Kylo Ren has become one of the more divisive elements of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” While most everyone can agree that Rey is a great addition to the franchise, people seem to fall into two camps regarding Kylo Ren. Either you think he’s a multi-layered, emotional bad guy who brings a new take to the Darth Vader archetype, or you just think he’s a petulant little baby with a lightsaber and a wannabe Vader mask.
In a new interview with Larry King, Kylo Ren actor Adam Driver says there’s much more to the character that has yet to be explored. In addition, perhaps there’s more of a social message in the upcoming film than we were originally imagining.
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“I think — maybe this is such a general answer but you know — humanity,” Driver said about how the villain will evolve. “Even though it’s very much a blockbuster movie, there was no taking that for granted and that we were forced to be general. There was a lot of plot points that we knew were operating in the first one, that we get to explain more in the second one, to make both of them make sense. But they do kind of feel socially active to me, and George Lucas originally — a lot of Star Wars was in response to Vietnam and a lot of what I remember talking about with J.J. [Abrams] and Rian [Johnson] was this idea of terrorism, and two sides being morally justified to behave however they wanted to get whatever they thought was absolutely correct.”
Perhaps the fan service in ‘The Force Awakens’ will take more of a backseat in future films, which would definitely allow for more exploration of the newest characters. And hopefully Kylo Ren will be skewing away from bratty and become intimidating.
The as-yet-untitled “Star Wars: Episode VIII” will open on December 15th. [Uproxx]
I am one that sort of liked Kylo Ren. I view him as a mentally unstable young man with a LOT of power, which makes him very, very dangerous. Perhaps more dangerous than Vader, who at least did things as a means to an end. Kylo can’t control his rage (not sure WHY he’s so angry yet), and that’s what led him to the dark side. (Similiarities he sees with his grandfather no doubt.)