Star Wars inspired Another Iconic Franchise's Season Finale

Highlights

Dr. Who showrunner Russell T. Davies was inspired by The Last Jedi’s portrayal of Rey’s parentage for his latest season.
Davies preferred the idea of Rey being an ordinary person with the Force, rather than having a special lineage.
The Last Jedi’s subversive take on Rey’s origins might be revived in Rian Johnson’s planned Star Wars trilogy.

Star Wars has long been an inspiration for new media of all forms, but the legendary science fiction space opera has more recently provided inspiration for another titan of the genre, with that IPs latest installment drawing from one part of the sequel trilogy.

Star Wars has come to define the science fiction genre in many ways and the original trilogy series was universally seen as a masterwork, despite the initially controversial prequel series rubbing many the wrong way. However, the prequels would eventually catch a break when Disney’s sequel trilogy was released to a storm of contention and even controversy across the board. While many people believed that The Last Jedi was the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back, the film would still go down with the rest of the ship and the franchise would switch over to small-screen projects.

Doctor Who: Who Is Sutekh?

This classic antagonist from ancient Egypt stepped back into Doctor Who’s spotlight after a long hiatus.

In response to the downfall of the sequel trilogy, many supporters were quick to state that The Last Jedi was Disney’s failure, not Rian Johnson’s, and it seems that the showrunner behind two different resurgences for the iconic Dr. Who franchise, Russell T. Davies, is one of them. As reported by Comicbook, the showrunner would reveal in the BBC iPlayer commentary for “Empire of Death”, the finale of the show’s latest season and the first featuring the 15th Doctor portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa, that the entire feel and idea of the entire thing was heavily inspired by The Last Jedi and the presentation of protagonist Rey’s parentage and how little it factored into her importance to the pivotal events happening.

This is kind of my reaction to [that film],” Davies revealed. “The second film said that [Rey] was nothing special, there was nothing special about her parentage… She was just… an ordinary person with the Force. I really loved the version where she wasn’t special. When she’s ordinary. She’s not the daughter of Suteikh. She’s not the daughter of the Time Lords or Rassilon or something like that. Her mum is Louise Miller, who was 15 years old and pregnant, from a dangerous, abusive home, and left her child on the doorstep. Because I think it’s a better story.

Davies’ past-tense reference to an unspecial Rey stands in light of the retconning of that idea in the subsequent and final entry into the sequel trilogy, where it’s revealed that Rey is actually a descendant of the returned Sheev Palpatine, and furthermore takes on the Skywalker name at the end of the film. Daisy Ridley has a more charitable view on The Rise Of Skywalker reveal, but the majority of The Last Jedi enjoyers don’t share the sentiment. While Ridley’s assertion that Rey’s origins as a relative of the evil Sith Emperor contrast with her heroic actions in ending his second grab at power, this isn’t as original an idea as The Last Jedi’s intended version. Anakin and Luke already went against their lineage in much the same way, and Davies’ interest in the more subversive path that Johnson’s story was set to put her on is easily understandable and plays out well in “Empire of Death.”

This inspiring quality might have been undone at the tail end of the sequel trilogy, but Johnson’s planned Star Wars trilogy can take some elements from The Last Jedi and bring them to fruition. Whether or not that sort of ideal will survive the current harrowing going on at Disney and Lucasfilm in light of the changes in the entertainment landscape remains to be seen, but fans can certainly hope for the best.

The Star Wars franchise is available to stream on Disney+.

Star Wars

Star Wars is a multimedia franchise originally created by George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd with the 1977 motion picture. The science fiction franchise follows the adventures of characters (both humanoid and alien) in outer space including those who can wield a mystical power known as the Force. Since the release of the original trilogy of movies, the franchise has expanded to include multiple films and branched out to other media like comics, video games, tv shows, theme park attractions, and more. The IP and Lucasfilm were sold to Disney in 2012.