Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's JJ Abrams says Rey's Force powers are "not an accident"

One of the biggest talking points of the Star Wars sequel trilogy is the character of Rey. What's going on with her parents? Why is she so powerful with the Force and able to pick up skills super quickly? Will she turn evil? Does her vision in The Last Jedi mean she's a clone of Palpatine?

Director JJ Abrams isn't going to give those answers away before the release of The Rise of Skywalker, but he does tease the reason as to why Rey is just so powerful and skilled.

When Rolling Stone brought up Rey's aptitude, the director replied: "Yeah, spooky, right? It’s a fair point. It’s not an accident."

Related: JJ Abrams answers Star Wars Episode VII criticism

Speaking a bit more about Daisy Ridley's hero, Abrams added: "The idea was to tell a tale of a young woman who was innately powerful, innately moral, innately good, but also struggling with her place in the world and forced to fend for herself in every way.

"As exciting as it was to get to play in the Star Wars universe, it was this young woman that I felt oddly compelled to get to know. Even at the very first meeting with Kathleen Kennedy, the idea came up about having a female at the centre of it.

"There was an inherent sense of 'We’ve seen the story before of the young hero,' but we’d never seen it through the eyes of a woman like this, and that, to me, was the most exciting thing."

Going back to Palpatine, the Sith Lord is returning for the finale of the Skywalker saga in some shape or form. But did you know that his comeback wasn't originally part of the plan?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a release date of Thursday, December 19 in the UK and Friday, December 20 in the US.

Disney+ Sign up for Disney+

Shop at Disney+

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

£4 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Complete Box Set [Blu-ray] [2019] [Region Free]

£100 at Amazon

Century Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Expanded Edition) by Rae Carson

£2 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars - The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray] [1977] [Region Free]

£33 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV-VI) [Blu-ray] [1977] [Region Free]

£33 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Force Awakens [Blu-ray] [2015] [Region Free]

£9 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Last Jedi [4K UHD] [Blu-ray] [2017]

£10 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Rogue One: A Star Wars Story [Blu-ray] [2017] [Region Free]

Now 12% Off

£11 at Amazon

Disney/Lucasfilm Solo: A Star Wars Story [4K] [Blu-ray] [2018] [Region Free]

£20 at Amazon

Digital Spy now has a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Joe Anderton

Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.