Why You’re Wrong About The Last Jedi
The release of The Last Jedi has spurred heated discussion and debate amongst online fans. In my quest to offer a critical analysis of the film, I instead created a Last Jedi manifesto…
Listen to Rick Williamson along with David Mehlhorn discuss The Last Jedi on the latest episode of The Popcorn Diet, a podcast for those who live on a steady diet of movie theater popcorn and other movie snacks! Like, rate, & subscribe now on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or Google Play and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Full disclosure: I don’t really think you’re wrong about The Last Jedi. It was an infinitely more interesting title than “Rick’s Critical Analysis of The Last Jedi Because Some Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over This”.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was released last weekend to impressive critical acclaim, the second highest opening weekend in domestic box office history, and the the online battles between those who lovingly embraced the change-of-pace film, and those who outrightly rejected it. In it’s first initial weekend, The Last Jedi has apparently split a divide between Star Wars fandom in a way that we’ve never seen before.
I have re-written and chopped up these initial opening paragraphs because they came off as much too aggressive or much to blasé. As I’ve seen this critical analysis turn into a freakin’ Star Wars manifesto, I decided to try and stick my own interpretation of the film as much as possible.
Ultimately, before I even get into the depths of The Last Jedi, it’s important to recognize that a lot of what is being argued over is opinion, and that’s totally fine. It’s good to have an opinion and it’s good to stand up for that opinion in heated discussions over whatever topic you find important.
Hell, I even agree with many of the criticisms of the film. It does feel a bit long in the middle and could use a trim, and classic characters are not treated in a way I expected, and Captain Phasma falls into the frustrating, but consistent, list of badass looking characters doing exactly jack squat. Boba Fett, General Grievous, Darth Maul, and Jango Fett have company now.
That’s the key word in all this, I feel. EXPECTATION. When you have a franchise that is so deep seeded in self-created mythology as Star Wars is, coupled with a fanbase that has rabidly concocted numerous pieces of fan art as well as dozens of possible answers to questions posed by the films, you’re going to get a lot of expectation and passion. The Last Jedi, unarguably, subverted a lot of these expectations. When fans spend two years laboring over unanswered questions and putting together their own versions of the film with their own ideas to the answers, it makes that subversion all the more difficult to accept. I totally understand how frustrating that can be to superfans who studied every little novel, video game, and offshoot that was Star Wars-related to find connections to the main narrative.
I think the biggest problem isn’t with criticism of The Last Jedi itself. My biggest problem is with the ways a not insignificant amount of fans have displayed their displeasure. They have come off as petulant as Kylo Ren, and whiny as teenage Anakin Skywalker, and as confident in their own bullshit as Supreme Leader Snoke. Opinions are fine and welcome and acceptable, but treating those opinions as fact is unacceptable. Creating a petition to have the film tossed from cannon isn’t healthy or welcome. Hacking widely used review sites to drop a score down is as good as fake news. Threatening the writer and director over Twitter has no place in fandom or film discussion. Individuals get to have an opinion, but they don’t get to act like an entitled jerk about it. Storytelling doesn’t come from a committee of fans, and it never will. Even writer/director Rian Johnson said in a recent interview, “ George Lucas never made a ‘Star Wars’ movie by sitting down and thinking, ‘What do the fans want to see?’ ” Finally, and most importantly, people seem to be forgetting that this is only the second entry for this trilogy. I’d hate to see the internet after The Empire Strikes Back came out and audiences were left with so many questions.
Which again leads me to remind you that most of this analysis is going to be peppered with opinion. It’s nearly impossible not to project your own personal feelings into a film that you’re watching, but I’ve done my best to use critical thinking and storytelling analysis to break down the themes, character arcs, and plot lines of The Last Jedi. Don’t @ me if you think something is stupid, unfunny, or dumb, because that’s an opinion that I’ll probably just disagree with, and that’s ok.
Now that I’ve gotten that all out of the way, let’s break down The Last Jedi in all it’s spoiler-filled details. Starting with the plot.
To put it simply, the plot of The Last Jedi concerns the Resistance fleet low on fuel trying to outrun and escape the advancing First Order or risk being wiped out for good. Along the way, we experience a quiet mutiny for leadership of the Resistance, an unsanctioned undercover mission to give the Resistance fleet a brief chance at escape, and one girl’s struggle to understand more about herself with the outside influence of a broken down, jaded former Jedi master and the petulant, dangerous enforcer for The First Order.
All of these additional side plots lead back to trying to help the Resistance survive and fight back against The First Order while growing the main, core characters from the first film.
- Finn and Rose go on the hunt for a slicer (hacker) to get them on the First Order ship and disable their hyperdrive tracking, which has made it impossible for Resistance to make a speedy getaway.
- When his trusted leader General Leia is knocked out of commission, Poe, a headstrong, shoot-first pilot, is put at odds with Admiral Holdo, who believes that orders are meant to be followed and not questioned.
- Rey initially shows up to find Luke to get him to come back and help the Resistance, but ultimately finds the possibility of discovering her place in the universe too difficult to pass up, pestering Luke into training her.
- Kylo Ren struggles to kill the last remaining pieces of his older self, dealing with an increasingly aggressive Supreme Leader Snoke and a surprising connection with Rey through The Force.
These subplots and the characters within all contain meaning, message, and purpose, even if it might not seem obvious at first. I’m not bothering to focus on what was ‘funny’ or not, as while it is a major point of contention for a lot of fans, it’s based mostly on opinion. I thought The Last Jedi was funny, and I’ll do my best to at least point out why some of the humor has purpose, and has a closer connection to the Star Wars history than many might first realize.
Finn, Rose, DJ, and Canto Bight
Yes, the Canto Bight detour drags on a little, but it does offer unique questions that were never previously brought up in the saga thus far. By turning it’s sights to taking on the wealthy, upper 1%, it allows for Star Wars to offer a commentary not only in favor of the galactic 99%, but also asks the audience to question who might be profiting from these ongoing Star Wars. By pointing out a somewhat neutral party in the conflict that is only focused on benefitting themselves, it allows for the universe to expand even further than before.
It also introduces us to Benicio del Toro’s character DJ, who acts as essentially Han Solo Dark, following through with his promises of looking out for numero uno by selling out Finn and Rose to the Empire for a gigantic crate of credits. DJ (or ‘Don’t Join’, as the character pontificates) is only one of the many examples of The Last Jedi taking what you think you know and turning it into a completely different direction.
Beyond DJ, the undercover plotline gives us a new character in Rose Tico. Rose is designed as the beating heart of the Resistance, someone who does grunt engineering work and has never had a taste of adventure or heroism. This is a unique move in that it gives us a perspective of the war from someone other than high command or our lead pilot. Not only that, but Rose’s relationship with her sister Page shows the loss that people suffer at the hands on the First Order in ways that exploding planets can’t fully convey.
Lastly, it allows for Finn to grow as a character, one who is still dealing with his unexpected fame as a hero of the Resistance. Finn is basically still wanting to run away from the conflict and have no part of it, having essentially just woken up from the attack on Starkiller Base from The Force Awakens. With Canto Bight, he sees real tangible evidence of power over the powerless, and also gets a harsh message about joining sides from DJ, a man who has no side but himself. Finn clearly doesn’t like seeing a bit of himself in DJ, and then instead decides to side closer to Rose.
Rose provides a heart that ultimately evolves Finn from someone who wants to run (a good piece of continuity from The Force Awakens), into someone who is willing to sacrifice his life for the Resistance. On top of that, she also hammers home a general theme of the film: that victory doesn’t always mean winning the battle at any cost, and that it doesn’t always require sacrificing your life to win. Sometimes it’s good enough to run away and live to fight another day, a theme that also resonates in the mutiny storyline featuring Poe, Leia, and Vice Admiral Holdo.
Leia, Ackbar, Holdo, Poe, and Space Battles
A couple of the biggest complaints with the film center around General Leia and her role in the film, with some bemoaning the way her force powers were depicted as well as the fact that she’s left unconscious for a large middle chunk of the film. Leia is hurled out into space after Tie Fighters annihilate the bridge of the lead Resistance ship, leading to the deaths of nearly the entire upper command, including the beloved Admiral Ackbar.
Now, I totally understand the outrage towards Ackbar’s unceremonious death, but not only did it serve to show how war can take a toll almost instantly, but also, if we’re being honest, Ackbar was good for one great meme’d line and that’s about it. The dude had a great look, and about five lines in Return of the Jedi. Pour one out for him, but in the grand scheme, he’s a tiny shrimp.
Leia, although in the vacuum of space, finally displays her powers in the Force by using it to move back into the bridge to be rescued, albeit seriously injured. Seeing Princess Leia finally use the Force after all these years is such a powerful moment, despite it showing force powers not yet seen in the saga, so let’s not cheapen it by complaining about the fictional properties of a fictional science fiction spiritual power. Let’s not forget that they’ve introduced new Force powers in each subsequent movie, from mind control to Force pushing to Force lightning. So no, Leia’s ability to survive the vacuum of space is not out of the realm of the possibility within the logic of the Force, especially if you view it as a manifestation less from concentration, and more from instinctual survival.
Leia is taken out of commission for a time and replaced with Admiral Holdo, who basically doesn’t have the temperament for any of Poe’s flyboy shoot first BS. She follows through on Leia’s previous demotion and tells him to essentially shut up and follow orders. Poe reacts in the way a headstrong hotshot pilot might: by slowly building a mutiny against Holdo, not trusting her instincts and considering her a coward.
This is all to build Poe up, allowing him to eventually become a smart, valuable leader in the Resistance. Leia’s demotion of Poe was an act of tough love, one that Poe never would’ve actively rebelled against. But subbing in Holdo for Leia allows for Poe to still come off as heroic even though what he is doing is technically wrong and misguided. If he had mutinied against Leia, the audience would’ve never bought it, and never would’ve been on Poe’s side.
Sure, Holdo could’ve been more forward with her plans, but her purpose is to teach Poe two truths: that leadership doesn’t involve shooting first and making rash decisions, that being a good soldier means having the faith in those around you to make choices that are best, even if you don’t agree. Vice Admiral Holdo was a necessary character to provide these lessons to Poe, as it wouldn’t have worked with Leia or even with Ackbar. Last, but certainly not least, I have to give a special mention to Holdo’s final kamikaze hyperdrive launch, as it provided The Last Jedi with one of the most awe-inspiring visual moments in the entire saga.
Speaking of visual moments, I have to give credit to writer/director Rian Johnson for putting together some of the best space action I’ve seen, particularly with the opening battle. Seeing some of the moves of Poe’s X-Wing literally made my heart skip, and his verbal teasing of General Hux fits perfectly into his humorous, irreverent attitude established in The Force Awakens when he mocked Kylo Ren on different occasions, as well as a long history of sass towards imperial authority figures from Leia, Han, and others.
The slow motion assault on the Dreadnaught fighter with the Resistance losing their bombers, and seeing Paige Tico, Rose’s aforementioned sister, struggle to reach the release for the bombs was such an incredibly intense, thrilling scene early on. My only complaint is that the scene may have outshone others later in the film. I also found the films ticking clock story device to be rather effective. The Resistance ships have enough fuel to either keep safe distance from the pursuing First Order fleet or make one last jump into hyperspace, which they knew could be tracked. Watching the Resistance ships slowly falling back after running out of fuel only to be blasted to bits was, to me, an extremely successful way at keeping everyone moving forward with urgency.
Why didn’t the First Order just take them out? Two reasons most likely: their own hubris in waiting for their ‘inevitable’ victory, and the fact that the Resistance fighters could still keep that distance. The looming possibility of death within hours pushed the intensity up a notch with Poe’s mutiny, it put a frantic sense of urgency on Finn and Rose’s mission, and it also built on the frustration and urgency (there’s that word again) in Rey’s interactions with Luke Skywalker on his island planet Ahch-to.
Luke, Rey, Yoda, the Jedi, and the Force
When The Force Awakens ended with Rey staring up at Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, offering up his father’s lightsaber to him with a helpless, pleading look, audience were left on the edge of their seats. This was the great hero, Luke Skywalker, self-exiled to this island, in front of moviegoers for the first time in decades. What words of wisdom would he have for us? How would he train Rey?
To the panic and displeasure of many, Luke Skywalker tossed his father’s lightsaber over his shoulder like it was a piece of trash. Luke Skywalker had become a disenchanted, bitter, lonely hermit after what he perceived as his ultimate failure: losing his nephew Ben Solo, now Kylo Ren, to the Dark Side, possibly by his own doing. This was what happened when the cocky, emotional farm boy from Tatooine grew up and failed at everything he hoped for. The daily routines, including spearfishing and the milking green milk from a fat alien creature, while albeit gross and caveman-like, serve to show just how far Luke has fallen. He’s reduced himself down to the most simplistic of duties, resigned to spend the rest of his life on this island.
It’s completely reasonable that many fans would be in a uproar over this, especially after having decades to fill their own minds with the possible adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master. There have been hundreds of pieces of Extended Universe (now called Star Wars Legends) material based on Luke and his life after Return of the Jedi, but nothing was ever quite like this. One of the most understandable criticisms is that Luke Skywalker wasn’t what many fans had hoped or imagined. Many thought of him as the truest Jedi Master, training dozens of new Jedi. Many had hoped he’d find love and have a family of his own, much like in the Extended Universe.
But this story doesn’t belong to Luke anymore, it belongs to Rey, Finn, and the other younger generation moving forward. Luke, meanwhile, serves as the living antithesis for why the Jedi order should even continue. He finally voices what the prequel trilogy showed us: that the Jedi were so up their own ass with their rules and religion that they couldn’t see themselves being manipulated up close. Luke recognizes this after his own failures caused by his own hubris, mirroring the previous downfall of the Jedi Order. Luke was fed stories about how great the Jedi were, but after growing old and learning just how much they had screwed up, he’s finally decided that the Jedi order needed to end. Luke is essentially pointing out how organized religion has ruined faith, and instead of going back towards his faith, he’s resolved to burn it all down instead. That is a FASCINATING, but admittedly frustrating, direction to take one of the greatest heroes in cinema.
Rey has to deal directly with this sudden and unwelcome realization, being handed a cranky, cynical old man in place of the legendary teacher and hero she had hoped for. Rey had a knowledge of Luke Skywalker even back in The Force Awakens, saying his name with a hushed reverence. Their meeting is a perfect example of the risks involved with meeting your heroes, as they might turn out to be the polar opposite of what you’d expected. Instead of finding a hero for the Resistance, she finds a man who is spiritually desolate. Instead of finding a teacher, she finds a man without faith or direction.
He imparts upon Rey what she could’ve never learned on her own, that the spiritual Jedi were an archaic organization responsible for their own downfall, even, and especially in regards to himself. You know what? Luke is 100% right. The prequel trilogy focused perfectly on how the Jedi’s rigid rules helped push Anakin to the Dark Side, and showed on numerous occasions their hubris and arrogance getting the best of them. I remember the condescending Jedi librarian from Attack of the Clones, telling a doubting Obi-Wan Kenobi that ‘if a planet is not in our records, then it does not exist’, despite all evidence to the contrary. Her short, haughty answer with a literal upturned nose was the embodiment of Jedi arrogance.
The reappearance of Yoda helps Luke come to terms with his failures, offering him one final lesson that ascends him to what I believe is the greatest Jedi of all time. Yoda, displaying Force powers never seen before, calls upon lightning from the sky to strike the ancient Jedi tree, burning it to the ground and signifying a push for Luke to let go of the past and embrace his failures as further lessons. Luke’s journey in this film brings him to the realization that it’s time for him to get back in the fight and buy his friends some time. Projecting himself across the galaxy might be one of the most powerful displays of The Force that we’ve ever seen on film, essentially taking the abilities of a Force Ghost, but doing so while still living. It represents Luke’s full understanding and embrace of the Force, manipulating it in ways that were never done before. It’s a hell of a powerful display that he is willing to come back and do everything he can to give his friends the distraction they need, even if it means ascending to a higher plane of existence within The Force in one of The Last Jedi’s most emotional scenes.
Rey, to her credit, doesn’t seem to be all that focused on becoming a Jedi as much as she wants to understand her place in this huge global conflict. She’s been led to believe her whole life that she’s a nobody, that she’s nothing special, but her awakening of The Force proves that to be at least half wrong: she may be a nobody, but she is certainly special.
Rey, along with a few younger side characters introduce in Canto Bight, are the carriers of what I imagine to be the central theme for the rest of this trilogy: that greatness can come from anywhere, from all walks of life, without being tied to a special bloodline (Skywalker) or prophecy (the Chosen One). Rey’s entire time on the island is predicated on the idea that she comes from no place special, but continues to look for ways to be special. It’s a very millennial-like journey for our hero, especially considering she has an old man holding her back with his stubbornness. Rey’s humble origins are also reflected in her time in the cave below the island, where she is drawn to to find answers since Luke won’t provide any.
Rey offers the supernatural cave of one request, to show her her parents. Instead, what she sees in the cave are just multiple versions of herself. She is all that there is there, and this cave offers little insight beyond that. Many have described this scene as useless, but it serves as a huge commentary on one of the biggest mysteries that fandom obsessed over: who are Rey’s parents?
The cave sequence tells Rey as much as it tells the audience, it doesn’t matter where she came from, she is not defined by her past, only by herself and her actions in the future. She is special, but not because she is an answer to a prophecy or part of an important Force-sensitive bloodline, but because she has skills and abilities that make her special.
This direction for the Force is laid out in The Last Jedi and seems to be the theme for the series moving forward, that anyone from any walk of life can become important. After all, Obi-Wan Kenobi himself described The Force as, “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” It seems fairly obvious that the creative minds behind Star Wars are moving back into that direction, as evidenced by the young stable boy Force-grabbing his broom at the end of the film. It’s a movement that a lot of fans rejected because they had hoped Rey was a Skywalker, Solo, or Kenobi, and it’s certainly one that Kylo Ren has a hard time quantifying.
Kylo Ren & Rey, Snoke, and Millennial Star Wars
The Force Awakens introduced us to Kylo Ren, the petulant, angry, dangerous former Ben Solo, fallen son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. Kylo was unlike any other villain we’d seen before. He was fully turned to the dark side and fighting the light, offering a counter to the regular ‘fight the dark side’ motif so popular in the Star Wars saga. He was someone who strived to be more like his grandfather, Darth Vader, even down to his uniform choices: all black garb with a voice-altering helmet that provided no use other than cosmetic. He ended the film with physical scars that many thought to be the beginning of his turn to be even more like Vader. Prone to violent, angry outbursts, it seems that Kylo is even further from Vader than everyone assumes him to be.
Kylo Ren is a gigantic millennial metaphor in The Last Jedi, which is interesting considering how progressive it’s internal politics may be. Kylo Ren and his millennial nature are defined by his relationship to three people, none of whom are his actual birth parents.
Firstly, Kylo Ren owes perhaps his entire existence to the hubris of Luke Skywalker. As we discover in The Last Jedi, Ben Solo was being seduced by the Dark Side, and Luke was powerful enough in the Force to sense it within him. Fearing what may come, Luke nearly makes the unforgivable decision to kill his nephew instead of risking the rise of another Vader. Ben, of course, doesn’t know that Luke wasn’t going to go through with it, and instead destroys his whole Jedi Order, as well as taking ‘a handful of students’ with him in his exit. Kylo then gets to blame Luke as an old, lying fool instead of taking on any responsibility himself.
Kylo Ren is confused and intrigued by the presence of Rey, going all the way back to The Force Awakens. In the previous film, when an underling tells him that BB-8 and Finn had help from a girl, he Force-chokes him, asking “What girl?” Many people interpreted this as Kylo knowing who Rey was, but it’s the exact opposite. After learning that Kylo destroyed Luke’s Jedi academy and took a few students with him, we can now assume that Kylo was asking about Rey not because he knew who she was, but precisely because he DIDN’T know who she was. Kylo, as Ben Solo, was probably told of his great lineage by everyone around him, surrounded by the best Force using children that Luke Skywalker could bring together. If Kylo decimated Luke and his academy, how could there possibly be a girl somewhere that flew under his radar? It completely re-contextualizes Kylo’s motivations in that previous film.
Knowing now that there is a powerful Force user out there, Kylo reaches out through the Force to get a better read on her, unknowingly aided by the Force powers of Snoke. Their conversations through the Force lead to each of them making assumptions about one another. Rey thinks that she sees hope in Kylo, especially after he tells her the story of what Luke almost did to him. It’s understandable that Rey might be more understanding of someone coming to her with allegedly honest intentions rather than a cranky old hermit who just wants her to go away.
Kylo uses his knowledge of Rey’s background to manipulate her, admitting that she isn’t special to the galaxy, but that she’s special to him. His seduction of Rey to the Dark Side is not based on power or control, but based on meaning and agency, giving her a chance to ‘be someone’ to the galaxy. Kylo may very well being telling the truth about his interests in Rey, but he doesn’t bother to hide his intentions to burn the galaxy to the ground and reshape it in their image. Something that his Master, Supreme Leader Snoke, should’ve paid closer attention to.
Kylo Ren turned to the Dark Side under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke, who we know to be old, withered, but nonetheless pragmatic and powerful in his knowledge of the Force. Snoke mostly seems concerned with following the path of Emperor Palpatine, finding a worthy and powerful apprentice and dominating the galaxy with an iron fist. As an audience, we get as much backstory about Snoke as we did of The Emperor in the previous trilogy, with no prequel trilogy to fill in the blanks. The dude is one of the most overpowered Force users we’ve seen in the saga, tossing characters around with ease, toying with his enemies, and moving swiftly despite his frail appearance. However, if Luke exiled himself because of the hubris of the Jedi, then Snoke’s downfall is as due to his own arrogance.
Unfortunately for Snoke, Kylo doesn’t feel like apprenticing under anyone. He’s just graduated college, he’s got $120,000 in student loans, and he expects to be the VP of a Fortune 500 company NOW. Not to mention that he’s pretty much hates every older person around, under the veil of ‘letting the past die’. In true Sith fashion, Kylo cuts his master in two, fully intending on taking over the galaxy himself with Rey by his side. This leads to what maybe be one of the better lightsaber battles in franchise history, with both Kylo and Rey working together to take on Snoke’s highly-skilled Praetorian Guards. They work together out of necessity, but it’s not hard to see that they are hovering dangerously close to a bond. Snoke is essentially a red herring for fans, someone who we expect to be the big bad throughout the series, but one that is dispatched to show just how bad of a guy Kylo Ren has become.
Where Does The Galaxy Go From Here?
Many people have turned to this quick dispatching of Snoke, the detour through Canto Bight, the sidelining of Leia, and the characterization of Luke as prime example of The Last Jedi’s shortcomings as a film. While I can’t argue about how these turns effected viewers expectations, I can confidently say that everything I’ve seen complaints about have valid reason to exist, especially when it comes to the evolution of Rey, Kylo Ren, Poe, and Finn.
The quick death of Snoke serves to send Kylo Ren in a trajectory never before seen in a Star Wars movie, that of an angry, petulant Supreme Leader powerful in the Force and fueled by personal rage.
Leia is sidelined and Holdo brought in to give Poe a valuable lesson in leadership and accountability. An audience would’ve never bought his rebellious actions against Princess Leia, but against an antagonistic Vice Admiral, his actions make a lot more sense not only to himself, but to the audience.
Rose, DJ, and Canto Bight serve to build Finn up into the hero that many think he is, but that he knows he is not. In one of the more effective character arcs of the film, he goes from a deserter to someone who is willing to sacrifice his life for the Resistance, all because he sees the terrible things powerful people do at Canto Bight and the good people who suffer from it.
Luke Skywalker, hero of the rebellion and Jedi Master, is discovered to be an angry, broken, and bitter old man. He’s unable to rectify his mistakes in order to help Rey. Luke realizes that the ways of the Jedi need to end, opening the door for something more to materialize out of it. Rey gets just enough training from Luke to matter, and also manages to make off with his ancient Jedi texts.
The Last Jedi leaves us with a First Order fleet in shambles and a Resistance that is down to about 20 people. Both of these sides have taken a beating, the Resistance more so. We’re left with Luke Skywalker displaying the greatest Force power ever witnessed before becoming one with the Force. We’re left with Kylo Ren in complete control of the First Order, focused more on the destruction of individuals than the domination of the galaxy. He doesn’t have an Emperor or a Snoke that needs to be defeated, he’s become the ultimate power in the universe. Rey doesn’t have a master that she needs to learn a final lesson from, she’s on her own.
Sadly, the passing of Carrie Fisher also means that Poe Dameron and Finn are likely in for a promotion, taking leadership roles in the Resistance. I’d be willing to bet that the as yet untitled Episode IX will involve some manner of time jump, perhaps setting itself 8 or 10 years after The Last Jedi.
What we know for sure is that Episode IX has the potential to be unlike any other Star Wars film we’ve ever seen before. All of the regular story beats have been used up in these last two chapters, leaving unexplored space for us to work with. Is Kylo Ren beyond redemption? Will the force users of the galaxy rise up? Will we ever see Luke again? Tune in for the next exciting chapter in the Star Wars saga. Or don’t. Either way, it’s okay.
