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The Star Wars films are among some of the best franchises in movie history. The original, prequel, and sequel trilogies are all quite different, but fans love them all anyway. The way they approach the storylines and the character development varies greatly between trilogies, but they’re all packed with engaging plots and awesome characters. It’s usually fairly easy to guess how the relationships between characters will progress, and fans thought they had it all figured out for Rey and Finn in the sequel trilogies. They were quite wrong, however…

Daisy Ridley and John Boyega smiling
(L-R) Daisy Ridley and John Boyega | Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

The ‘Star Wars’ sequel trilogy was full of incredible characters

Every Star Wars film had tons of action, exciting plots, and memorable characters. The biggest difference between the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy, however, was how they used the characters. 

The original Star Wars trilogy–A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi–told an engaging story that was very much “in the moment.” The battle between the brave, determined Rebels and the evil, consuming Empire raged on for all three films. The story was intense and very focused on the task at hand–destroying the Empire and saving the galaxy. 

The original trilogy didn’t delve too much into the character’s backgrounds, emotional development, or inner thoughts. Aside from Luke, no one in the original trilogy changed very much from the first film to the last. The sequel trilogy--The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker–focuses more on the growth of the main characters than the action of the story.

The films are still action-packed, but the focus is more on how the characters are developing (and what drives them) rather than the actual battle itself. The sequels also explore the relationships between characters, and how those relationships are affected by the events of the films. 

Rey and Finn’s early encounter led many to assume they’d be romantically involved…

Rey was the heroine of the sequel trilogy, relentlessly searching for her family and discovering her own incredible powers during her journey. She was trained by the hero of the first trilogy, and followed in his footsteps in her fight with the new “rebel alliance” — the Resistance. 

Finn started The Force Awakens as a member of the new “Empire” — the menacing First Order. The audience quickly learns that Finn wants no part of the dark side, however, and he is deeply ashamed of his involvement with them. He makes an escape from his fellow stormtroopers and begins a new life. 

When Finn sees Rey in trouble after he crashes on Jakku, he immediately jumps into action. He then sees that she doesn’t really need his help, after all, and he ends up being more of an annoyance to her than anything. BB-8 recognizes Poe’s jacket, and Finn leads Rey to believe that he is with the Resistance. She is awestruck by his status and eagerly works with him. 

They ended up having a ‘sibling’ relationship

Much to everyone’s surprise, a romantic relationship never developed between the Rey and Finn. There were several times when it seemed like Finn might have feelings for Rey, but Rey made it pretty clear early on that she wasn’t interested.

A Reddit thread examined Rey and Finn’s relationship, and one Redditor commented that both actors said they were more like siblings than anything, “Both John and Daisy said their relationship is supposed to be sibling-like. They are supposed to be akin to brother and sister. And Rey friend-zoned him real fast in TFA.”

Although it’s true that Rey “friend-zoned” Finn fairly quickly in The Force Awakens, fans still assumed that something would develop as the trilogy progressed. It actually seemed a bit odd when it didn’t turn out that way, and us fans aren’t the only ones who felt that way. 

Alan Dean Foster–author of several Star Wars novels, including the novelization for the first film–was asked by J.J. Abrams to write the novelization for The Force Awakens, according to IndieWire. After reading the screenplay, he included the beginnings of a romantic relationship between Rey and Finn. He made that assumption based on the material that was provided to him–just like the fans did when they saw the film. 

However, Foster was asked to remove that aspect of the story later on, although it seemed clear that their relationship would develop further in The Last Jedi. As it turns out, we were all wrong, and the creative team decided that Rey and Kylo Ren would ultimately end up having a romance (which many fans thought seemed a bit forced, and more than a little weird). 

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