is the Rey we see in both the Last Jedi film and the novelizations of both TFA and TLJ. This is the Rey we see challenge the legacy of Luke Skywalker and question his actions, who makes her own decisions and isn’t afraid to stand up for her convictions. This is the Rey who has calm and rational, philosophical conversations with people who are older than her, and who are sometimes also her enemies. This is the Rey who struggles with the temptations of the Darkside in a more personal and nuanced way. This Rey has a more esoteric view on the force and what it means to be a Jedi. This version isn’t afraid to explore romance in her life and has grown beyond needing to find adoptive parents to take care of her. This version decides to take on Snoke by herself, gets her own lightsaber, and who doesn’t shy away from confessing her struggles with loneliness, desires, and identity. This version of Rey functions at a higher level as the subject matter regarding her identity, her philosophies about the force, and her relationship with Ben Solo are much more mature in nature.
One version of Rey is easy for children to grab hold of and digest, while the other is more complex and layered. One struggles with simple concepts like “Anger = Darkside,” and, “I need my parents to save me,” while the other struggles with concepts like, “What if the connection I’ve been searching for is found in my enemy, and my identity is not defined by my heritage,” and, “This person I once viewed as my hero has made mistakes and I need to make my own choices outside of him.” One version of Rey has ~platonic “thank you” kisses~, the other version has conversations about existentialism with a shirtless man and reaches across the galaxy so she can physically touch that same man. One version spends her time sledding and training on a child’s obstacle course, the other spends her time confronting her mentors about their actions and conversing with a man about loneliness over dim firelight.
One version is mature, the other is often infantilized.
In this new movie, the likelihood of Ben Solo returning will hinge on which version of Rey DLF decide to settle on. If she is to remain the child-friendly version, the likelihood of Ben Solo returning probably won’t happen. Because Ben Solo’s return would require a more mature and nuanced understanding of morals, forgiveness, redemption, and romance—all concepts that are better suited for an older audience—the story would also require the more mature version of Rey to coincide with that. Whereas keeping him out of the story would allow Rey to focus solely on more child-friendly tasks like training Jedi, being a good platonic friend, and being abundantly clear cut in her morals and perspectives—all concepts that can easily be watched and understood by younger audiences.
As to my personal guess as to which version DLF will go with – I think it depends on Adam Driver. If he wants to return to the franchise and play his character again, I could easily see them spinning this one movie off into multiples and doing a full trilogy focused on Ben and Rey creating a new Jedi Order, exploring the powers of the dyad and what it means, and bringing up the next generation of Jedi for future movies. This would be a good option for DLF to take advantage of as Ben Solo is a huge cash cow and (buckle up for this one) the child(ren) of Ben and Rey would make for great new characters to pass the baton to for the next big Star Wars trilogy.
However, if Adam doesn’t want to return, then I’d imagine this movie will be a one-off story that exists solely for Rey to act as an Obi-Wan/Luke figure and introduce a main Jedi character that we’ll see as the lead protagonist in the next big Star Wars trilogy. She’ll most likely have just the one movie where she sets up a new Jedi order, they’ll probably pair her up with Grogu or BB-8 to make her even more kid friendly, and we probably won’t even get as much as a Ben Solo name drop.
Eventually they’ll want to pass the baton to the next generation, and it makes sense for Rey to be the one to do it. The only question will be if we first get to see Rey and Ben and their adventures, or if they’ll simply skip it in favor of a clean slate and this movie will just fulfill the need of introducing the next main protagonist. (Most likely one of her students.)
And as to the 15-year time jump, I don’t think it’s telling either way which option will happen. On the one hand, the age up could reinforce that more mature version of her character which would open the door to a Rey and Ben plus kids sort of story, but on the other hand it could just solidify Rey as only wanting to be a Jedi who has no interest in romance and is just focused on legacies and being *the Skywalker*.
