‘DC’s Stargirl’ Did What ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Should Have Done

It’s no secret that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the third entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, is a controversial film. One of those hotly debated aspects of the film is the decision to make Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) grandfather Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), reversing the decision the previous film, The Last Jedi, made to have Rey be “nobody,” just an orphan abandoned on a trash planet. If anyone was wondering, however, how it might have played out had the film stayed the course with having Rey be nobody genetically important, we got a glimpse of that with this month with DC’s Stargirl.

Stargirl, the DC Universe and CW original series, wrapped up its freshman season on August 10, and had some interesting parallels to Skywalker. The series is about a teenage girl named Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) who moves to a small town in Nebraska and discovers that her new step-dad (Luke Wilson) used to be sidekick to the superhero Starman. When Starman’s Cosmic Staff makes a connection with Courtney, and she discovers nefarious goings on in the town of Blue Valley, she decides to use the staff and build a team to defeat the Injustice Society. The thing is, Courtney thinks the reason the Staff connected with her is because Starman must have been her long missing father. It’s a theory she stubbornly sticks to, and convinces herself is fact.

***Spoilers for Stargirl ahead***

In episode 11, however, Courtney’s dad arrives in town, proving once and for all that her father has never been Starman, and is in fact just a deadbeat. It’s a revelation that rocks her world. Courtney has wanted to believe for so long that her father didn’t just abandon her, that something must have happened to him to make him not show up. With the discovery that Starman died on the same night her father disappeared, and the connection she has with Starman’s staff, it seemed a perfect explanation. Like Rey, she finds it hard to accept that a parent would just leave her like that, and searches for the reason she was chosen, for Courtney – by the staff, for Rey – by the Force.

What’s wonderful about Courtney finding out her dad was nobody special, however, is that it reinforces just how extraordinary Courtney is on her own merits. From the very beginning of the series, we see how much heart and courage Courtney has. She sticks up for kids in school being bullied, as well as fighting super-powered villains. The Staff didn’t choose Courtney because of who her parents are, but because she, herself, is worthy of the power.

One has to wonder how much of an impact it would have made had Skywalker taken the same path. What would it say about Rey’s character if her parents truly were nobody? The film could have made the point that Rey came from nothing, and made herself into someone fierce, resourceful, kind, and heroic – someone worthy of connecting with the Force. The idea that she’s only special because of who her grandfather is negates everything we have learned about Rey. It dilutes her character. The “Anyone Can Cook” Ratatouille sentiment of The Last Jedi shows that greatness can come from anywhere, even a nobody scavenger. It’s a shame that Skywalker threw that all away.

My heart filled with joy when Courtney reached deep inside of herself to find the conviction that she was worthy of the Staff all on her own. By the final episode, she has complete confidence in herself, and the parents she has. When she calls Pat her dad, you know that she has embraced the life and family she does have, and is not lamenting over a fairytale of who her father could have been. Courtney is a hero, and it’s because of who she is, and that’s extraordinary.