After Rey hands that lightsaber to Luke Skywalker, it’s possible that The Last Jedi could jump ahead in time pretty significantly. New comments from director Rian Johnson might suggest that the film won’t follow a direct linear path from the final scene of The Force Awakens. At least, that is, after the first scene.
On Friday, The Hollywood Reporter published a recap of an event L.A.’s Regal Theaters where Johnson spoke about The Last Jedi. He revealed that he was hesitant to have the opening of The Last Jedi jump forward in time beyond the moment where Rey is standing on the cliff in The Force Awakens.
“In every other case, Star Wars movies jumped forward in leaps of time. I knew I was supposed to do that but the last image was intriguing. I knew I wanted to know where we were going next.” Johnson is right. Every single Star Wars film has always taken place a significant amount of time after its previous installment. For example, ten years pass between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, three years pass between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and 32 years pass between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. This means, The Last Jedi will make history by being the first numbered, episodic film which takes place one second after its predecessor. (Though a case could be made for Rogue One taking place just moments before A New Hope)
Still, because the vast majority of the footage in the trailers sees Luke wearing an all-black outfit, and not the white robes he wore in The Force Awakens, it stands to reason a time-jump will happen right after that lightsaber gets passed back and forth.
An A-Wing fighter in 'The Last Jedi'
The Hollywood Reporter also noted that Johnson said that “his favorite ship is the A-wing, of which the new film will have plenty.” Johnson was also quoted as saying that the Star Wars films are a fine line between “bubblegum and opera.” With so many references to previous Star Wars movies packed into The Last Jedi, everyone may have forgotten about the classic Return of the Jedi fighter that’s making a huge comeback: the A-Wing. First seen in Return of the Jedi, the A-Wing was the faster, more compact alternative to the X-Wing. And apparently, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson loves it. But loves countunity with The Force Awakens just a little bit more.
The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15.
