At the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey approaches Luke Skywalker and holds out his lightsaber to him. It took two years (and roughly fifteen minutes into The Last Jedi) for us to find out what happens next and a lot of fans were upset with what Rian Johnson delivered. Needless to say, MAJOR SPOILERS for the movie follow from this point on so stop reading now if you've not seen it.
When Luke finally gets his hands on his father's lightsaber, he throws it over his shoulder and walks away, leaving a shocked Rey behind. The former Jedi Master wants nothing to do with it. Why?
Well, the movie makes that pretty clear but Rian Johnson has now offered some insight into that.
"So, that leads you down a really specific path in terms of where his head is at. And if he’s done that and if he’s made this huge Herculean effort to pull himself out of the fight, to hide in, like he says, ‘The most unfindable place in the galaxy,’ it took an entire movie for the most heroic, smartest people in the galaxy to even find him, he’s put himself away. Then some kid shows up that he doesn’t know and shoves this thing that is everything that he has made this huge effort to step away from into his face with this look in her eyes of expectation like, ‘Here you go,’ and what is he going to do? Take it and say, ‘Great. Let’s go save the galaxy.’ He’s made this choice. He’s there for a reason. I knew it was going to be shocking, but I did it because it felt like, obviously it’s a dramatic expression of it, but it’s an expression of honestly the way that he is going to react to that moment."
Honestly, that makes perfect sense and while it may have been a moment played for laughs (which is something of a shame after all that build up), it works within the context of The Last Jedi and does a great job of showing us where Luke's head is at and why he wishes to be left on Ahch-To in peace.
What do you guys think? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
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