There Is One Thing J.J. Abrams Regrets About 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

While ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘ will be heading to your local theaters this week, J.J. Abrams is taking some time to look back on the franchise. Specifically, the director is thinking about the single moment in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ that he would change if he were to redo it. We can all be thankful that Disney and LucasFilm likely won’t allow Abrams to go back and reshoot the film in the style of “George Lucas,” but it is hard to argue with the one moment he wishes was shot differently.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he revealed:

“I always look at what I have done and see things that I wish I had done better or differently. I wish that Chewie hadn’t walked past Leia in the third act of The Force Awakens after Han died. There are things all over the place I always know I could have done better, but that’s part of learning, I guess.”

This, of course, is from the scene where the Millennium Falcon returns from Starkiller Base without Han Solo, who was killed at the hands of his son. Instead of the fan-favorite Wookie from the franchise giving into any emotion with his old friend Leia, we instead see him walk by and Leia embraces Rey who she has barely met.

Back in 2016, Abrams had previously explained his reasoning for directing the scene as he did to Slash Film saying:

“My thinking at the time was that Chewbacca, despite the pain he was feeling, was focused on trying to save Finn and getting him taken care of, so I tried to have Chewbacca go off with him and focus on Rey, and then have Rey find Leia and Leia find Rey. The idea being that both of them being strong with the Force and never having met, would know about each other — that Leia would have been told about her beyond what we saw onscreen and Rey, of course, would have learned about Leia. And that reunion would be a meeting and a reunion all in one, and a sort of commiseration of their mutual loss … Had Chewbacca not been where he was, you probably wouldn’t have thought of it. But because he was right there, passed by Leia, it felt almost like a slight, which was definitely not the intention.”

Clearly, the director doesn’t fully agree with his choice these days.

Thankfully, Marvel Comic fans did get a chance to see Chewie and Leia have an emotional moment,but the scene still just feels like it was too little, too late.

 

I’m pretty sure if you loved or hated the return to the “Star Wars” franchise that this is one scene you can agree with that didn’t feel true to the original characters.

Do you feel that this was J.J. Abrams’ biggest mistake with ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’? Is there anything else that you thought was a misstep in the film? Share your thoughts in the comments below!