The trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, while showing us brief moments from the upcoming movies have managed to maintain the secrecy surrounding the epic movies plot. While we know that Rey, Finn and Poe will be the new heroes, and that old favorites such as Han Solo, Chewbacca and Leia are set to return, some news outlets seem to be claiming that the new villain Kylo Ren is in fact Luke Skywalker in disguise. With so much secrecy shrouding this movie, there are bound to be some elements of the narrative of The Force Awakens that have not yet been disclosed, and others that haven't even been speculated by the fans. Yet we find it surprising that such a trend seems to be forming around the idea that Luke and Kylo are one and the same.
Lets look at the facts. We know that Kylo Ren is played by American actor Adam Driver, whom at six feet and two inches stands nearly six inches taller than Mark Hamill's five feet seven inches. Build wise the two actors also couldn't be more different. Hamill is a portly shadow of his former athletic self, which is of no surprise considering the actor is now in his sixties. Driver, on the other hand, is well known for his lean and lanky figure. Simply by looking at the height and build of both actors in comparison to the images and footage released thus far of Kylo Ren, it should be an open and shut case that Luke Skywalker is not Kylo Ren, but to definitively shut the case we turn to Vanity Fair.
Earlier this year Vanity Fair did an preview on the forthcoming seventh instalment in everyone's favorite space opera. Included with their article were a series of exclusive photographs from photographer Annie Leibovitz, which clearly showed Adam Driver in costume as Kylo Ren but without his mask, accompanied by a couple of Snowtroopers (pictured above). And just recently, in the final trailer for the movie we saw a glimpse of Kylo Ren from behind confronting Finn in a lightsabre duel, again without his mask (pictured below). It seems that in the latter half of the movie our heroes face of against an unmasked Kylo Ren on the First Orders new Starkiller Base.
There are other fan theories circulating about Kylo Ren, some suggesting that the character could be either Luke's son or nephew, with others suggesting that Rey may be Kylo's sister or cousin, this speculation has been fuelled by J J Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy's recent confirmation that the new trilogy will, as with the previous two trilogies, follow the Skywalker family. So there you are, Kylo Ren may yet be revealed to be a Skywalker, but he most definitively is NOT Luke Skywalker. Which begs the question, where is Luke Skywalker?
