Star Wars: The Last Jedicontinues the story of the Sequel Trilogy.
What has Luke Skywalker been up to?
Why did Ben Solo turn to the dark side?
Who are Reys parents?
It was initialThe Force Awakensscreenwriter Michael Arndts idea to push the Luke and Rey story toEpisode VIII.
Thus far, Reys quest has been reminiscent of Lukes in the Original Trilogy.
Much of her story inThe Last Jedireflects that of Lukes inThe Empire Strikes Back.
Rey has a brush with the dark side on Ahch-To just like Luke did on Dagobah.
The dark side cave Rey falls into shows her a reflection of herself.
Even when she asks the cave about her parents, the dark side shows only her own face.
While in the dark side cave, Rey describes what shes feeling in a voiceover.
Is this the first instance of internal monologue in aStar Warsmovie?The Force Awakensfeatured the first flashback scene.
Rey and Kylo share a Force bond in the movie.
This concept has appeared inStar Warslore before, both in the canon and Legends timelines.
Its a special connection through the Force that two or more individuals share.
The identities of Reys parents are finally revealed.
Thats about the most messed up thing Ive ever heard.
Why do all the parents inStar Warssuck?
He quickly sheds the robes for more rain-appropriate attire.
While it was said that Lukes first words in the movie were Who are you?
echoing Mazs words to Rey inThe Force Awakenstrailer his first words are actually Go away.
At one point, we see an X-wing in the waters below Lukes island on Ahch-To.
That X-wing is, of course, Lukes old starfighter from the Original Trilogy.
Lucas even approved the design for a bell-shaped structure for the Jedi temple.
Speaking of Ahch-To,Star Wars Battlefront IIrevealed how Luke found the ocean planet in the first place.
Long story short, he finds a sort of compass in an Imperial vault on the planet Pillio.
Read more about all that here.
Lukes duel with Kylo is a deception.
Wherever Luke found this new technique (probably from those old Jedi texts?
), it clearly takes a lot of energy and power to perform.
Its one of the first clues that Luke isnt actually on Crait.
He is shown meditating in the mosaic.
Yoda has the biggest cameo of the movie, and its absolutely berserk!
This is the very first time that a Force ghost has been able to interact with something physically.
Frank Oz returned as the puppeteer and the voice of Yoda.
He originally played the character inThe Empire Strikes Back.
Lukes green lightsaber fromReturn of the Jedireturns in the flashback scene about Bens turn to the dark side.
During Reys training, Luke talks about how the legacy of the Jedi is failure.
I wrote way more about how the Jedi are about the worst peacekeepers in the galaxyin this article.
Luke mentions Darth Sidious during one of his lessons.
I think thats the first time the Sequel Trilogy has directly referenced the Prequels.
Im surprised Luke didnt refer to the villain as the Emperor.
In the old EU, those who followed a Jedi named Revan were known as Revanchists or Jedi Crusaders.
Those adorable sea birds that keep Chewbacca company in the Millennium Falcon are called Porgs.
The Caretakers shown cleaning and maintaining the ancient Jedi structures on Ahch-To are from the Lanai species.
All of the Caretakers are female, but the species also includes males, which are known as Visitors.
Luke reveals that the Caretakers have been watching over the first Jedi temple for thousands of years.
Thanks to the commenters for being on top of their game on this one!
We get a cool reference to blue milk while following Luke on Ahch-To.
He milks a Thala-Siren, which produces a sort of greenish-blue milk that Luke apparently really enjoys.
The original blue milk comes from banthas.
R2-D2 appears briefly in the movie to say a few bad words to Luke on the Falcon.
This is the firstStar Warsmovie in which original Artoo actor Kenny Baker isnt involved with the role at all.
Jimmy Vee played Artoo inThe Last Jedi.
Like Kylo, Jacen also consolidated power and took over the galaxy as its new ruler.
As revealed in the flashback, Ben Solos lightsaber was blue before he turned to the dark side.
Unless I missed it, the Knights of Ren are nowhere to be found in this movie.
I personally would have loved to learn more about them.
Like his grandfather before him, Kylo Ren pilots a special TIE fighter during the Resistance evacuation.
Its called the TIE/vn space superiority fighter or simply the TIE silencer.
An important detail about the First Order is revealed in the opening crawl ofThe Last Jedi.
The First Order reigns!
reads the first line of the crawl, which introduces the story to viewers.
It is two-and-a-half times the size of a regular First Order Star Destroyer.
Supreme Leader Snokes Mega-class Star Destroyer is calledSupremacy.
Its the only ship of its class in the First Order fleet and served as its flagship.
Snoke issued commands from this ship inThe Force Awakenswhile hiding out in the Unknown Regions.
Snokes throne room is reminiscent of Emperor Palpatines, although theres a stark difference in color scheme.
Snoke shows off quite a few of his Force powers in this movie.
At one point, he Force chokes General Hux from a completely different spot in the galaxy.
Thats a callback to Darth Vaders signature move when displeased with his own Imperial lackeys inThe Empire Strikes Back.
Hux fares better than Admiral Ozzel and Captain Needa.
Both villains are able to strangle someone from miles away.
In the case of Snoke, the distance seems to be light years.
Snoke also uses Force lightning, a power first showcased by Emperor Palpatine.
In several of Snokes scenes, Emperor Palpatines theme can be heard mixed into the score.
Overconfidence in their apprentices are what get both Palpatine and Snoke killed in the end.
Kylo, like his grandfather before him, betrays and kills Snoke.
We actually get to see these red badasses in action this time around, though.
The eagle-eyed viewer might notice that Snoke is wearing a very unique ring.
Chancellor (and later Emperor) Palpatine had statues of the Four Sages in his office.
Shout out toScreenrantfor spotting this easter egg first!
Captain Phasma returns to face off against Finn.
This was previously thought impossible.
In fact, the heroes have often used hyperspace to make a quick escape at the last second e.g.
the Falcon escaping Bespin by reactivating the hyperdrive inThe Empire Strikes Back.
Shout out toEWfor spotting this!
The astromech droid who first catches on to Finn and Roses deception on the Supremacy is named BB-9E.
He was first revealed during the release ofThe Last Jeditoy line.
The droids nickname on set was BB-H8.
I dont have to explain why thats funny, right?
Leia & The Resistance
This is Carrie Fishers final appearance in aStar Warsmovie.
She died suddenly in late 2016, just a few months after filming had wrapped onThe Last Jedi.
Leias flagship cruiser is calledRaddus.
Theres a lot of precedence for Leias surprising Force powers in this movie.
Leia was trained by Luke himself and Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne.
Let me know what you find!
Im sure theres something in the old EU somewhere…
Kelly Marie Tran plays Rose Tico.
She is the first Asian-American to star in aStar Warsfilm.
Paige is played by Vietnamese actress Veronica Ngo.
Finn wakes up in a bacta suit (is there an official name for this?
Gial Ackbar, the Mon Calamari admiral who first appeared inReturn of the Jedi(ITS A TRAP!
), finally meets his end during the escape from DQar when TIE fighters blow up theRaddus bridge.
In the Legends timeline, he died peacefully of old age.
Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, played by the wonderful Laura Dern, is one of Leias oldest friends.
They first met at the Apprentice Legislature of the Imperial Senate.
You might be wondering about Holdos hair.
Holdos flamboyant style is a rebellion against those traditions.
The standoff on Crait is reminiscent of the Battle of Hoth.
Several Resistance fighters refer to themselves as rebels throughout the movie.
This is a reference to the Rebellion, of course.
The A-wing makes a return inThe Last Jedi.
This is an updated version called the RZ-2.
The RZ-1 A-wing interceptor first appeared during the Battle of Endor inReturn of the Jedi.
Fun fact: Shara Bey, Poe Damerons mom, flew an A-wing during the Battle of Endor!
Speaking of Shara Bey, theres a direct reference to her in the movie.
Poe wears a ring on a necklace during his latest adventure.
Hes actually carrying around his mothers wedding ring!
The bombers used by the Resistance to destroy the First Order dreadnought are B/SF-17 heavy bombers.
(Another name for these bombers is the MG-100 StarFortress SF-17.)
This is their first appearance.
He appeared with a rusty red arm inThe Force Awakens.
I hope we can see more of her inEpisode IX.
Thats almost certainly a reference to Porkins fromA New Hope.
Billie Lourd, Carrie Fishers daughter, returns once again as Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix.
He also appeared inThe Force Awakens.
He can be seen next to the Resistance fighter who tastes the salt on the ground.
In the Legends timeline, theres a novel calledThe Last Jediby Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn.
It seemed like a fun character to deliver that line, Johnson told HuffPo.
I think originally I had Poe respond, Oh, I got a good feeling about it.
Keep your chin up.
And then I made it a little less explicit just to make it more fun.
The little ornament Luke finds on the Falcon and later gifts to Leia is Hans lucky dice.
The smuggler believes they bring him good luck, so he hangs the ornament in the ships cockpit.
In reality, Hans dice only appear ONCE in the entire Original Trilogy.
Inexplicably, they disappear after one shot in the movie.
They finally return inThe Force Awakensand are given a bit more attention inThe Last Jedi.
From what I can tell, the charred Darth Vader helmet doesnt make an appearance in this movie.
Perhaps thats part of his whole Kill the past slogan inThe Last Jedi.
There is a lot to learn about Canto Bight inthe recently released novel collection.
Temiris friends are named Arashell Sar (Sarah Heller) and Oniho Zaya (Josiah Oniha).
Canto Bight is located on the desert planet called Cantonica.
Yes, its a desert planet!
How does Canto Bight have that body of water surrounding it and that huge waterfall?
Thats an artificial body of water constructed to make Canto Bight look even more lavish.
Davis has cameod in quite a few otherStar Warsprojects, too.
The space horses located on Canto Bight are called fathiers.
They were actually first mentioned in the novelAftermath: Empires Endby Chuck Wendig, misspelled as faithiers.
He seems to be really good as space craps.
Hit me up if you know what game the Master Codebreaker is actually playing on Canto Bight.
The space yacht DJ and BB-8 steal to make it escape Canto Bight is called theLibertine.
The crystal foxes on Crait are actually called vulptices.
(The singular is vulptex.)
Let me know if you do!
He apparently played a stormtrooper.
Prince Harry and Prince William of the British royal family reportedly filmed cameos.
No sight of them just yet, though.
British singer Ellie Goulding revealed on Twitter that she filmed a cameo inThe Last Jedi.
Ive not spotted her, though.
John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek US.
Find more of his work onhis website.
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