

On creating a female lead for the new trilogy, Abrams stated that from his initial discussions with writer Lawrence Kasdan, he was excited at the concept of having a woman at the center of the story. Abrams originally intended to name the character "Keera", but during filming in Abu Dhabi, Abrams revealed to Ridley that he was thinking of going with "Rey". Ridley recalled that director and writer J. J. Arndt said that he struggled with introducing the young woman as the main character in his story while keeping her from being overshadowed after her early meeting with Luke Skywalker, whose role in the film was eventually minimized. The character was known as Kira in the early stages of production, and Arndt described her as a "loner, hothead, gear-head, badass".

Screenwriter Michael Arndt said that he found Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's offer to write Episode VII daunting in mid-2012, but he became interested when it was explained to him that the tale was about the origin story of a female Jedi and he met with George Lucas. As the last remaining Jedi, she makes it her mission to rebuild the Jedi Order. Following Palpatine's final defeat, Rey adopts the name Rey Skywalker to honor her mentors and their family legacy and renounce her lineage. Despite being enemies, Rey and Kylo Ren share a connection called a 'Force dyad' and eventually become romantically involved with one another. Powerfully Force-sensitive, Rey trains to be a Jedi under siblings Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, and faces adversaries such as Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke and the resurrected Emperor Palpatine-who is revealed to be her grandfather in The Rise of Skywalker. She becomes involved in the Resistance's conflict with the First Order. Rey is introduced as a scavenger who was abandoned on the planet Jakku when she was a child. She also appears in the film's sequels, The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), and related Star Wars media. Abrams, and Michael Arndt for The Force Awakens (2015), the first installment of the trilogy, and is primarily portrayed by Daisy Ridley. Rey is a character in the Star Wars franchise and the main protagonist of the sequel film trilogy.

Sheev Palpatine (paternal grandfather).
