A Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars: The Last Jedi

FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, and Kelly Marie Tran as the rebels General Leia Organa, Poe Dameron, Finn, and Rose Tico, with droid BB-8.

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Rian Johnson, a sandy-haired, baby-faced 43-year-old Californian, is best known in the film world for his 2012 sci-fi film Looper. He is now not only the director of the eighth Star Wars but also the sole screenwriter (the seventh film’s screenwriters included J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt). Earlier this spring, in a screening room of the Frank G. Wells building at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, Johnson described to me how he wrote Star Wars: The Last Jedi—the second part of the “Rey trilogy.” “J.J., Lawrence, and Michael set a good tone in the seventh film, and everything fell into place. I feel my job in the middle chapter of the trilogy is to challenge all the characters and see what happens when they are pushed to their limits.” he said.

Indeed, no major character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens can leave in a victorious stance. For example, Finn, played by John Boyega, is severely injured in a lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren. While Boyega was filming Pacific Rim: Uprising in China, I interviewed him by phone. He told me that, as shown in the first teaser for The Last Jedi, his character Finn is in a “bacta suit” at the beginning of the film, which is an immersion tank used in the Star Wars universe to heal injured tissues. Adam Driver, referring to Finn’s condition and the scar on his face in the teaser, said, “I feel like basically everyone is in a state of recovery. I don’t think the patricide is as traumatic as people say. That might be Kylo Ren’s origin. His inner scars may be just as bad as the external ones.”

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

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However, during the scriptwriting process, Johnson decided to raise the stakes. “I first listed the names of all the characters,” he said, “and then thought about what the hardest challenges they could face would be.”

At the top of Johnson’s list was Luke Skywalker. The last time he appeared in Lucas’s original trilogy was at the end of Return of the Jedi in 1983, surrounded by the joy of victory and the warmth of family, celebrating with Leia Organa, Han Solo, and their rebel friends at the Ewok party. Looking around in the revelry, he saw several Jedi spirits smiling at him, including his two deceased Jedi mentors: Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as his father, Anakin Skywalker. At that moment, Anakin had reverted to his pre-scarred form before becoming Darth Vader, having sacrificed himself to save his son and killed the evil Emperor Palpatine, completing his redemption.

At that time, you might envision that soon Luke would find a good girl and settle down on a clean planet: a place with good schools, double sunsets, and just seconds away from the Organa-Solo couple and their kids. However, the reality is harsh. The love story of Leia and Han did not last long, and Leia’s twin brother faced serious problems. The result is that Luke became the hooded, hermit-like, weary figure, much like Leonard Cohen at Mount Baldy.

OFF DUTY

Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, with droids R2-D2 and BB-8 and the Droid Department’s Brian Herring, Dave Chapman, Matthew Denton, Lee Towersey, and Joshua Lee.

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So what has Luke experienced? What we learned in The Force Awakens is that he ran a Jedi academy, and “a kid, a pupil, confronted him and destroyed everything.” This is what Han Solo told Rey and Finn before he died—we can infer that the kid is Han and Leia’s son, Luke’s nephew, Ben, who later becomes Kylo Ren. “The one who knows him best,” Han said of Luke, “believes he went to search for the first Jedi temple.”

Johnson confirmed that these legends about Luke are true. In The Force Awakens, the place where Rey meets Luke is Ahch-To, the home planet of the temple, resembling the southwestern coast of Ireland. The crew of The Last Jedi spent little time on Skellig Michael; they later returned to the area to complete additional filming on the Dingle Peninsula. The Dingle Peninsula juts into the North Atlantic like a rough spear. Johnson said that there, the scene builders “replicated the beehive huts where the monks lived on Skellig Michael and built a small Jedi village.” It is said that Luke has lived in this village, cohabiting with a native species that acts like caretakers. Johnson was unwilling to disclose any details, only saying they “are not Ewoks.”

Luke, who has completely changed, gives Johnson ample narrative space. One of the main focuses of The Last Jedi is the relationship between Luke and Rey, but Johnson is wary of any “one-to-one” relationship, such as Yoda’s guidance of young Luke in The Empire Strikes Back and old Luke’s guidance of Rey in this film. “There will be elements of training here,” he said, “but not exactly as you might imagine.” In the anti-spoiler world of Lucasfilm (the production company of the Star Wars series), this is as detailed as the director has spoken about the plot. (No, he won’t tell you whether Rey is related to Luke, what species Supreme Leader Snoke is, or who the “Last Jedi” in the title refers to.)

OFF DUTY

Carrie Fisher (General Leia Organa), writer-director Rian Johnson, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), and producer Kathleen Kennedy with Fisher’s dog, Gary, and Hamill’s daughter’s dog, Millie.

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However, Johnson is happy to talk about Hamill’s performance, saying, “This showcases a very different side of Luke’s character.” In the original trilogy of Star Wars, Luke is the complete protagonist, contrasting with the bad boy Han played by Ford and the stern, composed Leia played by Fisher, not to mention the comedic duo of droids C-3PO and R2-D2. Hamill? He was cast because of his serious demeanor and the looks of a 70s heartthrob—a combination of Peter Cetera and the Osmond Brothers. Hamill admits he still regrets one overly dramatic line in the first film. That was when Luke’s uncle Owen told him to clean up the new droid, and he complained, “But I have to go to Tosche Station for some power converters.” He acknowledges that he delivered that line very deliberately—“I distinctly remember thinking, I want to cry as much as possible and seem a little childish”—Hamill admits that his inexperienced performance at that time made him “never make that decision again.”

NIGHT CREATURES

Neal Scanlan (seated), creative supervisor of the Star Wars creature shop, and guests at the Canto Bight casino.

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Rian Johnson’s appointment to helm The Last Jedi symbolizes the trend that Kathleen Kennedy has led since becoming head of Lucasfilm in 2012. That year, George Lucas, who had personally appointed Kennedy as his successor, sold Lucasfilm to Disney. Although Kennedy successfully appointed Abrams, who directed many blockbuster series (including Mission: Impossible and Star Trek) as the trailblazer of the new Star Wars trilogy, she chose filmmakers based more on whether she liked their work than on their resumes.

Kennedy’s career began as a protégé of Steven Spielberg— in the early 80s, Spielberg trusted the then-20-year-old Kennedy to produce E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial—and now she is equally willing to give relatively unknowns big-budget opportunities. She told me that she had been watching Johnson for a long time and greatly appreciated “his thoughtful storytelling and his approach to camera movement.” The final installment of the trilogy is planned for release in 2019, currently using the very simple working title Star Wars: Episode IX, and will be directed by Colin Trevorrow. (Note: Trevorrow has since been dismissed, and the director of Star Wars: Episode IX has been changed to J.J. Abrams) When he first came to Kennedy’s attention, his resume did not yet include Jurassic World, which was a major production. His calling card was the independent comedy Safety Not Guaranteed from 2012, along with a recommendation from his friend, Pixar director Brad Bird.

ROOKIES

Benicio Del Toro, as the shifty “DJ,” a newcomer to the saga.

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Johnson has three new characters that play important roles in The Last Jedi: a shady “DJ” character played by Benicio Del Toro, who is a nameless figure in the film but is referred to as “DJ” by the production team (as Johnson said, “You’ll find out why we call him DJ”); Vice Admiral Holdo, a key officer in the Resistance, played by Laura Dern; and Rose Tico, a maintenance worker in the Resistance, played by young actress Kelly Marie Tran (who is the sister of Paige, who appears in the earlier mentioned Poe Dameron segment). Tran has the most screen time among them, and her storyline is related to a mission behind enemy lines involving Finn, played by Boyega, who is a stormtrooper turned Resistance fighter.

ROOKIES

Laura Dern, as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, a newcomer to the saga.

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Rose and Finn’s adventure will take them to one of Johnson’s innovative settings: a glitzy casino city called Canto Bight, “a Star Wars version of Monte Carlo, with a bit of a James Bond feel, and a little like To Catch a Thief,” the director said, “depicting a luxurious place in this universe is a fun challenge.” Much of the Star Wars aesthetic is rooted in endless sands and decay, so Johnson thought to sketch out a completely opposite corner in this universe. He said, “I thought, okay, let’s do something stunningly beautiful. We created a casino that is basically exclusive to rich jerks.”

In Canto Bight, audiences will also see various rough aliens and bizarre creatures. This comic book-like characteristic of the Star Wars series can be traced back to the various grotesque, long-nosed residents of the Mos Eisley cantina when Luke first meets Han Solo. The Last Jedi is as dark as its title suggests, so Johnson wants to inject a bit of levity into the film. “I don’t want this film to be a heavy dirge,” he said, “so I worked hard to keep the humor in the film, maintaining a sense of fun in a heavy operatic atmosphere.”

Carrie Fisher

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Daisy Ridley has her own story about Skellig Michael. At the end of the seventh film, she looked truly exhausted, and she said part of the reason is: “I had just thrown up, and the adrenaline had worn off; I felt very, very ill.”

On her second trip to the cliff, she was still very healthy and happy to reunite with Hamill. But the overall filming of the eighth film brought her more mental stress. “When I was filming The Force Awakens, I was in a state of excitement and amazement,” she said, “but when we were going to shoot the next one, it was more panic because I knew how high the audience’s expectations were, and I understood more what Star Wars means to people. It felt more like taking on a responsibility.”

Fortunately for Ridley, she was already well acquainted with a lady who knew a thing or two about this. There is no one in the world who can empathize with her experiences more than Carrie Fisher, both as a star of the series and as a feminist icon for young girls. “Carrie lived her life the way she wanted to, never apologizing for anything, and that’s something I’m still learning,” Ridley said. “The word ‘awkward’ is not quite right, but there are definitely times I feel… shy. She told me never to shrink in the face of things that should be enjoyed.”

The new generation of Star Wars actors repeatedly say it was Fisher who taught them how to handle things. Boyega recalled that when he appeared in the first teaser for The Force Awakens released in November 2014, he faced intense backlash—a black man in stormtrooper armor ignited the anger of racists and dogmatic Star Wars traditionalists—Fisher comforted him, saying not to worry too much. “I remember—sorry, I’m going to curse, but that’s Carrie, she said, ‘Oh, that’s sad, who the hell cares? Just be yourself,’” he said. “Words like that give you strength. I’ve also seen her use her life wisdom to guide Daisy in thousands of ways.”

SPAWN

Adam Driver, in character as Kylo Ren, Han Solo’s son and slayer, wields a crossguard lightsaber.

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Fisher’s role in The Last Jedi is more significant—General Leia Organa has much more screen time in the eighth film than in the seventh. Isaac, who shot some scenes with Fisher, said that like Hamill, she delivered a very full performance, putting her all into her role rather than merely treating Leia’s part as a practice in self-indulgence. “In this scene, Carrie has to slap me,” he said, “I think we did it a total of 27 times, and she slapped me with all her might every time. She loved slapping me. Rian found the perfect way to work with her, and I think she enjoyed it.”

For his part, Johnson quickly formed a close alliance with Fisher as a writing partner, as well as this wonderful combination: she and her mother Debbie Reynolds spent a long time in the Codworth Canyon area of Beverly Hills. “After I finished the draft, I would sit down with her to start polishing it,” he said, “sitting with her on her bed in her crazy room, surrounded by all that crazy modern art, with Turner Classic Movies on the TV, drinking Coke, and the dog named Gary drooling at her feet.” (To better visualize this unique state at Fisher’s home, I highly recommend the HBO documentary Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens.)

Fisher completed her filming for Star Wars: Episode VIII last summer, and when the main camera was packed away, “she screamed,” Kennedy said, “As soon as she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘The center of the ninth film better be me!’ Because Harrison was the center of the seventh film, and Mark was the center of the eighth film. She felt that Star Wars: Episode IX should be her movie. And it was supposed to be.”