This news comes from an anonymous source on reddit, so take anything you read here with a grain of salt as it could be completely false. Either way, there are potentially some pretty big spoilers below. You’ve been warned.
So according to reddit user EricHizzo, who claims to have a friend with knowledge of the new Star Wars film, Max Von Sydow is playing a former moff or admiral, Kylo Ren is (falsely) claiming to be Darth Vader, and Finn is a storm trooper who deserted when we saw just how evil Ren really is.
Starting with the news about Max Von Sydow’s character; he is apparently the former moff/admiral of the wrecked star destroyer that we see in the second trailer and that said star destroyer is crashed on an uninhabited planet called Jakku. EricHizzo says that “the surviving crew became deserted and set up a colony. The crew were the first settlers on the planet.” Sydow’s character, as their commanding officer, became the leader of this new civilization. EricHizzo’s source also says that Sydow’s character wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the Empire after they didn’t come to rescue him and his crew so he helps Rey and Finn by way of providing them with information about the Empire.
The leak also says that Kylo Ren is apparently running around saying he’s Darth Vader (which would make him somewhat analogous to the second coming as far the First Order is concerned) and that he has a sizable cult practically worshiping him around the start of the movie. This allows him to gain more and more power within the First Order, something which Finn is initially okay with but, when he is assigned to a task force with Ren and sees the tactics he uses, he quits.
Now, it’s quite possible that none of this information is true (again, it comes from an unconfirmed source by anonymous person on the internet) but if it is then it would end a lot of the confusion surrounding who Sydow’s character and Kylo Ren are. It makes sense that Ren would claim to be one the Empire’s most famous leaders as that would pretty much guarantee him the number one spot in the First Order. There’s still no information yet about who is playing Ren (probably either Adam Driver or Domnhall Gleeson) or what’s up with his lightsaber.
The Film Viking 