Before he started calling himself Kylo Ren, Ben Solo was basically a good person, and now there’s a rumor that The Last Jedi could offer a full explanation as to why the grandson of Darth Vader turned away from the Light.
On March 24, Star Wars News.Net posted a detailed article about rumored statements made by Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group. Pretty much anytime Hidalgo says anything about Star Wars canon or its future, the internet listens, so when whispers started making the rounds that he’d dropped hints about the next Star Wars animated series and details about The Last Jedi, some eyebrows were raised. While on a Disney cruise, did Hidalgo say there would be a Ben Solo flashback in The Last Jedi or what?
According to Hidalgo himself, some of what he said was legit, while the rest of it was a “mix,” of things he really said.
So, what was it that Hidalgo supposedly did and didn’t say? Among the bigger rumors were: Rebels Season 4 is the final season, Yoda was serious about Luke being the “last Jedi” in Return of the Jedi, a new animated series will be revealed at Star Wars Celebration, there could be new “projects” set in the timeframe between The Force Awakens and Return of the Jedi, the New Republic was tiny, and that the Last Jedi will see some kind of explanation as to why Ben Solo went bad.
Taken one-by-one, all of these rumors could seem earth-shattering if dressed-up a certain way. But none of it is all that crazy. There are already books set in the in-between years of The Force Awakens and Return of the Jedi, and Rebels has to end at some point. But what about this Ben Solo stuff?
Notably, a Star Wars movie has never done a flashback inside of a film. Instead, when historical context has been needed someone (often Obi-Wan) just tells us what has happened. Essentially, Star Wars films generally like to tell and not show, at least when it comes to what characters have done before. But with The Last Jedi it almost seems impossible to summarize what has happened with Ben Solo using only expository dialogue. So, a flashback with Snoke and Ben Solo in which they get down with their Dark-side selves feels more and more likely.
If such a flashback did occur — or if a similar storytelling convention was used to explain what happened with Rey getting abonnonded by her mystery parents — not only would fans be thrilled, but Star Wars itself would take its first steps into a larger world of narrative constructions.
You told me...all sorts of stuff without just showing me!
As far as Pablo Hidalgo’s confirmations go, as of March 23, he has said on Twitter, “I’m not really into answering Star Wars questions anymore.”
The Last Jedi opens on December 15, 2017.
