Dark Rey May Have Been Inspired By This Video Game

So hey, some Star Wars things are happening! New movie coming out this year called The Rise of Skywalker. New trailer that shows Rey in a dark robe with a dual-bladed lightsaber, and... wait, what? Yeah, we got a look at the version of our hero everyone is calling Dark Rey in the recent trailer. And it turns out the story behind that twist might be tied to a Star Wars game from the last gen.

Here's a quick explanation.

Nearly a month ago, a YouTube channel (appropriately called) Star Wars Theory speculated that Rey might be a clone. The idea was that Rey's parents — who may or may not be all that remarkable — didn't birth her, but rather, she was the product of some kind of cloning experiment and was adopted later on. That was a pretty gutsy call by Star Wars Theory; one that was made before this recent trailer even dropped. And it's made all the more believable by the line Game Informer's Andrew Reiner drew to 2008's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed yesterday.

Reiner's belief is that this cloning program might have been similar to the one featured in The Force Unleashed, in which The Emperor and Darth Vader conspired to create clones that could wield the force. And if that were the case, it would certainly explain how Rey is so attuned to the force despite the fact that she's (supposedly) a random who grew up with (and was later tossed aside) by loser parents. Reiner believes that George Lucas might have had that concept in his pocket when The Force Unleashed was made and used it there, since he wasn't planning on doing more movies.

Lucas reportedly consulted with the Rise of Skywalker team before the script was written, so it's entirely possible he clued them in about that Force Unleashed story. And if that's the case, well: that's some killer video game fan service.

At any rate, we'll have to wait until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comes out on Dec. 20, 2019 before we'll know who's right and who's wrong. For the record, though, we're definitely hoping this is true.