Warning: there are spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If you still haven’t seen the film, turn back now!

Coming out of The Force Awakens, one of the biggest questions Star Wars fans asked was whether Rey‘s parents were pre-existing characters in the franchise. And after two years of guessing whether Rey was a secret Solo, Skywalker, or Kenobi, not everyone was pleased by the revelation that her parents weren’t anyone famous at all. They were just “filthy junk traders” according to the ever reliable Kylo Ren. As it turns out, director Rian Johnson seriously considered all of the possibilities about who Rey’s parents could be.

Join host and the only moisture farmer on Jakku, Jessica Chobot, as she runs down the relevant part of Johnson’s marathon appearance on Empire’s podcast. “I went through all the possibilities of who her parents could be,” said Johnson. “I made a list, with the upsides and downsides.” He went on to explain that he chose to make Rey’s parents nobodies because it “[breaks] out from the notion that the Force is this genetic thing that you have to be tied to somebody to have. It’s the ‘anybody can be president’ idea, which I liked introducing. The foremost thing, though, was just dramatically, storytelling-wise.”

It’s clear that Lucasfilm gave Johnson the creative freedom to go his own way regarding Rey’s parents, which isn’t to say that is the end of the story. Johnson has previously admitted that it could easily be revisited and retconned in Episode IX, if J.J. Abrams decides that he wants to change that revelation. Even within the The Last Jedi, there’s some wiggle room for doubt. While Johnson has stated that he thinks Kylo Ren told Rey the truth, it may have been one of those truths that are only true “from a certain point of view.” That would certainly be the Kenobi way to go!

Do you think that the identity of Rey’s parents should be changed in Episode IX? Feel the Force in the comment section below!

Images: Lucasfilm