At first glance, the Force Awakens shares a lot in common with the first original film ; A New Hope. The desert planet, Han Solo, Han Solo dying on a catwalk, and a few other scenes. However, digging up some old evidence can lead us to new conclusions.

Harrison Ford, the actor for Han Solo, during the shoot of Return of the Jedi wanted Han Solo to die as a martyr of sorts. George Lucas, on the other hand, wouldn’t let that happen due to the character’s increasing popularity with fans at the time.

Now, here is where the speculation comes in to this theory, what if the Force Awakens really is supposed to resemble Return of the Jedi? J.J. Abrams, the director of the film, could have believed that to move on with the story Han Solo needed to die. But, for his death to truly matter, they needed to rebuild the emotional attachment fans and characters had to him.

Now, Rey and Finn have a much better reason to fight Kylo Ren and the First Order than being a traitor or Force user. Their emotional attachment to Han, along with Leia’s and Chewie’s, could be used as the reason they are still fighting. Not only that, but it could open future plot points now that the character is out of the way but emotional attachment is still there.

However, if this isn’t true, Han Solo’s death would be meaningless and the new trilogy would continue to mirror the original. In Episode VIII, if speculation proves to be true, Rey and Luke will train then Rey will go fight Kylo Ren in Cloud City. Leaked pictures of the set of Episode VIII show what is thought to be Cloud City guards.

However, at that point, I’d give up on the new trilogy. If they are just going to recycle old stories with new characters, they’d lose a lot of money because fans will think it’s worse than the Prequels. I mean, at least the Prequels were original in a sense.

But, despite all this, its all speculation and may be proven to be incorrect next year when Episode VIII releases in theaters. Have a nice day, readers!