Credit: LucasfilmIt’s been years since Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) divided audiences, yet the conversations around it haven’t slowed. Fans have debated the story choices, the direction of the trilogy, and most of all, the fate of Kylo Ren.
Now, at long last, a massive development tied to the character has been confirmed. It’s the kind of news that makes you pause and revisit the sequels with fresh eyes, reminding everyone just how much weight Kylo Ren still carries in the Star Wars galaxy.
This update doesn’t exist in a vacuum. To fully understand its impact, we need to take a step back and examine Kylo Ren’s journey, the sequel trilogy, and the lingering questions that fans have carried with them since those films hit theaters.
Rey, Kylo, and the New Trilogy
When Disney launched the sequel trilogy with The Force Awakens (2015), the dynamic between Rey and Kylo Ren quickly became the story’s core. Rey embodied the new hope for the Jedi, while Kylo Ren represented the dark side’s complicated, fractured heir. Their connection wasn’t just about battles but identity, heritage, and choice.
Director Rian Johnson leaned heavily into that tension when The Last Jedi rolled around. The famous throne room scene gave audiences one of the most memorable lightsaber duels in the saga, showing Rey and Kylo fighting side by side before diverging again. It was bold storytelling, but not everyone was on board.
Criticism and Divided Fandom
To say the trilogy sparked debate would be putting it mildly. Some fans loved the risks The Last Jedi took, calling it a fresh and daring approach to Star Wars. Others felt it derailed the saga’s mythos, leaving threads untied and characters underused. Kylo Ren’s arc, in particular, was divisive. Was he truly a menacing villain, or was he too conflicted to carry the weight of Darth Vader’s legacy?
Yet even with the criticism, one thing became clear: Kylo Ren was a character who couldn’t be ignored. His complexity, presence, and role in Rey’s journey made him one of the standout figures of the trilogy. That recognition went beyond the films themselves.
From Screen to Galaxy’s Edge
Despite the online arguments, the sequel trilogy proved popular enough to influence Disney’s massive expansion plans. When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened at Disney Parks in 2019, Kylo Ren wasn’t left behind. In fact, he became one of the central figures of the land.
Guests exploring Batuu encounter Kylo in dramatic stage moments, where he storms through the marketplace with stormtroopers at his side, searching for Resistance sympathizers. He isn’t just a background character—his presence helps anchor the land in the sequel era. Love or hate the films, Disney clearly saw Kylo Ren as essential to the Star Wars experience.
Kylo Ren Across the Attractions
It didn’t stop there. Kylo Ren made appearances in multiple attractions across Disney Parks. In Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, he features as part of the randomized ride sequences that give fans a taste of every era of the saga. Over at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Kylo’s First Order forces loom large in the story as guests pilot the galaxy’s most famous ship.
And then there’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the crown jewel of Galaxy’s Edge. This groundbreaking ride places guests directly into the fight between the Resistance and the First Order, with Kylo Ren taking center stage as one of the primary villains. The combination of animatronics, screens, and live actors ensures that his presence feels larger than life.
Even those who weren’t thrilled about the sequel trilogy can’t deny the thrill of facing off against Kylo in person.
Revisiting The Last Jedi
Still, questions lingered after The Last Jedi. The film made some daring choices but also left fans scratching their heads. Perhaps the most glaring issue wasn’t with Kylo himself, but with the mysterious group always teased in the background—the Knights of Ren.
They were referenced in The Force Awakens and heavily marketed, but their complete absence from The Last Jedi baffled audiences. Why build up this shadowy force only to exclude them entirely? Fans waited for an explanation, but none came during the film’s run. It felt like a gaping hole in the narrative that deserved closure.
The Missing Piece
For years, fans pointed to one glaring gap in the sequel trilogy: the Knights of Ren. These mysterious warriors were teased in The Force Awakens and heavily marketed as part of Kylo Ren’s rise to power, but when it came time for The Last Jedi, they were nowhere to be found.
Aside from Rey’s Force vision in Maz Kanata’s castle, where a fleeting glimpse showed Kylo and the Knights in battle, audiences had no context for who they were, what they wanted, or why they didn’t fight at Kylo’s side.
The confusion only deepened because Kylo was introduced as their leader. Why weren’t they present during his most pivotal battles if that was the case?
Fans debated endlessly on forums and social media, speculating that the Knights had been saved for later films, written out for simplicity, or even abandoned as a concept. This absence became one of the most discussed “plot holes” in modern Star Wars—a loose thread that seemed destined to stay that way.
The Answers We’ve Been Waiting For
That mystery has finally been addressed, not on the big screen but in the pages of Marvel’s “Star Wars: Legacy of Vader.” A recent issue pulled back the curtain and explained what really happened to the Knights of Ren before the events of the sequels.
The comic revealed that Snoke himself orchestrated their removal. Despite Kylo’s position as their master, Snoke dismissed the Knights as unworthy, calling them “rabble” and “rats.” In one striking scene, he even unleashed Force lightning on one of them, making it clear they were not welcome in his presence or in Kylo’s. Snoke ordered stormtroopers to attack them to punctuate the point, forcing the Knights into retreat.
This brutal betrayal reframed their absence in the first two films: they weren’t forgotten; they were actively cast out. The comic even tied back to Rey’s vision in The Force Awakens, showing the moment after Kylo struck down a foe—the same vision Rey saw—when Snoke appeared and drove the Knights away.
Their return made more sense when The Rise of Skywalker (2019) rolled around. No longer Kylo’s loyal enforcers, they had thrown in with Emperor Palpatine, serving as his pawns on Exegol and attacking Ben Solo after his redemption. What once felt like a dangling thread now fits neatly into the canon.
Why It Matters
For years, fans speculated about what happened behind the scenes. Were the Knights of Ren forgotten? Was their exclusion a sign of storytelling chaos? This update confirms that there was intent, even if audiences didn’t always agree with the execution.
More importantly, it reinforces Kylo Ren’s centrality in the sequels. He wasn’t just another villain—he was surrounded by lore, unanswered questions, and connections that Disney and Lucasfilm continue to explore.
Whether you loved the sequels or left disappointed, there’s no denying that Kylo Ren has remained relevant. His story continues to appear in comics, novels, park attractions, and now, in major revelations years after his supposed end.