JJ Abrams clears up confusion about that hug at the end of "The Force Awakens"
JJ Abrams admits he made at least one mistake with "Star Wars: the Force Awakens," and it's one that's prompted a lot of confusion and speculation from fans.
Toward the end of the film, when General Leia (Carrie Fisher) first met Rey (Daisy Ridley) following the attack on Starkiller Base, the two women embraced, sharing an emotional hug. What irked some fans is that Leia walked right past longtime friend Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) while doing so. So why the slight?
"That was probably one of the mistakes I made in that," Abrams said while being interviewed by Slashfilm. "My thinking at the time was that Chewbacca, despite the pain he was feeling, was focused on trying to save Finn [John Boyega] and getting him taken care of."
"I tried to have Chewbacca go off with him and focus on Rey, and then have Rey find Leia and Leia find Rey. The idea being that both of them, being strong with the Force and never having met, would know about each other -- that Leia would have been told about her beyond what we saw on screen and Rey of course would have learned about Leia. And that reunion would be a meeting and a reunion all in one, and a sort of commiseration of their mutual loss. Had Chewbacca not been where he was, you probably wouldn't have thought of it. But because he was right there, passed by Leia, it felt almost like a slight, which was definitely not the intention."