Have we caught a glimpse of the choreography for the climactic lightsaber battle from The Force Awakens?

You may recall some buzz a while back when a video depicting what appeared to be a stunt practice of a lightsaber duel was posted by Rhye Copeman, a stunt performer on The Force Awakens. That video turned out to be no more than a highly entertaining demo reel showcasing Copeman’s fight choreography. Well, now it seems we may have a very small glimpse of the real thing.

Blocking some fight beats.. #training #shinobi87beats A video posted by Rhye Copeman (@rhyecopemanstunts) on May 14, 2015 at 6:23pm PDT

The video embedded above was posted to Instagram by Rhye Copeman himself just three weeks ago. It shows two fighters facing each other with training swords. On the right you have one man holding a weapon that is the size of a traditional sword or lightsaber. On the left, his opponent wields something more the size of a staff or polearm. Most intriguingly, the title of the video on the screen being filmed reads “Sequence 1 in Hero Fight.”

Is this sequence being practiced by stuntmen an early exchange in one of our hero’s battles with Kylo Ren? The figure on the right certainly seems to be wielding something the size of a lightsaber. And his slower movements and the manner in which he wields his sword is certainly in line with the “cross-saber” seen in the TFA teaser. Another interesting post by Copeman also suggests this:

Exactly how it looked on set.. Ha fantastic #starwarsVII #lego A photo posted by Rhye Copeman (@rhyecopemanstunts) on Mar 13, 2015 at 12:51am PDT



But what about the combatant on the left? Who might be wielding that staff?

Well as we’ve seen from the promotional image above, Daisy Ridley’s Rey carries a staff in line with the size of the staff in the video. We also know from Kathleen Kennedy’s recent press tour in Japan that Daisy Ridley has trained in the Bojutsu fighting style. Bojutsu is a martial art involving the use of a staff, much like the one in the picture above.

“She learned the bojutsu fighting style. Rey uses the staff she has in the trailer to fight. Daisy’s gotten to be so good at bojutsu that even grown men on the set fear it.”

So, it stands to reason that if the video above is part of a climactic battle with Kylo Ren, it’s likely his foe could be Rey. Which begs the question, what weapon is she wielding exactly? Could that staff be a weapon that can withstand a lightsaber? Something akin to the elctrostaffs seen used by Greivous’s Magnaguards in Revenge of the Sith? Does the staff hide a lightsaber blade itself maybe? (Which would open all sorts of questions as to Rey’s previous training if she is already carrying a lightsaber) Or, has Rey picked up a Darth Maul-esque double bladed lightsaber along the way somewhere? From the video, it is difficult to tell exactly what kind of weapon is being represented. But what we can tell is that if this is indeed from The Force Awakens, a new and interesting fighting style will be introduced to the Star Wars universe on December 18th. From the small snippet we see, it is equal parts graceful and deliberate. Somewhere between the dazzling displays in the Prequel Trilogy and those slower samurai inspired duels of the Original Trilogy.

Special thanks to Altgr0160 from the Cantina forums for spotting the video. If you want to discuss the possibilities this presents for the new trilogy, please join us in The Cantina for further discussion and discovery.

UPDATE!

We received word from Rhye Copeman himself that while he is indeed a stunt performer (not coordinator) in The Force Awakens, the footage we posted (Hero fight), has nothing to do with the new Star Wars movies.

So, although there were many signs supporting this article, it appears everything was just a coincidence.