If the much-anticipated teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi was designed to hype us up for the film — and let’s be real, that’s exactly what is was designed to do — then mission accomplished. While the teaser contains a few major revelations — most notably, that Luke is apparently done with the Jedi — it’s pretty light on plot details overall and probably raises more questions than it answers. We’re sure to get a few more trailers between now and December when the film releases that will reveal more information but until then, here are the biggest questions we have after seeing this initial footage for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
What’s Up With Those Ancient Books?
It looks like The Last Jedi is going to dive deeper into ancient Jedi mythology than any previous film, with two intriguing shots pointing to Luke’s deep study of their origins. We see that Luke has a collection of old tomes, with a page in one of the books displaying the Jedi symbol, but it’s still a mystery what these books are really all about.
One popular theory is that at least one of the books is The Journal of the Whills, an important piece of Star Wars lore in the form of a chronicle of the galaxy set down by ancient, Force-sensitive beings known as The Whills. We’ve actually seen The Whills mentioned recently, with Rogue One’s Chirrut and Baze being referred to as Guardians of the Whills, so it’s possible that we could learn a great deal more about this mysterious piece of Star Wars lore in The Last Jedi. That or Luke just really likes to read Harlequin Romances.
Is That Kylo Ren’s Mask?
When Rey answers Luke’s question of what she sees with “Darkness,” there’s a shot of what appears to be Kylo Ren’s broken mask (we also hear Obi-Wan say “Seduced by the Dark Side,” in the background). If it is indeed Kylo’s mask and not Vader’s, that is an interesting development since there’s no way there would be anything left of Kylo’s mask at this point. The thing was left in the ruins of Starkiller Base and since that was absolutely annihilated, it’s hard to imagine there being anything left to salvage of Kylo’s mask.
Is it a new mask? Or is this shot actually from one of Rey’s visions and not meant to be taken literally? We see a brief shot of Kylo Ren later in the trailer without his mask, suggesting that he’ll may go fully unmasked for the duration of the film, which would honestly be a shame because Adam Driver’s mug simply isn’t as intimidating.
Who’s Flying The Falcon?
This being a Star Wars trailer and all, it’s hardly surprising to see the requisite shot of the Millennium Falcon engaged in combat with some TIE Fighters, but it’s unclear just who is piloting the iconic starship. It’s unlikely that Luke and Rey are going to stay on the planet Ahch-To the whole movie, so it’s a good bet that one or both of them are aboard the Falcon, in which case it would make sense for Rey to be piloting the ship.
Still, it’s possible that neither character is aboard and that Chewie and R2-D2 had to hightail it out of there after a First Order attack. At any rate, it’s good to see that the Falcon will be in action again in The Last Jedi and won’t just be docked on Jedi Island for the whole movie.
Is The Luke And R2-D2 Shot From The Past Or Present?
At first glance, the shot of Luke and R2-D2 looking on as a building burns down appears to be a continuation of the scene we saw in Rey’s vision during The Force Awakens, in which she briefly witnessed the destruction of Luke’s new Jedi Order. While we’ll almost surely hear more about this traumatic event from Luke himself during The Last Jedi, it’s possible that this shot isn’t from that event at all, but rather shows the First Jedi temple being destroyed on Ahch-To. Previous plot rumors have indicated that the First Order discover Luke and Rey’s hideout over the course of the film, which means we could very well be witnessing that attack here and not a flashback.
Did Captain Phasma Take Part In Kylo Ren’s Attack?
Hey look, Captain Phasma survived her trip through Starkiller Base’s garbage chute! Or did she? The trailer is arranged in such a way as to make us think that the shot of Luke and R2-D2 and the one of Phasma and a group of stormtroopers walking through burning rubble are from the same scene and if so, there are some interesting implications. If the scene is indeed a flashback to when Kylo Ren destroyed Luke’s Jedi Order, it means that Phasma also took part in the attack. And if the scene is from the present, it means that Phasma is back spearheading First Order assaults. Either way, it’s hard not to think that The Last Jedi will use Phasma much more effectively than in The Force Awakens, where she really didn’t do much of anything except get thrown down a garbage chute. Here’s hoping for a rematch with FN-2187!
Why Does Luke Want The Jedi To End?
The biggest question raised by The Last Jedi trailer has to do with Luke’s shocking admission that “it’s time for the Jedi to end.” This statement is deliberately ambiguous, as it could mean many things. Luke may be of the mind that, since he failed to establish a new Jedi order (and since he’s the only remaining Jedi out there), it’s time to just let the Order die off altogether. He could also have turned to the Dark Side and simply wants to destroy the Jedi.
The more likely possibility — and the one that the trailer seems to pointing us toward — is that Luke believes the Jedi Order as it once was can never return, but that something else can replace it. In other words, the Jedi need to evolve and the only way for that to happen is to let the Order as it has existed for millennia to die out. Whatever the case, Rey seems to be the key to it all and it will be interesting to see how her arrival upends Luke’s beliefs.
What Is Luke Training Rey For?
So if Luke thinks the Jedi should end, what exactly is he training Rey for? It seems a bit counter intuitive to accept a new apprentice into an Order that you don’t even believe in anymore. One possibility is that Rey convinces Luke that the Jedi should continue and that she should be his Padawan. Another, more likely reason is that Luke recognizes Rey’s strong connection to the Force and sees her as the one who could finally bring balance to it, rendering the Jedi and Sith as redundant concepts in his mind. At any rate, it appears that Rey’s training regimen is going to take her to her physical and mental limits, a far cry from the Yoda-carrying and rock-balancing that Luke was subjected to back on Dagobah.
Will Rey Finally Bring Balance To The Force?
Rey is being set up as the most important character in this new Star Wars trilogy and her role as the galaxy’s possible savior is further supported here by her answer to Luke’s question, “What do you see?” “Light … Darkness … A Balance,” Rey replies, suggesting that she sees a way to finally bring balance to the Force. While Rey seems to be positioned as falling on the Light side of the Force, The Last Jedi appears to be calling into question the entire idea of framing the Force as a binary concept.
The time of the Jedi may be over not only because they’re all but extinct, but because their strict adherence to a particular moral code simply isn’t applicable anymore. Luke muses that “There’s so much more” than just the Light and Dark side, and perhaps Rey is the key to figuring out just how much there really is to the Force and its role in the universe.
What’s Going On With Everyone Else?
The trailer is focused primarily on Luke and Rey, as it should given that they form the film’s central relationship. Unfortunately, all that focus means there is little attention given to other characters and although we get a few glimpses, it’s hard to tell what’s going on with the likes of Leia, Poe, Finn, and the rest of the Resistance. It’s clear that the war between the Resistance and the First Order is still going strong, but it’s difficult to get a sense of what the objective is for either side in the film.
What is Finn’s mission? Why does Poe’s X-Wing blow up (again)? What’s happening in that epic space battle near the end of the trailer? It’s certainly nice to still have much of the film’s plot shrouded in mystery — and we hope that future trailers don’t give too much away — but at this point, all this trailer really confirms is that those aforementioned characters are indeed in the film. Then again, this is more of a teaser than a traditional trailer, so perhaps it’s wrong to expect a lot of plot details right out of the gate.
