After viewing the film for the nth time I’m wondering if Rey is pretty much related to nobody in the original cast.

I think it’s safe to say that this film is an anti-prequel. Meaning anything having to do with the prequels is removed in every way (overly complex story, art design, huge cg crowds, childish anything). I think the fact that the only even remotely prequel moment (the republic capital) is wiped out is a funny aside at their real feelings about Lucas prequels.

That said, what about Rey? If one of the big parts of the prequels is that everyone is related, then it can be assumed that this new cast is related to nobody. And that includes Rey.

So who is she? We know she had a family. We don’t know if she even remembers who they are. The family (or someone who knew them) dropped her off on Jakku. That’s pretty much all the facts we get.

She has a few visions in the film. One is of the Luke’s acadamy being wiped out, Kylo Ren coming for her in the forest which is the future and another we don’t see of an island which is again maybe the future. I think her family were the Jedi who were wiped out, not necessarily Luke.

But none of that means she’s related to any of the original cast. It’s easy to say she’s Luke’s daughter but wouldn’t be more interesting if she’s just some random jedi sensitive girl caught up in a huge adventure? Her real family dropped her off with Luke to be trained and she was the lone survivor of his students for whatever reason. It sounds like Kylo had mercy on her or that Luke wouldn’t let Kylo destroy the child.

Also, since episode 7 is a riff on A New Hope and Return of the Jedi then its safe to say the next episode will riff on Empire Strikes Back. Luke will be Yoda here with the island as Dagobah. But related to Luke? We’ll see but I’m going to guess no.

The only thing that connects her to Luke is her lightsaber strike and kick at the end of the fight with Kylo. But that could mean anything.