We’ve come to expect a few quirks from film director J.J. Abrams. He likes big, in-your-face explosions. And temples. And making you wait to see the monster.
And as fans found out when Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally hit theaters, he brought all of the above: lots of intergalactic fire and brimstone; a Jedi temple; and made everybody wait till the very end of the movie to catch mere minutes of a heavily weathered, bearded Luke Skywalker—not the average Abrams monster, but pretty close.
The director also pegged the plot more on underdog characters like vagabond Jedi-in-the-making Rey (Daisy Ridley) and a defecting Storm Trooper (John Boyega). Cult legend Admiral “It’s a Trap” Ackbar even got a big splashy scene. But there was relatively little screen-time for Skywalker, or characters like Han Solo, Princess/General Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO.
Fans who may’ve left theaters grumbling about the utter lack of Luke in The Force Awakens will be redeemed in The Last Jedi, explains Entertainment Weekly, in the first of its multi-part feature on the new Star Wars movie.
But he won’t be the happy-go-lucky guy they remember from the ’70s.
Per EW, the new movie, written and directed by Rian Johnson (with Abrams still listed as executive producer), will be about Skywalker as a “broken man,” one who’s lost touch with what it means to be a Jedi. Of his line—”I only know one truth. It’s time for the Jedi to end”—in the upcoming movie’s trailer, actor Mark Hamill tells EW: “When I first read it, my jaw dropped….What would make someone that alienated from his original convictions? That’s not something that you can just make up in an afternoon, and I really struggled with this thing.”
Johnson echoes this sentiment: “He must know the galaxy needs him. And he’s sitting on this island in the middle of nowhere. There had to be an answer. It had to be something where Luke Skywalker believes he’s doing the right thing—and the process of figuring out what that is and unpacking it is the journey for Rey.”
As Ridley notes, her character, Rey, isn’t too stoked about her situation now. Of being on the island, Ahch-To, with Skywalker, she quips, “I’m with this grumpy guy on an island who doesn’t want me here.” (Fans still don’t know if there’s a connection between the two.)
Excited yet? Watch The Last Jedi trailer below for a few more minutes of bliss.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
