Possible slight spoilers for Star Wars: Episode VIII ahead!
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According to the very reliable MakingStarWars.net, Luke Skywalker won’t be seen in his pristine “white knight” robes from the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens for very long in Episode VIII, the direct sequel that hits theaters December 15, 2017. While the shades-of-white look was appropriate (and a fairly literal expression: the white-robed knight shrouded in a grey hood that he removes, expressing hope coming out of darkness – do you get it?!) for that big reveal moment in The Force Awakens, now he comes into Episode VIII as the hardened teacher. All we know for sure from set spies is that Luke definitely trains Rey, and that the two of them have some kind of confrontation with Kylo Ren out at Ahch-To, the first Jedi Temple that Rey finds Luke at.
Well, in that context, it makes sense that his costume would not be the regalia of that final scene. Instead, Luke is described as wearing much darker clothes. His clothing is more akin to his outfit in Return of the Jedi, or even the look of Count Dooku in the prequels. All dark shades of grey, it may once again be an oblique metaphor for where Luke Skywalker is in his personal journey with the Force and the Jedi Order he tried to reform.
The other interesting bit is that, at least during this training sequence, he was using some sort of staff and not a lightsaber at all. In fact, he didn’t have any kind of belt visible for this costume, and MakingStarWars says “there’s some contention as to if Luke ever actually uses [a lightsaber] in this film.” A cartoon depiction of the scene (and outfit) by artist “Lumberjack Nick” can be seen at this link, though they do say it gets even darker due to the dirt – apparently Luke trains Rey pretty hard; maybe that “Yoda backpack” moment will happen after all.
What’s interesting about this description is that it also almost perfectly matches the leaked picture of concept art for Leia‘s primary outfit in Episode VIII, where she was depicted in dark robes herself. Speculation at the time of the leak (right after The Force Awakens release last year) was that the robes were merely mourning clothing, due to the loss of her (estranged) husband Han Solo, something she didn’t really get much time to process in the last film. In both comics and novels since, there has been a much greater focus on Leia’s connection to the Force, leading to some speculation that she might get to actually use it in an active way in this film, but that’s a story for another time.
Star Wars: Episode VIII, directed by Rian Johnson, continues the story of the “Skywalker Saga,” and the ongoing tale of Rey, Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron, Finn, as well as the legacy characters from the original trilogy.
