Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy explained why Obi-Wan Kenobi being the father of Star Wars sequel trilogy protagonist Rey was never a possibility.
Kennedy discussed the problem with making Rey the legendary Jedi Master's daughter in a recent interview with Vanity Fair. "The bigger issue is talking about Obi-Wan as a Master Jedi, and the issue of attachment and selflessness," she said. "In order for Obi-Wan to have a child, you are really, really impacting the rules around the Jedi. What does that mean? If that were explored -- and certainly there were a lot of ideas being thrown around --but anything to do with Obi-Wan in that regard was pretty much off the table because it flies in the face of everything George created in the mythology."
The identity of Rey's parents was a mystery when the character was introduced in 2015's The Force Awakens. Fans immediately began to speculate that she belonged to one of the saga's prominent bloodlines, with popular theories suggesting her father was either Luke Skywalker, Han Solo or Obi-Wan Kenobi. These theories were seemingly dashed following the release of 2017's The Last Jedi, which revealed her parents were nobodies who abandoned her.
That revelation itself would prove unfounded after The Rise of Skywalker retconned Rey as the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine. Rey ultimately renounced the Palpatine name before the credits roll, taking "Skywalker" as her chosen last name instead. These developments made it clear that the young Jedi has no familial ties to Obi-Wan, however, she does hear the late Jedi Master's voice on two occasions during the sequel trilogy.
Aside from Rey's parentage, Kennedy opened up about several other major creative decisions made since Disney took over Lucasfilm (and Star Wars) in 2012. These included replacing Harrison Ford with Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, a move she seemingly regrets. "There should be moments along the way when you learn things," Kennedy said. "Now it does seem so abundantly clear that we can’t do that."
She touched on the production company's current Star Wars film hiatus, which involved abandoning plans to release one new big screen franchise entry per year. "Anyone who comes into the Star Wars universe needs to know that it's a three-, four-, five-year commitment," Kennedy continued. "That's what it takes. You can't step in for a year and shoot something and then walk away…. It requires that kind of nurturing."
Source: Vanity Fair