‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Director Doesn’t Think You Can End The Jedi

A title like “The Last Jedi” always sounded ominous to fans of the Star Wars series, yet we didn’t immediately know who the title was referring to when the title for Episode VII was announced. When the film’s first teaser debuted, we heard Luke claim that the Jedi must end, making us wonder if he or Rey would be the only member of the Jedi Order left. In the book The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, writer/director Rian Johnson shared that there’s really no way that the Jedi could officially “end.”

“When Rey shows up, the first and foremost thing is she needs a mentor,” Johnson pointed out. “In looking at this grand plan from ten miles up in the air, Luke is missing the thing right in front of his nose. Here’s somebody who needs you, who needs your help. If you think you are throwing away the past, you are fooling yourself.”

Johnson’s outlook for the film showed that Luke needed Rey as much as Rey needed Luke, potentially allowing closure for Skywalker.

“The only way to go forward is to embrace the past, figure out what is good and what is not good about it,” Johnson detailed. “But it’s never going to not be a part of who we all are. And that includes Rey, who grew up hearing the legends about the Jedi. So the notion of, ‘Nope, toss this all away and find something new,’ is not really a valid choice, I think.”

Two of the major themes of the film were the concept of legends and the need to shatter those preconceived notions.

Luke admitted to Rey that it was his ego that led to his self-imposed isolation, as he was able to defeat Darth Vader and find the goodness in his father, making him feel as though he was strong enough to train Ben Solo. This proved false, inspiring Ben to instead embrace the Dark Side and become Kylo Ren.

Similarly, Kylo had previously thought in The Force Awakens that he needed to honor his grandfather to achieve his full potential, but through killing his father and confronting Snoke, the Sith discovered his true desires were to forge a path for himself and ignore all “legends.”

Making the film even more interesting is how, in some ways, it ignored the “legend” of Star Wars films, with Johnson pushing the saga into new and unexpected realms, challenging the audience to witness a new era in the franchise.

The Last Jedi is in theaters now.