Rey's journey after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker remains an open door, and there are plenty of routes she can take. As the dust settles from the Battle of Exegol, the galaxy appears to be heading for a time of peace. The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ending show Rey settling on Luke Skywalker's homeworld of Tatooine, taking up the surname "Skywalker" in his honor.
In thematic terms, this finale - which sees Rey staring into the distance, looking at the twin suns of Tatooine - brings Star Wars full circle. When Tatooine was introduced in the first Star Wars film, Luke insisted it was one of the most remote worlds in the galaxy. "Well, if there's a bright center to the universe," he observed, "You're on the planet that it's farthest from." And yet, this dustbowl of a planet has been crucial to the history of the entire galaxy. It was the homeworld of both Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke, and now Rey calls it home as well.
While the Skywalker saga may be over, though, Disney and Lucasfilm have absolutely no intention of letting Star Wars come to an end. It's only a matter of time before Rey's story continues, whether in more movies, a Disney+ TV series, or tie-in comics. What will happen next for Rey?
Rey Is Living On Tatooine In The Lars Homestead
Rey has retraced Luke Skywalker's steps, and settled in the old Lars Homestead on Tatooine, which has lain abandoned since the Empire torched the place in the first Star Wars movie. The desert planet has diminished even further in galactic significance after the death of Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi. According to The Mandalorian episode 5, Mos Eisley - Tatooine's principal spaceport - has fallen into disrepair. The local economy has most likely reoriented itself around Mos Espa, the city visited by Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. That means the old Lars Homestead is more out of the way than ever before.
Rey is comfortable in a desert environment, and she probably means this as a way of honoring the Skywalkers. If so, that's quite ironic given Anakin Skywalker was a slave who developed a lifelong aversion to sand due to spending his formative years on Tatooine, while Luke was desperate to get offworld. But it's worth noting that, unlike other Jedi hermits who've settled on Tatooine, there's no evidence Rey intends to withdraw from the galaxy completely. She seems to now own the Millennium Falcon, the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.
Rey Has Committed To Being A Jedi Knight
The final scene of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirms that Rey has completed her training, and is now a Jedi Knight. Rey has built her own lightsaber, traditionally the last trial to becoming a Jedi Knight, and hers is constructed out of her faithful old staff weapon. But the film subtly suggests Rey is a different kind of Jedi to the prequel era; her blade is yellow, muted from the Jedi blue and the Sith red, a hint that Rey serves the balance of the Force rather than light or dark.
It makes sense for Rey to be focused upon balance. Star Wars: The Last Jedi featured a mural of the Prime Jedi, who was pictured as a member of an alien species wielding a proto-lightsaber. This being was envisioned as a servant of balance, rather than exclusively the light side of the Force; light and dark were given equal prominence in the mural, with the Prime Jedi representing the darkness in the light, and the light in the darkness. This corresponded with an ancient Jedi mantra in the recent audiobook Dooku: Jedi Lost, which suggested the early Jedi understood balance as a distinct aspect of the Force. The idea had been forgotten by the prequel era, but Rey has been learning from books found at the first Jedi Temple at Ahch-To. These date back to the dawning days of the order, and would naturally venerate balance.
Given she now owns the Millennium Falcon, it's reasonable to assume that Rey intends to remain involved in galactic affairs as an agent of the Force. She's avoiding repeating another mistake of the Old Jedi Order, because they unwisely moved to the galactic capital of Coruscant and became involved in Republic politics. By moving to Tatooine, Rey has avoided that fate; whatever government replaces the New Republic and the First Order may well call upon her skills and guidance, but she will remain a separate entity, with no political position to compromise her.
Rey Could Train A New Order Of Jedi (Including Finn?)
Rey shouldn't be seen as the last of the Jedi, but rather as the first of a new order. Various Star Wars tie-ins have confirmed that there are Force-sensitive bloodlines scattered all across the galaxy, any of whom could cross Rey's path according to the will of the Force. What's more, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirmed a popular theory that Rey's friend Finn is Force-sensitive as well, and he spent most of the movie struggling to figure out how to tell her. It's not hard to imagine Finn becoming Rey's first Padawan, and the Lars Homestead morphing into the center of a reformed Jedi Order. If so, there's another level of irony to all this, given Owen Lars just wanted to forget all about Anakin Skywalker, and did his best to prevent Luke ever meeting Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Again, though, Rey's Jedi Order would presumably be very different to the prequel Jedi. It would avoid becoming embroiled in galactic politics, and it would venerate balance rather than the light side. That mean even mean Rey's Jedi cultivate unique new powersets and abilities, ones associated with the aspect of the Force that is balance rather than light or dark. Indeed, that may even explain why Rey's Force Healing in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is unlike anything seen in Star Wars before, a first taste of the Force powers that are about to be unlocked.