Simon Pegg is Unkar the junk dealer

Another Star Wars: The Force Awakens character is named as we reveal Simon Pegg is Unkar Plutt the junk dealer from Jakku.

From the early days we’ve known Simon Pegg would play a cameo role in The Force Awakens. Speculation was rife as to who the life long Star Wars fan would play and this only increased when pictures found their way out of Pegg in some form of costume that pretty much confirmed he would be playing some sort of alien being. In one interview he even went as far as saying the alien he played is “rather troll-like.. an angry-looking oaf [witha] huge downturned nose.”

 Then several weeks ago the Disney Channel released a short TV feature with an image of JJ Abrams and Daisy Ridley talking to an alien creature with a down turned nose and looking quite troll like. Suddenly everyone put two and two together, it looks likely this is who Pegg plays in TFA.

 Compare the suit Pegg is wearing in the first picture and the second photo and it certainly looks like it could well be his character (just without the shoulder armour). But still we didn’t know who this character was. Everyone assumed he would be a background character with no real role in the storyline.

Well now we know Pegg will play Unkar the junk dealer. Over the weekend Amazon Canada accidentally let a new Star Wars figure called Unkar Plutt slip on to their site. While it was quickly removed, a picture still found its way to Rule of Two.

This is quite clearly the toy of the character Daisy and JJ are talking to, who we believe Pegg is playing. We know he is a junk dealer (which seems to be a big commodity on a planet with nothing but sand and crashed Star Destroyers.) From the fact we know he has 'thugs' it can also be assumed he's not the nicest of chaps on the lawless desert planet of Jakku. So it looks like Pegg might have landed himself a little more than a bit part.

Unkar will definitely not be one of the key players in The Force Awakens, however expect him to appear in several scenes as the stage is set on Jakku.

Of course a much harder task will be identifying which Stormtrooper Daniel Craig is. When asked about his role Pegg let slip 007 is lending his services to the First Order in TFA. The filming of Episode VII and Spectre did over lap at Pinewood and it’s not out of the question. Of course it could just be a red herring by Simon Pegg to keep us guessing, Craig has certainly denied it.

Why not leave us a comment below, is Simon Pegg really Unkar?

Is Luke the Supreme Leader?

Ok bear with me, this is another crackpot internet theory with no basis and no 'insider knowledge'. Because of this it's probably total and utter rubbish. Probably.

But let's just have a look at the evidence to be on the safe side eh.

So there has been plenty written online about whether Luke Skywalker is actually Kylo Ren and do you know what there's some evidence that could back this up. But do I think he is? No, and to find out why feel free to go and watch the ace Collider Jedi Council who explain it perfectly.

But it got me thinking...

The Vader helmet

It's assumed Kylo Ren is the one holding Vader's helmet in the trailers but how do we know this? Does it not make more sense that the person with Vader's mask is the only person who was at Vader's funeral? How would anyone find the helmet otherwise?

If a funeral happens in a forest with only one person, do people know where to look?

What if it's Skywalker / Snoke holding the disfigured helmet of the Sith Lord? Is Kylo Ren on board to carry out Luke's bidding, is he related to Luke? Just because we hear what we think is Kylo Ren talking doesn't mean he's the mastermind.

Is this 'released' image a decoy in typical JJ style?

The power!!!

Ok so at the start of ROTJ we have three powerful force users. By the end of the movie we're down to one. So one person, the son of the chosen one, the son of a man with a definite dark streak a mile wide, even when he was playing for the Jedis.

Does three in to one go?

Is it not inconceivable the power got to Luke, haunted by his father's legacy he also turns to the dark side? Who would stop him?  Plenty of great men have fallen for temptation.

Following on from this, if Luke had gone to the dark side would he really be taking orders from someone else. No, in my opinion if Luke did take the red pill he is definitely the leader (Snoke) not the apprentice (Kylo Ren).

Where's Luke (and Snoke)?

JJ and Disney have been so careful to keep Luke and Snoke out of any of the promotional material. Is this a coincidence? JJ has recently said that Luke's absence from promotional material is to protect the plot line not a marketing ploy. From this we must assume that by seeing Luke it would reveal a major spoiler. Surely this must relate to his visual appearance.

Is Andy Serkis just a decoy to draw attention from Luke? It certainly wouldn't be the first time JJ Abrams has tried to pull the wool over people's eyes. Remember Star Trek In To Darkness?

In the second trailer released we hear Luke say "the force is strong in my family, my father has it, I have it blah blah blah." Notice the wording 'my father HAS it', present tense, not past. What if Vader / is still influencing Luke from beyond the grave to finish his work. 

Anakin's lightsaber

Similar to the Vader mask, who else would even know where to start looking? In the expanded universe there was a tale that it got caught in an air vent in Cloud City was found by a maintenance crew and eventually made its way back to Vader. If Luke / Snoke doesn't have his lightsaber back maybe he's is really attached to it and is sending the might of the First Order to retrieve it. 

Starkiller base

Another massive clue or a red herring. Anyone with more than a passing knowledge of Star Wars knows in early drafts of Star Wars there was a character called Annikin Starkiller who filled a Luke / Anakin style role in the story (Luke Skywalker was an old Jedi in the Obi-wan mould). George Lucas only changed in later versions to Luke Skywalker.being what we now know. Is it coincidence that they've now used this name for the First Order's HQ? Is it a simple nod to history? Many of the designs being used in Rebels are inspired by the original Ralph Mcquarrie designs. Is this just a neat little reference to George Lucas' original tale? 

Annikin Starkiller

As a young journalist I was once told there is no such thing as a coincidence.  In this case I'm inclined to agree. 

So was Aunt Beru right, does Luke have too much of his father in him? It's an outside chance but there is definite evidence that Luke could be the Supreme Leader of the First Order and in the 30 years between ROTJ and TFA there has been one major slide to the dark side for the Rebellion's golden boy. 

If you're doubting whether the simple moisture farmer from Tatooinecan be evil, just consider who Mark ham ill's other big character is. None other than the comedian of chaos himself, the Joker. Hamill can definitely do evil, in fact he has gone on record as saying he suggested to George Lucas that it would make a more interesting angle if Luke went bad.

Hell I've even managed to persuade myself. Brace yourselves folks, Luke really is Supreme Leader Snoke. You heard it at Rule of Two first.

Let me know what you think in the comments box below.