Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi follow…
One of the biggest issues fans have taken with The Last Jedi is how it dealt with the character of Luke Skywalker, including the character’s apparent death at the film’s end.
Of course death isn’t quite the same for a Jedi as it is for everyone else and director Rian Johnson has spoken to Huffington Post about what this all means.
“I don’t want to get too explicit, because I like people being able to have their own interpretations,” Johnson remarked, “but I think definitely the act of what he does at the end literally just takes everything out of him. That’s a huge thing. Also … he’s having his final act be something of myth-making in a way.
“It does go back a little bit to what he said at the beginning [of The Last Jedi]. ‘What do you think one guy walking out there with a lightsaber [can do]?’ … The answer is: Create a legend that will spread hope. And once he’s done that, combined with the physical toll it’s taken on him, you can make the case that then there’s nothing more powerful that he could accomplish.
“The galaxy needs legends,” Johnson continues. “I think about the look in Rey’s eyes in The Force Awakens, when she says, ‘Luke Skywalker, I thought he was a myth,’ and that gleam in her eyes. And I think about how I felt when I showed up to work the first day to meet with Mark Hamill, and I sat down and started talking to him, and I could only see Luke Skywalker. He made it very hard to talk, and [it’s] the idea that there’s value in that, in terms of inspiring us to fight the good fight and to be our best.”
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The establishing or further establishing of the Luke Skywalker legend certainly comes across as the film comes to a close, even if fans would have loved to see Luke do something physically instead of just use a grand force projection (an incredible feat in itself).
Fortunately, Johnson does indicate that Luke can be seen again and could very well come back as a Force ghost in Episode IX, doing “more for the galaxy in another form.”
“The idea of Luke having passed into another realm and what the potential could be there for his involvement, that seems like it just gives you a whole other realm to get into if [Abrams and Terrio] chose to in the next film.”
What do you think? Are you a little more satisfied with events after hearing Johnson’s explanation and knowing that it’s very possible Luke returns for Episode IX?
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In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi sees returning cast members Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Andy Serkis (Supreme Leader Snoke), Peter Mayhew and Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), Mike Quinn (Nien Nunb) and Warwick Davis joined by new additions Jimmy Vee (Pan) as R2-D2, Kelly Marie Tran (Ladies Like Us) as Rose, Benicio Del Toro (Guardians of the Galaxy) as DJ and Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) as Vice Admiral Holdo.
