When Rey leaves Leia and the Resistance to go find Luke Skywalker, she brings two friends with her: Chewbacca and R2-D2. However, that wasn’t originally the case.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson said that the original ending of The Force Awakens had BB-8 go to Ahch-To with Rey and Chewbacca. But he asked that that be switched.
“I asked if R2 could come with Rey, and if BB-8 could stay behind with the Resistance,” Johnson told EW. “Originally it was BB-8 who went with Rey, which makes sense for the story in a way. But I asked, ‘Can you do me this solid and switch the droids?’”
And so they did. BB-8 will spend The Last Jedi with his rightful owner, Poe Dameron, and R2-D2 has gone off on another damn-fool adventure with his old owner Luke Skywalker.
Honestly, this just makes way more sense. Sure Johnson says BB going to see Luke “makes sense for the story in a way” but really, it doesn’t. The only reason it would make sense is because BB has spent most of The Force Awakens with Rey. BB’s not Rey’s droid though. He’s Poe’s droid. So him staying with Poe, and sending Luke’s droid along with Rey, makes way more sense. It also gives R2 something to do in The Last Jedi instead of, you know, just sitting in a corner for a whole movie.
Having R2 with Luke also gives Johnson an opportunity to explain this image from The Force Awakens...
...which certainly seems like it’ll be a part of The Last Jedi.
The Last Jedi opens December 15. Head over to the below link for more from Johnson.