What an Alliance Between Rey and Kylo Ren Would Mean For Star Wars

There's a curious moment at the end of the new trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The final shots of the trailer make it seem like mortal enemies Rey (Daisy Ridley) and a scarred-up Kylo Ren
(Adam Driver) are having a conversation. "I need someone to show me my place in all this," Rey says, before it cuts to Kylo reaching out a gloved hand in her direction.

Although we firmly believe the moment is merely edited to look like Rey is directing those comments at Kylo — the gold-hued lighting in both scenes is similar, but behind Rey is a dark, plain background, while fire and ash are falling all around Kylo — it begs the question: what would an alliance between Rey and Kylo Ren mean for the Star Wars universe moving forward?

Of all the potential clues about the second film in the new trilogy, this one is the most exciting. Director Rian Johnson has been candid about how the name of the film, The Last Jedi, is a reference to Luke Skywalker. What no one has clarified, though, is if that simply means "the last Jedi of his kind." As posited by Nerdist, an alliance between Kylo and Rey has the potential to birth an entire new generation of Jedi who don't operate with the same perception of the Force that Luke does: Gray Jedi.

The concept of Gray Jedi actually already exists in the extended universe. Those who walked the line between the light and dark side of the Force, but did not succumb to the dark side, were seen as Gray (it also refers to those who wanted to live apart from the Jedi High Council). Both Rey and Kylo Ren seem to embody this seesaw between both the light and dark sides, Kylo being on the dark and Rey in the light. Whether they're related or not, there's clearly a bond between them that will come into play in The Last Jedi. We just don't know how.

Sure, Kylo could tell Supreme Leader Snoke to kick rocks and join Rey and his mother in the resistance, or Rey could abandon everything she's learned for a life fighting for the First Order. But a blend between the two seems far more likely. With Luke's Jedi school decimated (thanks, Kylo) and his death seeming more inevitable than ever, someone else will have to take over and form a new order of Jedi. Rey and Kylo could be those figures, banding together and calling upon both the light and the dark side of the Force, bringing balance to the universe.

Luckily the franchise has plenty of time to figure it out.