Luke-ing back on The Last Jedi

Unpacking the biggest twists surrounding the Jedi Master’s return…

When Mark Hamill first read the script for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, he was not pleased. “I pretty much fundamentally disagree,” he explained to the new film’s writer and director Rian Johnson, “with every choice you’ve made for [Luke].” And now that Episode VIII is finally out, it’s pretty easy to see why.

Not only do we have Luke, once the symbol of hope, muttering darkly that “it’s time for the Jedi to end”, but we see him consider murdering his sleeping nephew, turn his back on the Resistance, and milk the space boobs of an alien aardvark. The real kicker though, the one that hurts right in the BB units, is the way the big man bows out.

Johnson’s character work in the build up is hard to fault. With the backstory around his failed training of Ben Solo fleshed out, his fall into despair clicks, and their climatic

confrontation on the salt flats of Crait thrums with hard-won redemptive resonance. However, when it’s revealed that – gasp! – it’s actually a Force Projection of Luke while he meditates back on Ahch-To, the questions really start to stack up.

Fans will disagree as to whether this is Johnson’s genius or a giant swizz. Uses for The Force have never been exhaustively defined, so seeing this new manifestation is simultaneously thrilling and confusing: if Jedi have always been able to do this, why haven’t they previously? It could have solved things for Obi-Wan when he faced down Vader on the Death Star. The answer likely lies in what happens next. The ruse takes such monumental effort that when Luke finally breaks off his trance he is exhausted to the point of death, barely taking in the sunset before becoming one with The Force. This call back to the twin suns of Tatooine brings the moisture farmer’s story beautifully full circle, and thematically fulfils Ren’s command to “let the past die”.

But Luke’s death is somewhat abrupt, and not being physically present for his final showdown doesn’t feel like an entirely fitting send-off for the galaxy’s most iconic hero. After losing Han and knowing Leia cannot return, The Last Jedi ends with bittersweet tears. Luke was right about one thing – that did not go the way we thought.

‘Is thIs rIan johnson’s genIus or a gIant swIzz?’