Star Wars: The Force Awakens focused on a bunch of different themes, from family to class division, and — according to star Adam Driver — terrorism.
Driver spoke to fellow actor Michael Sheen as a part of Variety’s Actor of Actor series about what it was like working on the film and the social issues that it brought up. According to Driver, he saw the Resistance and the First Order as terrorist groups who both believed entirely in what they were doing and didn’t care about the lives sacrificed to achieve their goals.
“There’s this young guy who’s kind of a terrorist,” Driver said. “The First Order [is] this group that thinks they’re right facing another group that one could argue are equally terrorists who think they’re right. So you have two groups who are completely convinced and morally justified to do whatever it is.”
Driver added that whether it was “blowing up a Death Star” or getting rid of an entire planet, both groups were essentially wiping out the lives of thousands without so much as a second thought. The actor said he thought it was a really interesting concept to pit two groups against each other who believed that they were entirely in the right even though both acts have devastating consequences.
Driver didn’t provide any more information on what fans should expect to see out of the eighth Star Wars installment, which is set to be released next year. He will reprise his role as Kylo Ren, alongside Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters Dec. 15, 2017.
