Star Wars Fans Point Out The Last Jedi Precisely Mirrors Famous Luke Shot From Return of the Jedi

With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming to theaters in a just a month, fans have started to rematch the first two installments of the trilogy in preparation. One fan was skimming through Reddit and saw one similarity between a scene from The Last Jedi and Return of the Jedi. Heather Campbell posted the clip on Twitter and people continue to be fascinated by the parallels that The Last Jedi continues to draw between itself and the original trilogy films. Now, the film isn’t a favorite of a vocal segment of the fanbase, but Rian Johnson obviously studied the source material very carefully before getting to work on his entry in this new trilogy. The results are stunning, and at the same time infuriating for a lot of fans.

The central part of the clip on Twitter centers around a shot choice by the director. By framing the moment that Luke is trying to creep up on a resting Ben Solo, Johnson directly conjures a similar expression from Mark Hamil to the one he had in Return of the Jedi. In our world today, the results look like a use of that aging technology popular in deepfake videos. But, the wild part is that this is all real! It’s a dramatic through line between two of the lowest points for Skywalker during the course of these films. He’s at his most unsure in these two instances and it is easy to see why.

As this trilogy draws to a close, many wonder what else is coming down the pipe for the franchise after The Rise of Skywalker. Now, Johnson still has his trilogy to handle at a later date, but that has fans who didn’t enjoy The Last Jedi more than a little ornery. Nevertheless, the director has stepped up to defend his creations at many different points in the last couple of years. Last Jedi‘s broken and jaded Luke living as a hermit while refusing to aid the galaxy against The First Order will do that. Even his final act of heroism via astral projection to Crait, which allowed The Resistance to escape wasn’t enough to quell the fervor.

Some Star Wars fans still can’t let go of their anger about that depiction of Luke Skywalker. Rian Johnson will be around defending his movie until the Sun goes out.

He previously wrote on Twitter, “Hot take: Luke is in fact 100% consistent with his character (not the way he’s described in marketing blurbs, but his actual, based-on-his-words-and-actions character) from the OT. I’ll be at the bar if you need me.”