Did Han Solo Really Know Rey's Lineage?
Without a doubt, one of the most controversial things to come out of the Star Wars sequel trilogy was the revelation in The Rise of Skywalker that Rey is the granddaughter of Sheev Palpatine. While Daisy Ridley had played the character in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi under the guiding idea that the character came from no important bloodline, J.J. Abrams pitched the idea of her being a Palpatine as the last chapter of the Skywalker saga was being made.
Having the hindsight of this revelation changed our perception of the events as we saw them unfold in the previous installments of the sequel trilogy. One of the questions that the revelation raises is this: Did Han Solo really know Rey's lineage?
Let's look at what we know from the films. In The Rise of Skywalker, Luke Skywalker's ghost goes over to Rey on Ahch-To and says that he is aware of Rey's lineage. Furthermore, he reveals that Leia knew as well. However, he does not mention Han having known. While it is a mystery how Leia surmises that Rey came from Palpatine's bloodline, it is possible that she realizes it, via the Force or otherwise, during the year between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Despite this, she continues to train Rey as a Jedi because she is a firm believer that the young woman will not turn to the dark side as her son did. As for when Luke learns of Rey's bloodline, it seems that he is unaware during The Last Jedi, as he asks where she came from. He must have learned during the same year between that film and the next one. Perhaps Leia told his ghost, or perhaps being a ghost allows him access to the knowledge of Rey's lineage. We really do not know how much information Force ghosts are granted.
Han Solo not being Force-sensitive the way Luke and Leia are makes it less likely that he knows of Rey's lineage prior to his death. Maz Kanata asks him who she is, which some viewers took to mean that he knows exactly who she is. However, he is probably as unsure as much of the other characters are. He does not know that Rey is the granddaughter of Palpatine. And frankly, he seems to not care as much about where she comes from. He bonds with her quickly and sees that she has a heart, so whatever her origins may have been are irrelevant to him. He knows that Finn was a stormtrooper and that Rey was a scavenger, and he saw that they could become so much more.
As for Han Solo's actor Harrison Ford, he most certainly did not know that Rey was a Palpatine while filming The Force Awakens, given that the idea had not yet been pitched. And frankly, he probably does not care one way or another.
As uncreative and controversial as the Rey Palpatine revelation may have been in the eyes of many fans, the thing to focus on more is perhaps what she becomes as opposed to where she comes from. The idea that a hero can come from anywhere might have worked very well, but the fact that Rey becomes a hero at all and remains one to the end could perhaps still be inspiring to various fans of the franchise. She does not see herself as Rey Palpatine, but rather as Rey Skywalker, a guardian of the light trying to honor those who saved the galaxy before her time and do what is best for herself and those around her.
Source(s): Screen Rant