Simon Pegg says Rey was originally supposed to have a "relevant lineage" in Star Wars movies

Simon Pegg has been the star, writer, or producer of several of The A.V. Club’s favorite comedies and sci-fi franchises, and he dropped by Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast recently to talk about virtually all of them.

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The Star Trek Beyond scribe spoke at length about his collaborations with and admiration for Steven Spielberg, and how his own daughter is following in his footsteps in fandom. Apparently, when his seven-year-old wanted to watch Jaws for the first time, Pegg suggested she ask Spielberg himself if she could at that age. So, she did—but obviously, the Ready Player One director shot down the idea.

Pegg also talked about how voicing Unkar Plutt took some of the oomph out of watching the emotional climax of The Force Awakens, before answering questions about Episode VII and IX director J.J. Abrams’ original plans for Rey’s lineage. Though she’s revealed to be “no one” with “nobody” parents in The Last Jedi—a development with all kinds of ramifications in the Star Wars universe—Pegg says he knows “what J.J. kind of intended—or at least what was sort of being chucked around. I think that’s kind of been undone slightly by the last one. There was some talk of a relevant lineage for her.”

Pegg qualified that with a couple of “I don’t know”s, though, before joking about Plutt was actually Rey’s father. What is clear is that fans will continue to argue over whether Rian Johnson ruined Star Wars by revealing Rey didn’t get her powers from a Kenobi or some other Jedi family, or if he just created more storytelling possibilities by expanding the Force-sensitive population.