JJ Abrams Regrets a Mistake He Made in Star Wars VII

You know that part at the end of The Force Awakens, after all the bad stuff with Han happens, when Leia and Rey share a slightly awkward, ultimately sweet hug? A lot of people took that moment as a slight towards Chewbacca, whom Leia ultimately shared a much deeper connection with than this girl who she had literally just met. Why wouldn't she go hug the walking carpet, who was standing right there and probably feeling pretty down; did she hate him? The short answer: no. JJ Abrams just messed up the blocking of the scene. In an interview with /Film, he explains: 

That was probably one of the mistakes I made in that. My thinking at the time was that Chewbacca, despite the pain he was feeling, was focused on trying to save Finn and getting him taken care of. So I tried to have Chewbacca go off with him and focus on Rey, and then have Rey find Leia and Leia find Rey. The idea being that both of them being strong with the Force and never having met, would know about each other — that Leia would have been told about her beyond what we saw onscreen and Rey of course would have learned about Leia. And that reunion would be a meeting and a reunion all in one, and a sort of commiseration of their mutual loss.

Had Chewbacca not been where he was, you probably wouldn’t have thought of it. But because he was right there, passed by Leia, it felt almost like a slight, which was definitely not the intention.

So there you have it. Lord of scifi, JJ Abrams, makes mistakes too (and not just lens flares).