Daisy Ridley and John Boyega’s Accents in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
A while ago, there was a bit of leaked raw Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens footage briefly showing Rey and Finn on the run from the First Order during the marketplace attack scene shown in the second teaser – both featuring the voices of their characters. For those that missed the leak, there is now official confirmation from a crew member of the movie of what accents these characters are going to use – and, in an odd way, the accents seem tell us slightly more about the story of the movie than one would think.
Andrew Jack, a dialect coach, has The Force Awakens listed as one of the movies he worked on through his official website. He supplied a degree of help on helping the cast pronounce certain alien words and to help them speak in the various alien languages created for the Star Wars Universe, but more importantly, his credit primarily concerns two cast members – Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, both of whom are British. (Ridley is also credited before Boyega; make of that what you will.) While Boyega has been known to speak in an American accent (based on information gleaned from Force Friday) before its more official listing on the site, Ridley’s accent is listed is listed as “RP” – which, in layman’s terms, is a posh accent.
Ridley being asked to perform with a specific British accent in mind as opposed to speaking with her natural accent is very likely done for a deliberate purpose. Canonically, the posh accent is called a “Coruscanti accent” within the Star Wars setting, which is used by several high-ranking Imperials, by people living in the “Galactic Core”, and by other characters in high places (such as Mon Mothma and – briefly – Leia Organa). So with that in mind, there are a couple possibilities for speculation based on the implication of this detail.
- Finn is not from a Core World. While the First Order is presumably stationed there, it’s likely that their influence expands beyond one specific region – which would explain why the Resistance is prominent. It would also seem likely that the Fire Order “hires” conscripts from other worlds.
- Jakku is a planet where the Coruscanti accent is inexplicably used by a significant portion of the planet’s populace. While Jakku itself lies in the Outer Rim, that doesn’t mean that people living in it couldn’t use the accent. Rey might have picked up the accent after living on the planet for an extended period of time.
- Rey may not be from Jakku. Conversely, another explanation is that Rey has not lived on Jakku for her entire life up until the events of The Force Awakens, and that she migrated from another planet where the accent was prominently used.
- Rey potentially came from an upper-class background, but she became a scavenger somewhere along the way. Presuming her parents – or adoptive parents – aren’t Han, Luke, or Leia, it’s possible that she could have been raised by people who used the accent. These hypothetical people most likely died between Rey’s childhood and the present (and we all know, Disney loves using orphans in their stories).
Hopefully, we’ll get to hear Finn and Rey speak in a new batch of footage for the film, which should (hopefully) arrive within the next three or four weeks. Thanks to user Eve Jacques from our comments system for the tip about Andrew Jack’s website.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
is the leaked footage still available anywhere?
I don’t think so, no. But you didn’t miss much – aside from hearing two lines (“Let go of me!” “We’ve gotta move!”), there wasn’t any new information. I can tell you that it will look much better when it’s edited together than it looked as raw footage.
It wasn’t raw footage, was it? It was just from a small cam hiding in some extra robbes.
Yeah. My mistake.
I forgot what Natalie Portman’s accent sounded like.
Monotone
HAHA!
lol
I still don’t understand Padme in Episode 1. Oh wait that’s right for the first half of the film the character we think is Queen Amidala is a decoy with the funny voice, yet the film makes the distinction so blurred I still, to this day, do not know what the f is going on.
And then she just has an American accent when the Queen’s handmaiden turns out to be the Queen. Argh wtf?! I need to watch Episode 1 again. Actually no I don’t.
Rey Valorum…….
Well, Anthony Breznican did post a theory article on EW stating he thinks Rey could be tied to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Meaning she may be Kenobi’s granddaughter. And, I know people would say he’s a Jedi and Jedi don’t believe in attachments, but, he still would’ve had to do something in those almost 20 years between ROTS and ANH. And, besides, Breznican thinks having a child is something that you can break in the Jedi Code and still manage to be a good Jedi, if you listen to the August 14th 2015 episode of RebelForce Radio, they bring that up when talking about TFA character names.
I like this theory too.
It is kind of interesting.
Remember the Hollywood Reporter news item that was floating around just shortly before EPVII went into production? It centered on Maisie Richardson-Sellers rumored to be up for the role of someone who may or may not be a descendant of Ben Kenobi. What if wires were crossed and it was actually the role that was given to Ridley. If true, it might explain the accent. I also think it would be an interesting development (in a “full circle” sort of way) if Luke became mentor to one of his own mentor’s offspring.
Certainly makes the prospect of an Obi Wan Anthology film more interesting.
His kid would be too old. If it’s been 30 years between ROTJ and TFA at least 5-6 went by between ANH & ROTJ and that would mean Rey would almost be in her 40s. Doesn’t make sense in the timeline. Unless force ghosts can fuck then this myth has been debunked!
He said Obi Wan’s granddaughter, which is totally plausible, Drew. Lemme break it down for you: if he fathered a child – let’s say 3 to 5 years post ROTS – that would make said offspring slightly younger than the Skywalker twins. Assuming TFA uses Driver’s real age (early 30’s) and we also assume he’s a solo, then Han and Leah conceived him just after the events of ROTJ. It’s reasonable that the Kenobi offspring could’ve produced Rey a few years later (Ridley is in her early 20’s). Im beginning to lean more towards Breznican’s theory. Besides, pitting the grandchildren of 2 Jedi legends – a Master and his former padewan at that – against each other would make for epic storytelling.
I don’t think it is plausible in the slightest. Obi-Wan gave no indication of having children in the OT what so ever. So he had kids and abandoned them? If there were other force sensitive people out there that could have helped take down the empire, I am pretty sure Yoda and Obi Wan would have exhausted that option. I am very much not in favor of something that waters down the significance of Luke’s story and mainly the OT.
Rey Palpatine? Would be interesting if one of Padme’s nieces married Emperor Palpatine’s descendants, thus Rey Palpatine.
That would be a total twist on things.
Finn has voice clips on some of the toys already.
RP = received pronunciation…like the Queen !
i would kinda like if she was from Dooku’s line and grew up on Serenno in wealth only to reject all of that once she discovers what her great Grandfather did during the clone wars.
Just out of curiosity, does anybody know if Amidala’s royal Naboo accent was considered “Posh?”
I am still under the impression that Rey is Leia’s daughter but ws somehow shipwrecked on Jakku.
It would be pretty cool to see Rey (if she’s a skywalker or solo) be brought up on Naboo like her grandmother. Perhaps she could be next in line for queen and runs away to Jakku because she doesn’t want that type of life.
If Rey isn’t of Skywalker descent, I’ll eat my hat. Look at her! Looks just like Grandma…
RIGHT?! Lol I really hope she is..not knowing her last name is stressing me out!!
Absolutely, but after anakin roughed her up a bit it got toned down.
Rey Tarkin…Rey Kenobi…Rey Palpatine…Rey Skywalker…Rey Naberrie…it’s anyones guess.
I can’t wait to find out!
Kenobi would be so awesome!
Rey Mothma… Rey Antilles… Rey Nunb :-p
And the most obvious one: Rey Ackbar.
its a trap !!!
Rey Mysterio
Rey2-D2
Rey Fett !!!!
I have an idea that kinda combines two separate theories, that could
both be true. One is that Max von Sydow is playing Sinjir, from
Aftermath, who also has a very posh Brit accent, being a former
Imperial. The other is that Max von Sydow’s character is the one who
raised/watched over Rey on Jakku. If you combine these two, it totally
makes sense that she would have a similar accent to him. It’s just wild speculation that is most likely not true, but it would definitely be interesting.
Well, one’s accent is determined by where one grows up more than anything. I have numerous English, German, Laotian, Filippino, Pakistani, etc. friends who live here in the US, and their kids all speak like Americans despite their parents’ thick accents. So this may be a hint about her origin, but it’s not necessarily confirming anything.
Not that you guys here are claiming that it does, of course, but other people might.
It doesn’t reveal much though. It’s obvious that Rey is “son of someone”. That accent could be from the parents (and that could be Leia, or that could be an Imperial) or from having spent long time with the imperials from the crashed destroyers.
I’m sure Rey’s Leia and Solo’s child. She’s the Skywalker and the Falcon pretty much brought her to Jakku (whoever is the owner now)
Tarkin had an RP dialect and he wasn’t from Coruscant…..
But from a Core World.
It sounds like an explaination for why she has an english accent, but Han and Leia have american accents.
Do we really need another world that is all-only one environment? Just asking
Why is it every time something new comes out the movie starts to look more disappointing. My love for the EU revolved around the children of the big three, as well as their adventures.
They are all too old to start having children. Does the Skywalking line end with Luke? Does the Solo line end with Han? Both of these possibilities is horrid.
You (we) know nothing (Jon Snow) Tim.
Let’s wait and see. In spite of leaks, only some of which I’m aware of, we still could be surprised by a hell of a lot in this film. I’d imagine it will be fairly simple to follow, it’s a kids film after all. I don’t think we’ll have such hugely complex character relations requiring you to read 50 books and comics to understand. Indeed who knows, Rey might be a new character in this film. I doubt it, I reckon Finn will be entirely new, a new character and lineage not connected to anything gone before, and I think Poe too. Rey is likely to be a Skywalker and/or Solo, but they could surprise us.
Tim isn’t Tim Snow.
Trust me on this. =)
Rey Gunn, Rey Oflight
John Boyega was such an awful selection for STar Wars.
The Force isn’t strong with TFA. Ultimate fail imminent.
Yep…..better not go see it December 17th or 18th with the rest of the world.
Wow! You must know something we don’t because we haven’t seen more than a few seconds of him so far. Is it his acting or his looks? I’ll make my opinions after I see the film.
When coming to this page my MacBook (using Chrome) started to heat up, the fans came on full blast, and I checked Activity Monitor and Google Chrome Helper was massively using up my CPU cycles. I closed all my other tabs down and no effect. I clicked off an ad (for War Thunder) directly above this comments section and it has climbed back down and the fans have gone off. Just thought you should know.
Oh, and I like that we have another main character with a posh English accent. Reminds me of Obi Wan 😀
Adblock is your friend
Hmm, that’s weird. This is a regular google ad. We don’t have any control over it. But the same ad should be on most of the other sites using google ads as well. Thanks for letting me know. I will look further into this.
Yeah this is why we use Adblock (or, even better, uBlock)
I’m just glad we’ve got a character with a British accent who isn’t evil.
We don’t know that she won’t turn
Yeah, like Obi-Wan.
Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor acted with American Accents…
You call that an American accent? I find your lack of knowledge disturbing.
Ok, they weren’t British accents. How’s that?
You’re kidding, right?
Do you know what an American accent or British accent sounds like?
Alec and Ewan both use a dialect from the UK. aka. British.
Neither one are American.
Keep telling yourself that mate, there vice always reminded me of a Scottish guy who had been in England for most of his life but still had a tiny hint of Scottish in there accent
Oh geez, guys! It’s sarcasm! Jokes over. On a serious note, Grand Moff Tarkin had an RP dialect as well. There are many possibilities here. But we have to stop assuming that everyone is related to everyone. Perhaps Rey is just from the same system as one of our ‘Posh’ talkers…..
Bu….but the british are evil.
I really dislike the use of ‘British Accent’, Scotland, Wales and England are the British…what people mean is a stereotypical English accent. Also, why does a ‘planet’ have an accent…surely different parts of corrusant have different accents. Nobody ever talks of how these planets are split up in possible countries, it’s always just he or she comes from ‘a planet’. It’s like saying he or she has an ‘Earth’ accent…without even mentioning what earth language they speak
Then we say Welsh or Scottish accent.. are you just being anal retentive for the sake of it?
you never know what she might end up being
We don’t speak that accent on Tatooine.
!! You’re very welcome!!
*Gasp* A D.C. shirt !!
So… the rumor that maybe the population there was stranded Imperials from the battle decades earlier has been debunked? Would help explain… not that I think she’s just some offspring of nobodies though.
Just as long as they’re not related…..other than that I don’t care.
Also, Adam Driver had better not be Han’s kid. He looks like he could be related to Jar Jar Banks.
Other than Daisy, the new cast is one of the ugliest casts ever assembled for a movie.
do the exact opposite of what you want and we might get a good movie
You mean make a Star Wars movie where Luke, Han, and Leia talk to each other and are in it for more than two seconds, you want the opposite of that?
Nah, you’re probably right, Aunt Jar Jar Mima is a much better idea….
Never watched Star Wars looking for poster boys.
Neither do I, but the resemblance is uncanny:
Not that I have much sympathy for JJ because of his blatant fan service, but I think he’s on to a hiding to nothing regarding whether or not the new cast are related to the ‘Big Three’.
If the new cast are the children of the big 3, then JJ will be accused by many of pandering to Lucas and the amount of EU literature out there. However, if the new cast aren’t related, then he will face outrage for dismissing the legacy of the big 3.
Either way, he loses.
I think the best option is a compromise of those scenarios. Have one character (2 at most) be related to the big three and make the rest of the characters all new characters. If the speculation about Poe being raised by Leia turns out to be true, this could also be a remedy for that. Poe would we unrelated biologically to the big three but still have a life that has been influenced greatly by them. I think Ridley will be the daughter of Han and Leia, and Finn and Kylo Ren will be completely unrelated to the big three. Just my guess.
I’m more inclined to believe the rumour that Kylo & Rey are brother and sister (not twins) and were at Luke’s Jedi academy when the Knights of Rey attacked it and kidnapped young Kylo to turn him to the dark side. Realising that no trainee Jedi would be safe if associated with Luke, he goes into hiding, and to protect the infant Rey, he has her sent to Jakku. By the time we get to the movie, she has moved on with her life and has no memory of what happened all those years ago.
So you’re saying that Daisy Ridley doesn’t usually speak with a posh English accent? Have you heard her speak? I guess that there is no ulterior motive in the choice of accent she uses, it’s just the only one she can do – and Andrew Jack wants some credit for it.
Also, John Boyega’s American accent in 24 was terrible. I’m glad it seems to have improved for TFA…
In real life she has an Estuary accent, not RP.
Fair enough, but I bet her accent is exactly the same as the one she usually speaks with.
More and more worried that TFA will end up as a complete rehash of ANH and ESB. Somehow I feel more excited for Ep VIII.
I’m totally ok with a rehash. I mean what else is there? The story of a down on his luck magician peddling his wares to passersby on Coruscant?
I mean if it’s a story of 3 people randomly getting caught up in a struggle against evil… sounds fine to me. As for the super weapon? Think of it like nukes.
Any power that wants to be considered an important player wants a deterrent. A threat to keep others at bay. So it’s not that insane to see yet another super weapon. Especially for a radical faction that wants to be recognized.
Besides it’ll be a throw back to the OT fans… while refreshing it for the youngsters. If it all works out that is 😛
What are the canonical core worlds again? I can only think of Coruscant, Chandrila (Aftermath), Corulag (?), Kuat (?), and Correllia. Any other important ones? In Tarkin, the Emperor mentions that the big three- himself, Vader, and Tarkin were from the same slice of the Outer Rim ironically, so that puts Naboo, Tattooine, and Eriadu out there. For that matter, has a Mid-Rim world ever come into play?
One of new people should be related with one of the big three so there can be a continuation with the OT.
Rey looks exactly like a Skywalker woman to me.
What’s interesting to me now is that we have actually heard Kylo Ren speak through the talking toy on Force Friday. His accent is American as well. So from this we can infer that they are not siblings, or that they were probably never close even if they turn out to be as they have obviously been raised in different places.
Accent is not genetic.
They grew up in different places, that’s obvious, but it doesn’t mean that they’re not siblings.
Rey Kenobi. Calling it now.
maybe his grandaughter
Kyle will be Leia and Han’s son, that’s why he’s so obsessed with grandpa Vader.
received pronunciation = old BBC english = posh accent , no problem with that , leia attempted an english accent in 4 , padme a bit of one in 1 when shes the queen .
mostly a bad guy accent in these and most other films though.
While that does tend to be true in film in general, I have to differ here. Obi-wan has always had the Coruscanti accent. While JEJ’s pronunciation for Vader has a tinge of “british-ness” to it, it’s mostly American sounding, which with the perspective of Vader’s background makes sense. He’s really an Outer Rim bumpkin trying to sound like he’s from the Core Worlds. And if you take the prequels into account (I’m not gonna engage about their quality here) many of the Jedi good guys have the Coruscanti accent too. So it’s not about good guy vs. bad guys. In Star Wars at least.
Depending on how alien-heavy Jakku is and how little contact Rey has with other english-speakers, all she really needs is ONE person to influence her accent. As an expat’s kid I spent years on end without conversing in English outside my family. Inside the house was America, outside was China. This incubated my accent to stay more or less the same as my parents/what I heard on TV – though a decade or two behind on the newer twists and dips in the post-2000s American accent. Americans sound weird to me – but close enough to my accent that we could call it the same.
How this relates to the film is, say Max von Sydow is her father [biological or adoptive], and the two of them are basically the only english speakers on the planet. It is entirely possible that Rey will have an accent close to Sydow’s core-world, vintage accent, which to a well-connected, well traveled english speaker such as Finn or Poe would sound old fashioned/posh as per Max’s diction – all achieved by her having contact with exactly one english speaker. One to give her the accent, but no friends to alter it.
Or the planet has perfect english proficiency and they gave her the posh accent just for the hell of it.
must…see…new…trailer now!!!! (dies)
//
if this is true i think that Rey and Kylo Ren are siblings
Max Von Sydow is mystery character, perhaps?
I think it’s Snoke
Where did this come from?
Looks good.
Unfortunately, it might not be true given it’s the events of Lost Stars altered and it’s unlikely that Disney could change the movie’s events from the canon.
This is what happened with ultron with quicksilver and scarlet witch. It wasn’t until right before the movie went out that we found out what accents two major characters would be using. How hard would it be for JJ to just tell us?