Way Too Early Predictions About Star Wars: The Last Jedi

So the name of the eighth instalment in the Star Wars franchise has been revealed as The Last Jedi – carrying on what they themselves are calling “the Skywalker saga.”

As is customary for any fanatic of this film series to do (you’re reading the musings of one right now), it’s time to take what little knowledge we have and take a stab at what may happen.

Firstly, a breakdown of the people behind the cameras – The Last Jedi is written and directed by Rian Johnson (formerly of Looper and Brick fame), with production help from Kathleen Kennedy, Ram Bergman, J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin and Tom Karnowski.

With a history like Rian’s, you can be sure of a twisting and turning tale, but while kept within the strict Star Wars-esque format by the Member-berry loving crew headed up by Abrams.

So we pick up the story from where it left off. Rey, after discovering her Jedi powers throughout The Force Awakens found Luke Skywalker and returned his lightsaber (sans hand). Finn is currently being repaired and Kylo Ren, after striking his father down in the closing scenes, has gone back to Snoke to “complete his training.”

The first thing that people have immediately spotted is the emphasis on The Last Jedi with the Star Wars font glowing with red – the colour of the Sith. Now, the easy conclusions people are making are either:

1.     Luke Skywalker will die, leaving Rey as “the last Jedi.”

2.     It turns out that Luke has been corrupted, leaving Rey as “the last Jedi.”

But these are far too obvious, and Jedi is one of those rare words that also means the plural. So now, the only source of inspiration we can take is by looking back at The Empire Strikes Back.

If anything can be learnt from The Force Awakens, it’s that we should expect a retelling of the old trilogy. Give or take a few details, this was a straight rewrite of A New Hope.

So there will be a shock family discovery, along with the overpowering corruption of the dark side. And I think the discovery will be that Rey is NOT Luke’s daughter.

We’re all expecting this family tie, but Luke did not follow Anakin’s footsteps. Having a child is against the Jedi Code, tampering with his reasoning and leading him (potentially) to the dark side.

The next logical step, as plenty of Reddit debates suggest, is a more interesting plot – Rey Kenobi. I mean let’s look through her resume, which sounds eerily like old Uncle Ben:

·      She’s great at Jedi mind tricks

·      She snuck around Starkiller base, much like Obi-Wan in A New Hope

·      The lightsaber wasn’t JUST Luke’s. Obi-Wan kept it for nearly 18 years until Luke came of age

The list goes on, but more curious questions come to the foreground. What if Obi-Wan, seeing the force-sensitive bloodline of Anakin Skywalker device he needed to further his own bloodline – just in case Vader’s offspring turned to the dark side?

What if he was one of the parents that Rey waited for on Jakku all this time?

The symmetry is obvious, and I hope they go in this direction!

Either that or I hope we’re surprised at the very least…