Death Stars are so lame.
Oh, the Galactic Empire gave the concept a go—twice, actually. Both literally blew up in their faces. The upstart First Order figured they’d improved on the concept by getting back to the basics: What’s the point in building a whole new Death Star when you can just stick a gigantic laser cannon in a planet? As we saw in The Force Awakens, that didn’t go so hot, either.
So (spoiler warning, though you learn about this next point in both the trailers and the second sentence of the movie’s opening crawl) Emperor Palpatine—recently dead but, through the miracles of galactic science and evil, still capable of a nefarious plot or two—has hatched a shiny new plan. And both First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and wanna-be Jedi Rey figure prominently in it. The first will be Palpatine’s younger, more mobile avatar in the galaxy, the Emperor hopes; his spiritual son, if you will. The second will be—if all goes well—dead.
But as we’ve seen, Kylo Ren tends to have somewhat violent relationships with his would-be father figures. And honestly, Kylo’s not quite sure he wants Rey dead. She could be a powerful ally, he believes, if Rey could somehow be turned to the Dark Side. Together, they’d be unstoppable.
But Rey has no intention of joining the Dark Side. She’s got other things on her mind: finishing her Jedi training, protecting her friends and, oh yeah, saving the galaxy, too.
Death Stars may be a little passe in this new galactic era. But the Jedi … well, despite always seemingly on the edge of extinction, the old order still has life in it yet.