Adam Driver "Princess" Quote About Rey Probably Doesn't Mean What We Thought

Will Rey secretly be revealed as a princess in Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi? A closer look at Adam Driver’s recent statement reveals the answer is…maybe not?

On Monday, the British GQ website published a preview quote from Driver in which he seemed to suggest Rey was a secret “princess.” But, in seeing the quote in its full context, it’s possible that Driver was referencing the plot of the Akira Kurosawa film, The Hidden Fortress in which there is, in fact, a secret princess. With that in mind, here’s what his “princess” comment looks like in that context in the print version of British GQ.

Driver is on a roll now, discussing what excites him: character and narrative and cinematic influences. The original Star Wars was an homage to Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 film The Hidden Fortress, he says, and the link lives on in the new trilogy, in which concealed identities drive the narrative. Then he lets it slip. “You have, also, the hidden identity of this princess who’s hiding who she really is so she can survive and Kylo Ren and her hiding behind these artifices,” Driver says, apparently dropping a massive revelation about Rey’s royal origins. Perhaps he’s unconcerned and Rey’s parentage is less dramatic than imagined by fans, who posited that her father is Luke then trumpeted that her mother is Leia. Or it could be that, in passionately holding forth, Driver is simply unaware he’s revealed anything, much less a major spoiler.

So, perhaps the reason Adam driver was unaware or revealing anything, is because the hidden princess he’s referring to isn’t Rey, but instead, Princess Yuki Akizuki from The Hidden Fortress. As Star Wars and Kurosawa fans have pointed out, in The Hidden Fortress, Princess Yuki Akizuki pretends to be mute, in order to conceal her identity. So, because Driver was talking about this film as it relates to The Last Jedi, this whole princess concept might not be a one for one analogy. Or, as the interview states, it just might not be that big of a deal.

If Rey is related to either Luke Skywalker or Leia Organa, it stands to reason she comes from a line of royalty. Luke and Leia were both children of a former Queen, after all. But, then again, that would also, kind of, make Kylo Ren a prince…from a certain point of view.

The Last Jedi is out everywhere on December 15. You can read Adam Driver’s interview in full in the British edition of GQ, out on newsstands on November 2.

Read Next: Mark Hamill Suggests Luke and Leia Weren’t Always Siblings

If you liked this article, check out this video about two huge twists revealed in the Last Jedi trailer.