We’ve known the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens for months, and last month we saw them in action for the first time. Now, finally, we get to learn their names.
Entertainment Weekly has a breakdown (in retro faux-trading card fashion) of the characters from the new movie, matching actors to their character names, but avoiding much information beyond that. It’s good to see that the fine Star Wars tradition of ridiculous-sounding names is alive and well (Although, sadly, neither “Poe Dameron” nor “Kylo Ren” match “Luke Skywalker” or “Biggs Darklighter” in terms of surname), but what else can we learn from the new nomenclature?
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Oscar Isaac is Poe Dameron
There’s no obvious significance to this name, so we’re left with the same information about Isaac’s character that we already had: He’s an X-Wing pilot, and his helmet features the same insignia as Luke’s from the original trilogy. Does that mean that he’s also part of Rogue Squadron?
Someone With A Cloak is Kylo Ren
The fact that this character has a name that doesn’t include the word “Darth” might push back against speculation that he’s definitively one of the Sith — Darth being their title, judging by what we’ve seen with Darth Sidious and Darth Maul in the prequel trilogy — which might also mean that those guessing that this is actually Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker gone bad might be wrong… unless this is all a particularly long con.
Daisy Ridley is Rey
Note that we don’t get the last name of Ridley’s character, meaning that everyone who’s assuming that she’s the daughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa (Leia Skywalker? Leia Organa Skywalker-Solo?) can continue to believe that for awhile longer. Of course, it’s also possible that the lack of last name is merely because it won’t be used in the movie for entirely innocent purposes…
John Boyega is Finn
Finn is another character who lacks a last name, which again might point out a possible family connection with an existing character, or simply a sign that his last name really, really isn’t important. (If he turns out to be Finn Calrissian, I’ll be torn between excitement at the possibility of more Lando action down the line and frustration at the implication that the only two black lead characters in Star Wars movies are related.)
That Droid With A Ball For A Body is BB-8
R2-D2 was, as all true Star Wars fans already know, named for a reference to “reel 2, dialogue track 2,” heard while George Lucas was writing the original movie. For The Force Awakens’ droid’s name, the origin seems a little more obvious; surely he’s named for Bryan Burk, producer on a number of J.J. Abrams projects including, yes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Read more ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Teaser: Perfectly Potent Nostalgia Strikes Back
