Rian Johnson caused a character swap in The Force Awakens

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has revealed that he had a significant impact on the previous film, The Force Awakens, causing a character swap in the script.

Johnson was writing the screenplay for Episode 8 during production of its predecessor, and as Johnson dug into his story, he discovered a problem, so he asked The Force Awakens‘ director J.J. Abrams to make a vital change.

The issue was with Episode 7’s ending, the film concludes with Rey approaching Luke Skywalker for the first time, accompanied by Luke’s old droid R2-D2. However, it turns out that the droid was originally BB-8. Johnson spoke of the change to Entertainment Weekly:

“Yes … The big [favor] was, I asked if R2 could come with Rey, and if BB-8 could stay behind with the Resistance. Originally it was BB-8 who went with Rey, which makes sense for the story in a way. But I asked, ‘Can you do me this solid and switch the droids?’” he said.

R2-D2 (left) BB-8 (right) almost went opposite ways.

Abrams agreed and that’s why we see BB-8 back with its original owner Poe in The Last Jedi trailer. It was a surprise to see BB-8 and Rey part ways after bonding so well in the film, but obviously Johnson felt the swap was necessary for the future of the story.

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And we can find out what that future entails when The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15th.

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