Wow, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘ has become one of the most heated and debated films in the “Star Wars” saga and has only been out for a single weekend so far. As many still have yet to see the film I’ll give you a moment to head out of spoiler territory. What we’re going to look at today is director Rian Johnson talking about the closure which came at the conclusion of his film. It was a huge moment which has divided fans on if it was the right or wrong thing to do and Johnson has some justifications though if you agree with them or not is what comment sections are for!
Ready to get into spoiler territory?
At the conclusion of the film we all watched in a mixture of shock, awe, and sadness that after Luke Skywalker was able to do so much that it burned him out and he passed from the world in the same way that Kenobi did so many years back in ‘A New Hope’. They even do so in a tribute to ‘A New Hope’ with him staring off at the two suns much as he once stared at a pair on Tatooine.
When Johnson pitched the idea to Lucasfilm he says that:
“I had huge hesitance. I was terrified. It was a growing sense of dread when I realized this was going to make sense in that chapter.”
While I find myself agreeing with the choice the more I think about it, this is an understandable fear as fan backlash has already hit social media. However, he didn’t go into this alone and spoke with Kathleen Kennedy and other key creative members of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise before making this decision:
“It was not like I wrote the script and dropped it on their desk. It was very important to me that I was collaborating with the folks at Lucasfilm from the word go. I moved to San Francisco for a few months and would go in a few times a week to keep them up to date, spewing my ideas out, especially the big ones.”
Another person outside of fans who wasn’t fully thrilled though was Mark Hamill himself who was hoping that his death could wait a bit:
“The first thing I said was, ‘Can’t you wait and do this in Episode IX?’”
Of course, there was also a huge continuity error that appeared in this scene that we can all try and blame the fantastic use of John Williams’ original score during his disappearance to cover up.
Johnson pointed out the error by stating that:
“We were in the other room saying, ‘A steel hand should clunk to the ground.’”
A horribly wonderful idea. Of course, the big reveal that Luke was just projecting himself was shown the entire time. From everyone wondering how Luke got into the compound to that amazing fight between Skywalker and Kylo Ren as the two never actually have their lightsabers clash as Luke avoids them all should have been a dead giveaway. Editor Bob Duscay stated that this was:
“Exactly, by design. There are many small things that would give you some clues as to what’s going on with Luke. He doesn’t make a sound. Nothing ever falls on him. Kylo’s lightsaber interacts with the salt, and Luke’s doesn’t.”
Will that be the end of Luke Skywalker? Thanks to Force Ghosts it probably won’t be. Hamill himself added in that:
“I’m just still holding on to the line, ‘See you around, kid.’ I can be in Episode Nine! I might consider catering the film just so I can hang out.”
I’m sure many of us would happily work with Mark for a chance to be a fly on the wall for production of the next Skywalker Saga installment and just to have an excuse to hang out with Hamill himself.
What are your thoughts on how Johnson handled bringing Luke Skywalker’s story to a close, at least in flesh and blood? Do you feel this was the right route to go? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Entertainment Weekly