In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker removes himself from the broader happenings of the galaxy and takes refuge on the remote planet Ahch-To, burdened by a profound sense of failure, remorse, and disillusionment with the Jedi legacy and his own failures.
His retreat is largely driven by a pivotal moment of weakness, his instinctive reaction to the darkness he sensed growing in his nephew, Ben Solo.
Though he never acted on the impulse to strike down Ben, the mere thought was enough to shatter their bond and send Ben spiraling into his identity as Kylo Ren.
For Luke, this incident crystallized a deeper conviction; that the Jedi Order was not a solution, but part of a repeating cycle of hubris and collapse.
Rather than attempt to rebuild what he saw as a broken system, Luke chose to remove himself entirely, seeking solitude on the site of the first Jedi Temple, not to protect its legacy, but to ensure the Jedi would end with him.
Director Rian Johnson intended this storyline to show that even legendary heroes are vulnerable to doubt and despair, and that failure can shape a person as much as triumph.
Despite this thematic ambition, the creative choice proved polarizing. Many lifelong fans believed this depiction clashed with the core of Luke’s character. They expected him to confront adversity with hope, not isolation, to try saving Ben rather than abandoning the galaxy to its fate.
Mark Hamill, who brought Luke to life, also expressed those same reservations. During production, he developed an alternate personal interpretation of the character’s arc to help reconcile the script with his own vision of who Luke had become.
While appearing on Bullseye with Jess Hord podcast, Hamill offered a ton of praise for Rian Johnson and admitted that he wished he'd have just kept silent about his reservations about the reasoning behind Luke's isolation.
However, he did reveal that he told Rian that he believed what happened with Ben and the rest of his students would make Luke just "double down" even more on restoring the Jedi Order.
"Rian, I saw entire planets get wiped out. If anything, Luke doubles down and it hardens his resolve in the face of adversity."
He went on to add, "I thought, what could make someone give up a devotion to what is basically a religious entity... to give up being a Jedi. Well, the love of a woman. So he falls in love with a woman. He gives up being a Jedi. They have a child together. At some point the child, as a toddler, picks up an unattended lightsaber, pushes the button and is killed instantly... The wife is so full of grief, she kills herself."
The conversation about The Last Jedi begins at the [31:48] mark in the video below.
It might lean into melodrama, but could that actually be a more compelling narrative choice than what The Last Jedi ultimately presented?