Adam Driver gave a thrilling performance as Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a villain who found himself emotionally torn between both sides of the Force and the legacy of his family. Towards the end of the film, Ren brutally murdered his father, Han Solo, in an attempt to fully reject the call of the light. The pupil of Supreme Leader Snoke then found himself injured by a Wookie bowcaster when taking on Rey, with the latter using the Force to capitalize on Ren's weakness, defeating him in combat and leaving him wounded in the snow on Starkiller Base.
Aside from Snoke mentioning he aims to complete Ren's training, we don't know much about the path of Anakin Skywalker's grandson in Rian Johnson's Episode VIII, though Driver has offered a tease through an interview on Larry King Now. According to Driver, it seems that we won't be seeing the last of Ren's inner conflict between the dark side and the light, as the sequel will explore Ren's humanity, along with continuing several plot points that originated in The Force Awakens. “I think maybe - this is such a general answer - but you know, humanity,” said Driver. “Even though it’s very much a blockbuster movie, and I’m aware of that, there was no taking that for granted and that we were forced to be general [in The Force Awakens]. There was a lot of plot points that we knew were operating in the first one, that we get to explain more in the second one, that kind of make both of them make sense."
Driver also elaborated that some inspiration came from discussions of real wars and terrorism with both of his directors, J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson. "But they do kind of feel socially active to me. And George Lucas originally — a lot of Star Wars was in response to Vietnam and a lot of what I remember talking about with J.J. and Rian was this idea of terrorism, and two sides being morally justified to behave however they wanted to to get whatever they thought was absolutely correct."
Are you looking forward to Kylo Ren's conflicted character being explored further in Episode VIII? Let us know in the comments!
About The Author:
Matt is a graduate of the Ryerson University School of Journalism, and has been a fan of superheroes since he picked up his first comic book issue as a child. While he works as a professional musician, Matt has a massive passion for comic books, films and heroes, along with participating in discussion and debate with the CBM community.