Star Wars: The Force Awakens left viewers with dozens of questions, and now director J.J. Abrams has clarified just a few of them.
First, at a Writers Guild of America screening, Abrams discussed that scene in which Rey experiences a vision upon touching Luke's lightsaber, reports Entertainment Weekly. If you thought you heard some familiar voices during this sequence, you did. Obi-Wan and Yoda actually make quick appearances.
Abrams said that you can first hear a bit of Yoda, and then you hear Obi-Wan saying, "Rey, these are your first steps." This line was recorded by Ewan McGregor, reprising his role from the prequel films.
Actually, Alec Guinness is in there too, despite the fact that the actor is no longer with us. One of the film's editors took a line of Guinness as Obi-Wan saying "afraid" in A New Hope and made that sound like he's saying "Rey." Frank Oz came in to record new Yoda dialogue, although it ended up not being used.
Finally, Abrams also answered a question a lot of viewers had at the end of the movie: why did R2-D2 suddenly come to life when he did? Was it a reaction to Rey entering the room? Is he force sensitive? That doesn't seem to be the case, as according to Abrams, it was BB-8 who woke up our favorite droid.
“BB-8 comes up and says something to him, which is basically, ‘I’ve got this piece of a map, do you happen to have the rest?’” Abrams said. “The idea was, R2 who has been all over the galaxy, is still in his coma, but he hears this. And it triggers something that would ultimately wake him up.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now playing in theaters everywhere.