J.J. Abrams has proven to make some of his own controversial decisions in The Rise of Skywalker. While Rian Johnson was criticized for expanding the Star Wars franchise and taking risks, Abrams is taking things back to the past. And for some fans, that's perfectly acceptable until it's not, which is the case with a few decisions in the final installment in the sequel trilogy, including one at the end of the movie when Rey travels to a very familiar planet. There are SPOILERS for The Rise of Skywalker below, so read ahead at your own risk.
At the conclusion of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey travels to Tatooine to bury Luke and Leia's Lightsabers. She is visited by their Force Ghosts as they smile upon her from the great beyond, which is also the point in the movie where she takes their name. Rey Palpatine is now Rey Skywalker. This is all well and good, but why in the world would she go to Tatooine to do this? Leia has absolutely no ties to the planet except for bad memories and the same can be said for Luke.
Let's start with Leia. She first visited Tatooine to rescue Han Solo in Return of the Jedi and ended up becoming Jabba the Hutt's scantily clad slave. Before that, she was taken hostage above the planet in A New Hope. Rescuing Han Solo and killing Jabba the Hutt were good things that happened, but it seems like a place she would want to forget, which leads us right back to Luke, who used to live there.
While Leia was raised on Alderaan, her twin brother Luke was raised on Tatooine by Owen and Beru Lars. Throughout A New Hope, Luke can't wait to leave the planet, which is understandable since this is the place where his father was at one point a nine-year old slave (he didn't know that at the time). Later, Luke is scarred for life when his aunt and uncle are burned alive by Stormtroopers. This really doesn't sound like a place where Rey should be burying their Jedi artifacts at all. Why would J.J. Abrams make this decision after all of the trauma that has happened on Tatooine?
Wouldn't Naboo have been a better spot to pay tribute to the Jedi, since it's where their parents met and fell in love? While going back to Tatooine certainly satisfies fans of the original Star Wars trilogy, Naboo would have been a nice callback to the prequels and probably would have meant more to Luke, Leia, Padme, Anakin Skywalker, and ultimately Ben Solo. Hell, even the forest moon of Endor would have been a better spot than Tatooine. Regardless, some new Force-sensitive folks will soon find the Jedi relics buried in the desert, probably setting up a new trilogy. You can head over to StarWars.com to get ticket and showtime info for The Rise of Skywalker, which is now in theaters.