While some fans didn’t appreciate the similarities between A New Hope and The Force Awakens, most agree that J.J. Abrams did a wonderful job of redeeming the Star Wars franchise last December. However, he’s now confessed to a moment he believes was a mistake, and it’s one which has generated a fair bit of discussion online recently.
The scene in question comes following the death of Han Solo and why exactly General Leia doesn’t hug Chewbacca; instead, she embraces Rey, someone she doesn’t really even know!
“That was probably one of the mistakes I made in that,” Abrams confessed in a recent interview. “My thinking at the time was that Chewbacca, despite the pain he was feeling, was focused on trying to save Finn and getting him taken care of. So I tried to have Chewbacca go off with him and focus on Rey, and then have Rey find Leia and Leia find Rey.”
“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.”
To be fair, that justification does make a lot of sense, and this is no doubt something which the majority of Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ viewers probably didn’t even notice.
Abrams went on to further explain that his blocking of the scene could be why it appeared to some that Leia had brushed off Chewie, but with the beloved Wookie set to return for Star Wars Episode VIII and the upcoming Han Solo spinoff, something tells us he’ll be alright!
