'Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker' Leak Teases a Huge Twist in Rey's Backstory

Rey’s backstory has always been one of the biggest mysteries of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. We know she abandoned on Jakku thanks to a few short flashbacks, but that’s about it. Now, a new leak may be teasing a big reveal about Rey’s origins that could be explored in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

First, let’s get one thing out of the way: We’re pretty sure Jakku is not Rey’s home planet. Despite her first memories being her parents abandoning her there, it’s been mostly confirmed in supplementary books and other non-movie content that she was born somewhere else and merely abandoned on Jakku.

That said, the exact details have always been somewhat murky, but a new leak shared on Reddit hints that we could be learning a lot more about her early backstory while also confirming once and for all that Rey wasn’t born on Jakku.

Here’s the leak, via Reddit:

And in case that doesn’t load, here’s the relevant bit, written out:

Abandoned

A tiny Rey watches helplessly as a starship pulls away, marooning her on the unfamiliar world of Jakku.

This pretty much syncs up with what we’ve seen in previous flashbacks, but the word “unfamiliar” seems like a pretty strong indication that Rey’s home isn’t the desert planet where we first meet her in The Force Awakens. It also suggests that these details still matter to Lucasfilm and could come to the forefront in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which is already expected to explore and maybe even retcon Rey’s backstory.

As one Reddit commenter points out, this confirmation that Rey wasn’t born on Jakku also seems to disprove the many theories that her origins can be traced back to the secret labs Emperor Palpatine established on Jakku. But that’s not necessarily true.

As part of a backup plan in case he died, Palpatine established the Jakku Observatory, but it’s unclear exactly what the facility was for. While some fans theorized Rey was actually a clone created by the Emperor, the fact that she isn’t originally from Jakku does disprove that. However, it’s still possible that she was part of some sort of experiment at the Observatory that helped unlock her Jedi powers (either by accident or intentionally as a way to defeat Kylo Ren and Snoke). Maybe Rey’s parents even sold her to the Empire.

With the Emperor returning in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Rey all but guaranteed to finally get a satisfying backstory, we may be about to learn how these two characters connect. Compared to that sort of revelation, Rey’s original home planet will just be a happy bonus.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20.*