Warning: Spoilers for The Force Awakens to follow...
Following its massive record-breaking haul over the weekend, it's safe to say that many people still have Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the brain. Disney and J.J. Abrams did a great job preserving the film's mysteries and surprising reveals, but now that it's in theaters we're hearing about the little things most everyone missed.
Like Obi-Wan Kenobi's cameo. Yes, Obi-Wan (both the older and younger versions) is in the movie, albeit briefly and in voice only. There's also a cameo from Yoda, as well as the Empire Strikes Back version of Luke Skywalker. All of their voices can be heard during the scene where Rey touches Luke's old blue lightsaber for the first time. As she's bombarded with visions of Luke, R2-D2 and Kylo Ren, the classic voices can be heard.
J.J. Abrams tells EW, "You do hear a little bit of Yoda. You hear Luke yelling out, ‘Nooo!’ from that moment in Empire. And you hear Obi-Wan at the end say, ‘Rey … these are your first steps.'"
Abrams revealed that both Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan) and Frank Oz (Yoda) returned to record new dialogue, though Oz's voice work wasn't used. They instead turned to existing Yoda dialogue. Meanwhile, McGregor's words were mixed with a word from original Obi-Wan Alec Guinness. "So when you hear Obi-Wan talk to Rey it is both Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor doing the voice,” Abrams said.
As for the rest of Rey's backstory, fear not -- both Abrams and cowriter Lawrence Kasdan say it's coming. There was just too much to fit into one movie. “Can this movie actually also hold, ‘And Rey is this … And Finn is that … And this is where Poe is from …’ This is the first of a series. There is a story to be told. And it will be.”
Here's who almost died in the movie...
There's a reason why Oscar Isaac's Poe has a lot more to do in the first act of the movie than he has in its final moments. That's because originally Poe was going to die when his TIE fighter crashes on Jakku, allowing his new buddy Finn (John Boyega) to escape relatively unscathed.
It would've been a risky choice to kill Poe off early on -- one that may have bummed fans out since Poe is so great in those early scenes -- but Isaac was willing to do it. When he agreed to be in the movie, he agreed to take one for the team.
Then Abrams changed his mind.
“I went back home [to New York], and I thought about it,” Isaac tells GQ. “Then I wrote him and said, ‘Okay. I’ll do it!’ I figured it would be a cameo: I’ll come in, do my thing, and maybe it’s actually better not to have to sign myself up for three movies.” By that time, though, things had changed and Abrams soon wrote back: “Never mind. I’ve figured it out. You’re in the whole movie now.”
This kinda explains how and why Isaac just pops up later on with a quick story about how he escaped Jakku. And while his later scenes aren't as memorable as the stuff that kicks off the whole movie, his is a character we're happy to see survive. Isaac could be this series' new Han Solo, and we can't wait to see how they use him from here on out.
Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters on May 26, 2017.