JJ Abrams defends and ‘explains’ R2-D2’s role in ‘Force Awakens’
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has blown up the box office, smashing records and director J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Michael Arndt talking about the key role that R2-D2 plays in the film. Spoiler alert for all of you have may not have seen the movie yet and want to avoid details, please stop.
The popular little droid is one of the returning characters from the original trilogy, but the role of R2-D2 in The Force Awakens in the story has very close ties to the mystery of Luke Skywalker’s whereabouts. REPEAT: major spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen The Force Awakens.
You’ve been warned.
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, R2-D2 isn’t seen much. C-3PO explains to BB-8 that the droid has been in low power mode since Luke disappeared awhile back. He must be just as distraught as Luke due to Kylo Ren’s turn to the dark side, for which the last remaining Jedi blamed himself. At the end of The Force Awakens, Artoo wakes up and has the rest of the map that The Resistance needs in order to find Luke Skywalker.
Some fans have criticized this part of the story for being a little too convenient.
Screenwriter Michael Arndt explained to Entertainment Weekly after a screening of the movie: “We had the idea about R2 plugging into the information base of the Death Star, and that’s how he was able to get the full map and find where the Jedi temples are.”
Director J.J. Abrams says he wanted to avoid getting bogged down with explaining everything that happened 30 years ago and explains why R2 doesn’t just wake up and help everyone find Luke immediately: “BB-8 comes up and says something to him, which is basically, ‘I’ve got this piece of a map, do you happen to have the rest?’ The idea was, R2 who has been all over the galaxy, is still in his coma, but he hears this. And it triggers something that would ultimately wake him up.”
“While it may seem, you know, completely lucky and an easy way out, at that point in the movie, when you’ve lost a person, desperately, and somebody you hopefully care about is unconscious, you want someone to return.”
Just a tidbit in the grand scheme of things.
