By: Dominic Jones
When Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens cast two British actors in lead roles, the question arose as to whether or not John Boyega and Daisy Ridley would use their native accents in the film. We got an answer about John Boyega's Finn by way of a talking action figure, revealing that he spoke with an American accent in the film. But we still didn't know about Daisy Ridley's Rey. Until now.
Star Wars 7 News uncovered the answer on the website of Andrew Jack, the dialect coach on The Force Awakens. On his credits he has the following listing for the film,
"Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens" Daisy Ridley - RP. John Boyega - American. Supporting artistes - Alien language / Dialogue coaching
As you can see, Daisy Ridley is listed as having an RP accent. RP stands for "Received Pronunciation," which can basically be described as the posh sort of accent you would hear on BBC News.
For more on the different types of British accents and to get better sense of what this means, check out this video,
Now the question is, what are the implications on the plot. Typically in Star Wars characters with American accents tend to come from outer rim locations (Luke, Anakin, Han). The British accent has, in the past, indicated someone is in a position of power in the galaxy, people like Palpatine, Tarkin, Mon Mothma, various Imperials, even Padme and Leia put on British accents at key times (Leia when meeting Tarkin and Padme as Queen). These are generalizations and there are exceptions on both sides, of course.
So, does this mean Rey is in a position of power in the galaxy. Well, it would seem at the start of the film we know (from official releases - not spoilers) that she's a "desert scavenger" on Jakku which doesn't sound like someone in a position of power. So it seems we may be bucking the trend for the time being. That being said, Finn having an American accent makes perfect sense, seeing as Finn is a stormtrooper, which means he's definitely not in a position of power.
Now, there is someone else in the galaxy who spoke with an RP accent whom Rey could be connected to that would make for an interesting twist. Obi-Wan Kenobi. If we assume that Rey is Force sensitive (again, no spoilers just speculation) then it would be conceivable that she be related to Obi-Wan (maybe not his daughter, but perhaps his niece). It would be poetic in a way to have Luke training Ben's descendant, Kenobi trained two generations of Skywalkers maybe it's time for a Skywalker to train a Kenobi. If they're not going to continue the Skywalker bloodline (again, speculation) then I would love to see them pass the torch on to a Kenobi.
Is this far fetched? Maybe. Is it a lot to assume just from an accent? Yes. But is it possible? We'll find out December 18th.
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