Luke's fate in Episode Eight...From Interview

I'm sure Luke will live throughout the trilogy, I never doubted it. We already saw one of the members of the OT dying, that's enough, unless the filmmakers have a vendetta against old characters. Killing someone else would look like an attempt to make fans forget about the original trio in favor of the new characters. Sadly, Leia will be missing from SW 9 regardless of what was planned for her, but that only makes it 100% clear that Luke will live. He's the only one left. Besides, Luke is a legendary figure and Mark H is in good shape, so they might want him to appear, even if only in a small role, in the next trilogy. The man might still be willing to appear in these movies for the next 20 years, so Luke is not going anywhere. I mean this saga started as his story, they'll want to keep him in it for as long as it's possible. But I wonder what they'll do with Leia. Chances are she will pass away off screen, somewhere between SW 8 and 9. That's the only way I see it happening, we can't have her dying on screen or during the movie, that's unacceptable. But her passing before SW 9 could make a great impact over the story in SW 9. Making Leia a looming presence that influences everyone would be a great way to pay homage to the character and to Carrie Fisher. Powerful even in death, even without the force, now that would be an awesome thing to see. Like Obi-Wan but without being a force ghost, because her memory is powerful enough.

 

I too wonder how Carrie Fisher's parting might affect the story of the ST. Whatever it was they had planned for her tale now has to be changed drastically. If there ever was a moment in which she would have to come face to face with her son Ben, now that will have to be transformed into something else. Now with Han gone and Leia no more, the attention of the character family arc might have to fall completely on Luke's shoulders.

I had said once before that I didn't want Kylo to be redeemed as this would be too much a copy of Vader's tale and now that Leia won't be in the final movie as I'm pretty sure they won't want to try to add her in CGI, I have more reason not to want Kylo redeemed as his redemption would seem like a hollow one now that both of his loving parents won't be there. While I'm not a Ben redemption fan, the only way I see them doing it well would be if they gave Luke and Kylo a real powerful story yet as I said and this is purely my own opinion, for me, without Han and Leia, Kylo's redemption would feel hollow.

 

I don't think that quote = Luke living through the ST. Taking them to new places could just be where they end up in Episode VIII and/or IX.

If they follow the heroes journey model for Rey's story, it would make sense for Luke to die in Episode VIII or (most likely IX) leaving Rey to ultimately face her destiny and the bad guys alone

Why is it unacceptable for Leia to die on screen? I would find an on screen death more meaningful then a throw away off-screen one. Of course for all we know, Leia dies in epsiode VIII

I think Kylo being redeemed depends a lot on Rey. If Rey is a Skywalker then its less important/likely. If Rey isn't a Skywalker then Kylo has to be redeemed for the Saga to move forward. They could also use Rey as the catalist for Kylo's redemption. A while ago there were rumors of Kylo and the Knights of Ren attacking Luke and Rey on Ahch-To, Rey and Kylo engage in a duel while Luke takes on the rest of the Knights. Lets assume this is true and happens at the end of the movie. If Kylo is captured by Luke and Rey, Episode IX could largely be about Kylo turning away from Snook and the First Order with him saving Luke/Rey at the end when he makes a final choice (echo-ing Vader turning on the Emperor).

Maybe they decide to kill Rey in this confrontation (maybe thats what gets kylo to turn) and Episode X would focus on Luke and/or Ben putting a Jedi Order back together.

 

There's no way they kill Rey. Not going to happen. They've built her up as the Han/Luke/Leia all in one. She and Ben may re-found the order if Ben turns back to the good side, but Rey is the only character who will definitely survive. R2 and his gold buddy have a better chance of biting the dust than maREY sue.


The quote to me says they planned to have Luke survive VIII and appear in IX and have Leia interact with him.

I have a hunch that while Luke does get off the island planet in part VIII and might have been reunited with Leia at the end of 8....kind of like Rey finding him in TFA....or he might successfully rescue her in switch of the roles in ESB. I think the reshoots for E8 will at least somewhat involve tweaking E8's plot to send Leia in a direction where her send off in EIX doesn't feel forced or rushed....I would bet anything that she appears through unused footage from 8 (I think they'll cut some of her scenes from E8 and place them in EIX to make her departure less sudden and obvious)

I don't know if they'll ever release it, but I'd love to see the original EIX script after the movie comes out and see what they had planned and how they worked around her absence.

Luke will definitely live through E8, and now I'm leaning strongly to him surviving EIX because he's the last major character and actor from the OT who is still alive.

The force ghost thing is kind of cheesy. They may have planned to kill him off originally in EIX but that is likely to change.

He'll have to survive E8 because he has to spend a good amount of the film on the island with Rey, but he has to get off the island, rejoin the fight against the Dark Side, and deal with Snoke (I'm sure Ben or Rey will kill Snoke, but Luke is going to be heavily involved in the third movie).

 

So wouldn't it be a surprise of Rey ended up dying in the end.........

I think Luke will survive VIII, but the quote doesn't = that. And why do they need him alive just because and Han and Leia will be gone? If they even have a plan for Episode X and beyond, maybe there is a 20 year gap between IX and X, we don't know. We do know that losing ones mentor is a big part of the Heroes Journey they often use as the basis for Star Wars stories.

Why does he have to get off the Island and rejoin the fight and deal with Snoke? Thats like saying Yoda had to get out of the swamp, join the Rebellion and deal with the Emperor because........reasons.

 

I really find this hard to accept. I mean . . . what exactly is Finn's role? Comic relief? The sidekick? Is that how we're supposed to view him?

 

I think they don't kill Luke. He has knowledge of Jedi things, and there is really no one to train Jedi if he die. And it is poor storywriting if plot base killing great characters.

 

Luke's not going anywhere. This is Disney and they are thinking long game here. Luke is very marketable and will remain so.

 

Yeah, we lost Han because Kylo needed to be established as irredeemable. There's no reason to lose Luke yet. This might be more of Rey/Finn/Poe's trilogy, but Luke's still a huge part in it.

 

You raise good points.

First what is "that?" Luke living through E8? The director said "new places." Killing off Luke and making him a Force Ghost is not a "new place." I guess if you really want to nitpick they can kill him off and reincarnate him as a new actor, but can we agree that's incredibly unlikely

I do have reasons:

1) Hamill is the last living actor from the OT whose major character is definitely alive and can have an impact on the Skywalker story (Lando is alive and so is BDW, but he lifts right out of the story...I'm sorry to say.) Luke and Ben are the only two definite Skywalkers left. Killing off Luke takes the last big figure from the OT off the board. Why do that if you don't have to? It leaves you no options of dealing with the OT in future movies that take place after EIX

2) Rey is obviously the hero. She was made perfect in TFA. She has considerable plot armor in the ST, and KK will not want to kill off such a popular, marketable character/vessel for wish fulfillment. Poe may not die, but Oscar Isaac is the Harrison Ford of the ST, he's less likely to return for any more movies. Finn is an interesting character, but he can get taken out and it seem organic to the plot. Rey is the only character other than Ben that can be a Skywalker and they need Skywalkers to continue the trilogies

3) Spoiler: Yoda was a puppet in 1980. It was a quantum leap of movie making for him to even exist. I'm not sure how the "original" Lucas story worked as far treatment of Kenobi before they changed his role during ANH production and killed him off. I know Lucas said that in the original story that when they got away from the Empire, instead of destroying the Death Star, Kenobi went off and trained Luke. Kenobi was killed off to cure the issue of him just standing around a table during the climax, so Yoda was invented. In the original story I'm not sure if Kenobi died before Cloud City or after, but I imagine he died afterward, presumably of natural causes. Yoda fighting the Emperor or Vader (who we'd never really seen before ROTJ, only a 45 sec hologram) was never an option in 1983.

4) After seeing ROTJ and TFA, you may not believe this, but the E8 doesn't have to be a carbon copy of a previous movie.

5) If Luke is never getting off the island, why make finding him the whole point of TFA (other than laziness and lack of imagination by JJ and others)? The final shot of TFA is Rey offering him his old saber, about as unsubtle as it gets. He's being pulled back into the fight between the two sides.

6) Why is Snoke worried about Luke if Luke is no threat? Snoke has to be taken down for involvement with the slaughter of the new Jedi. Ben has to answer too, but that's a more complicated tale

7) what is the ST about? The fight between the FO, the resistance, and Luke and how the Skywalker family affects the galaxy. It's pretty obvious Luke will confront Snoke or Ben by the last movie. If Snoke and Kylo Ren aren't defeated or turn by the end of EIX, then WTF? Luke is too young, too powerful to be on the sidelines any longer.

Basic storytelling require him to get off the island and join the fight because he's been set up as such a major potential factor by both sides.

And half a movie isn't enough time for him to:

Explain how he found the island
Explain what the tree is about
Train Rey
Explain how the map got into Max VS's hands
fight the KOR
Confront Snoke (or at least attempt to)
provide some sort of assistance to the Resistance
Reveal Rey's parentage and explain what she was doing on Jakku


Luke has to do all of those things and that's way more than the 50-60% of E8 that he will be in. It will be a failure of storytelling if all those things plus some surprises don't happen.

Thankfully JJ is done with SW except cashing checks (his greatest skill), so we should get all that and more.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 28, 2016, Original Post Date: Dec 28, 2016 ---

I think Finn is the best addition of the ST.

He's a little bit Luke (the goofy youth), and maybe a little Lando (when the rubber hits the road he's a good guy, better than he expected), but he doesn't fit into any established SW pattern.

He's funny, he's got a big heart, and he's kind of screw up.

I hope he doesn't end up as a Jedi. I think he would be great in the Lando in ROTJ or Han in ROTJ type role: leading the resistance and more lucky then competent.

And Boyega is just fantastic. I'm looking forward to see what they do with him in the next two movies.

 

Luke isn't gonna die

 

Who said this will be a trilogy? $$$$$$

 

Disney/ Lucasfilm...

I get what you mean, but even if they decide to move forward with the case after the trilogy, I imagine it'll still represent a substantial change- it's kind of a tradition in Star Wars, actually. The original trilogy was supposed to wrap up with a big confrontation with Boba, and it would be followed by a different trilogy. In fact, I believe Lucas had 3 different themed trilogies in the works, before he decided to scrap it all and finish everything in ROTJ. So, I suppose I could see a second sequel trilogy after this, maybe something based on the Yuuzhan Vong.

 

But new places doesn't = future movies. They could take Luke to new places and then kill him all in Episode VIII

1) To move the story forward and put it squarely in the hands of the new characters. Basically for the same reason Obi-wan Kenobi and Yoda died.
2) I agree, thats why I said if Kylo/Ben turns back to the good side, Rey's death might come into play as it would be a powerful plot point. BUT if Kylo doesn't turn and remains evil then there is no way Rey will die in VIII or IX
3) But Obi-wan sticking around and fighting could have been. Lucas has also talked about how the mentors need to die for the hero to stand on his own at the end of the story. Its part of that hero journey structure. The mentor doesn't fight the battle for the hero.
4) Never said it did, but if they follow the Heroes Journey structure certain elements will be there.
5) To teach Rey
6) Because Luke could be a threat. Just because he gets eliminated doesn't mean he wasn't a threat
7) Rey's self discovery. Ben's redemption.

And I'm not saying Luke WILL did in VIII or IX (I think if he does die in one of them, most likely IX) and there is a role for him moving forward. I'm saying he COULD and ultimately we don't know. He isn't so needed in the story that he can't be killed in IX or even VIII, they CAN move forward without him, Disney can continue to market Luke in other ways/forms with the character ultimately dead (look at Han) and that the quote in question doesn't give any indication on Lukes fate in episode VIII or IX

Regarding Finn, I think its pretty clear he doesn't have the potential to be a Jedi and won't become one. Thats Rey's story.

 

I think the biggest thing to consider is that out of the Star Wars OT trinity (Han, Leia, Luke), Luke is the only one whose character and actor are both alive. Han most assuredly isn't coming back, and unfortunately Carrie Fischer is no longer with us. If Luke is killed off, the OT is pretty much irrevocably ended. That's a weighty decision, and even if that was the original plan, I bet LFL is considering their options now.

 

There will be a fight at the very start of the movie, Kylo Ren, Luke and Rey all the three of them.

Luke will strike one of them, possibly Rey.

 

I really hope you are right and I don't want to see Luke's death in this trilogy. That would be too much after Carrie is now gone forever.

 

Why? The ST isn't about them. Shifting the focus to other characters was always the plan.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 2, 2017, Original Post Date: Jan 2, 2017 ---

Its one thing we haven't seen in Star Wars yet - a hero sacrificing themselves in the end for everyone else. Ford wanted Han to do it but......it would be a different ending to Rey's story which looks similar to Luke's and Anakin's

 

Obi-Wan
The entire cast of Rogue One