My Star Wars: The Last Jedi Theories

89Two years ago, I made six predictions for the new Star Wars trilogy produced by Disney and Lucasfilms. With Episode VIII, The Last Jedi coming out this weekend, I thought it was time to revisit those old theories and add a few new ones. I'm planning on posting long-overdue reviews for The Force Awakens and Rogue One in the next few days (additionally, Star Trek Beyond by the end of the year), but first things first.

Let's revisit my old predictions (BEWARE SPOILERS)

1. Han Solo dies. Add a big check to that one. Though you could see it coming (and at the hands of Kylo Ren), it was still heart-wrenching, especially powered by Harrison Ford's performance and the beautifully done last moment where Han touches his son's face before dying.

2. Luke is hiding from Kylo Ren. This is partially right in that Luke is hiding, but whether it's like Yoda and Obi-Wan waiting until the right time is up for debate. Luke's motives for disappearing are still unknown and will likely be revealed in The Last Jedi.

3. Kylo Ren was Luke's apprentice who fell to the Dark Side. Pretty much a no-brainer.

4. Rey is Han and Leia's daughter who was hidden away to protect from Kylo Ren. This is most likely false, at least Rey being Han and Leia's daughter. While The Last Jedi is likely to reveal Rey's parentage, that's not meant to shape her background as much as why she was hidden away.

5. Finn is Lando's son. With Billy Dee-Williams nowhere in sight for the sequels, this is probably false.

6. Kylo Ren is Han and Leia's son. I had predicted this to be "the whopper" that would be revealed in Episode VIII. I was only half right as it was revealed halfway through The Force Awakens and it was better for it; it added emotional depth to the movie as well as gave Han a well-realized character arc.

Overall, my predictions weren't too far off the mark, with only Number 5 being way off kilter. Unless, of course, something is revealed in the next two films which I'm not expecting to see at this point. Without the inclusion of Billy Dee Williams and Han Solo now killed off, Finn being a Calrissian would be nothing more than fan service and would add nothing emotionally to the overall picture.

So now, comes time for my predictions for The Last Jedi. I'm making these based on things that I've read in interviews and bits and pieces of the movie taken from the trailers.

1. Luke is in self-imposed exile and doesn't want to be found. In The Force Awakens, Han tells Rey and Finn that following Kylo Ren's betrayal and the destruction of his New Jedi Order, Luke walked away from everything and went searching for the First Jedi Temple. Leia also says that she feels foolish for thinking she could convince Luke to come back. This suggests that Luke isn't waiting to be found my the next generation of Jedi, but instead has turned his back on everything and everyone.

2. Luke has abandoned the ways of the Jedi. In the first trailer, Luke says that he's learned one thing; "The Jedi must end." This is pretty big. If Luke did find the First Jedi Temple, it seems that he must have learned something there for him to come to this conclusion. That doesn't mean Luke has fallen to the Dark Side, though.

3. Rey is a Skywalker. It's been long-established that the main Star Wars saga is the stoty of the Skywalker family. With Rey being the main heorine of the new trilogy, it's logical to assume that she's a Skywalker. Han's attitude towards Rey shifts when he learns her name in The Force Awakens and Maz says that Anakin's lightsaber is calling to her, supporting the theory that Rey is likely Luke's daughter.

4. The Resistance is defeated. One of the rumored titles for Episode VIII was The Fall of the Resistance. While this may have simply been a red herring, it's entirely possible that the climactic battle glimpsed in the trailers will see the Resistance delievered such a devastating blow that it will collapse. This will definitely put our heroes in quite a quandrary at the start of Episode IX.

5. Rey destroyed the Jedi Temple. One interesting thing to note about the glimpses we've gotten in both TheForce Awakens and trailers for The Last Jedi is that the scenes depicting the fall of the Jedi and the destruction of the temple take place at different times. When Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren stand over the bodies of Luke's New Jedi Order, it's raining. But when Luke looks upon the burning ruins of the Jedi Temple, it's not. This suggests that these two events could be independent of one another.

In The Force Awakens, Rey is revealed to be very strong in the Force, especially for someone who hasn't received any training....that we know of. In The Last Jedi trailer, both Luke and Snoke speak of "raw power". It's possible that they are both speaking of Rey. We still don't know why Rey was hidden, though it could be to hide her from Kylo Ren and Snoke. However, it's possoble that she may have been hidden to protect everyone else. Luke says he wasn't scared of this raw power the last time he saw it, but he is now. Perhaps he hid Rey because he wasn't sure he could teach her how to control it? Perhaps he was worried that this uncontrollable power could turn to darkness?

6. Kylo Ren isn't totally loyal to Snoke. One thing that makes Kylo Ren interesting is that he's struggling with being tempted by the Light Side of the Force. Killing Han Solo was supposed to seal his fall to darkness, but Han's final warning to Kylo that Snoke wants him for his powers could resonate with the younger Solo. His struggle with both Light and Dark will likely continue, with Kylo possibly considering betraying Snoke.

7. Finn is captured by the First Order and sent away for "re-education". All these movies "rhyme" with each other, as George Lucas likes to put it. Anakin blows up the Trade Federation in The Phantom Menace just as Luke blows up the Death Star in Star Wars (aka A New Hope); Anakin loses his arm, Luke is hand. So if anything will rhyme between The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi, it'll be Finn being captured by the First Order in the third act, setting up his rescue in Episode IX. The twist will be that the First Order will try to brainwash him and make him one of theirs again.

8. Luke dies to save Rey. This is a tough one for me. I grew up playing Luke Skywalker, pretending that my glue stick was my lightsaber. I would love to see Luke survive to Episode IX and walk off into the sunset following the new generation's final victory. However, I don't see that being possible. Before her untimely death, Carrie Fisher was to be the focus of Episode IX, just as Han was in Thr Force Awakens and Luke in The Last Jedi. A big reason JJ Abrams didn't have Luke appear in The Force Awakens was because every time they brought Luke into the picture, he took over the film. That would happen again in Episode IX. The only solution is to kill him.

It's obvious from the trailers that Rey finds herself in quite the predicament while confronting Snoke. One of the interesting tidbits I've read about Snoke's possible background is that he feeds off of Force users. While this isn't confirmed, I could see an interesting outcome in The Last Jedi. Rey isn't going to defeat Snoke but she will probably escape. But at what cost? I predict Luke will give sacrifice himseld to Snoke, allowing Rey to escape. In the process however, Snoke drains Luke of his Force using abilities.

The Last Jedi premieres this weekend. I guess we'll see what happens.

My New Star Wars Trilogy Theories

In less than two weeks, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will open to what is sure to be huge box office numbers. Questions will be answered, many more will arise. Amongst them will be whether J.J. Abrams's Episode VII will be more akin to the original 1977-1983 trilogy or the 1999-2005 prequels that many Star Wars fans dismiss as awful and unimportant.


In the meantime, many fans are busy posturing their own theories about the new trilogy which will be released every two years until Episode IX debuts in 2019. So, I thought I'd offer my own theories about what will happen and hopefully I have more success than my 2015 Postseason Baseball predictions!


Now some of these predictions aren't just for The Force Awakens, but for the trilogy as a whole. So while some of these may not transpire in two weeks, I'm putting them out there as long-term possibilities.

1. The opening movie in both trilogies have each featured a prominent death (Ben Kenobi in Star Wars and Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace), so it's safe to assume something similar will happen in The Force Awakens. While the leading rumor is that it'll be Harrison Ford's Han Solo (he wanted Solo to die in Return of the Jedi), there are some suggestions that it could be Chewbacca. Will I'm not entirely discounting the possibility that Chewie will meet his end, I think it's more likely that for greater dramatic impact Han Solo will die.
2. It hasn't gone unnoticed that Luke Skywalker hasn't been featured in any promotional materials. This is fueling many questions about that has happened to Young Skywalker in the 35 year timeframe between the events of Jedi and Force Awakens. The most interesting theory is that Skywalker has turned to the Dark Side (some going as far as suggesting he is the masked Kylo Ren) and that it happened during the events of Return of the Jedi. While this would definitely be very interesting to explore, I find it unlikely since whoever it is that follows the path of the Jedi (whether it be Daisy Ridley's Rey or John Boyega's Finn) will need a mentor and unless Leia has become a Jedi, only Luke can fulfill that role. So I believe Luke has been in hiding because he has become a legend for defeating the Emperor and Darth Vader, but because he is also hiding from Kylo Ren. Which leads me into my next theory...
3. Kylo Ren is Luke's apprentice who fell to the Dark Side. Following the events of Return of the Jedi, Luke sought to rebuild the Jedi Order and thus sought out to train a new generation of Jedi, beginning with Kylo Ren. But Kylo Ren, in learning of the history of the Sith and Darth Vader, found the idea of power too tempting and fell to the Dark Side. So, Luke has gone into hiding until someone else is ready for him to teach them, much he had been hidden by Obi-Wan and Yoda at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
4. Rey is the daughter of Han and Leia who was hidden away to protect her from Kylo Ren. While the theory that Rey is their daughter is a popular one, the reason she doesn't know who her family is remains a mystery. And I believe she was hidden away for her own protection when it was discovered she was strong in the Force with the hope that one day Luke would return to train her to become a Jedi.
5. Finn is the son of Lando Calrissian. Now as for whether or not Finn will train to become a Jedi, I think that remains a mystery but I think it's a definite possibility since he's seen wielding a lightsaber in most of the promos. Given Billy Dee Williams's notable absence from The Force Awakens, I find it likely that this won't be revealed until Episode VIII.
6. And finally, for what I believe to be the whopper...Kylo Ren is the son of Han and Leia, making him the brother of Rey and nephew of Luke. Now, this isn't one I've seen yet but I think this is a strong possibility, likely to be revealed as Episode VIII's big climactic twist (a-la "I am your father"). Kylo Ren was probably born within a year of the events of Return of the Jedi with Luke beginning his training a few years after that. But as said in Point 3, Kylo feel to the Dark Side likely during his teenage years around the time that Rey was a small child. Because she's his sister, he would immediately be aware of her and view her as a threat, leading to the need for Han and Leia to hide her. It would also likely lead to the inevitable attempt at Kylo's redemption on the part of Rey in Episode IX, just as Luke tried to save Anakin in Return of the Jedi.

Those are my big New Star Wars Trilogy theories. I guess we'll see which ones come to pass in a couple weeks and likely have to wait four more years to see if any of the others take place as well.

Disney's Risky Star Wars Plan

In the last couple of days, Disney and Lucasfilms released the second teaser for this Christmas's upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Not only is it a better teaser than the one released last winter, but it also gives a much better look at the film. I personally am impressed and happy to see that The Force Awakens (Episode 7) seems to be much closer in tone and style to the original trilogy. The effects seem far less cartoony than those of the prequels which is most welcome. Also welcome is the return of original cast members Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. What kind of film we get this Christmas remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: it's likely to be a huge hit.

While there's nothing wrong with Disney moving forward with a sequel trilogy (episodes 7, 8 and 9) I do have serious doubts about their other plans. While these sequels will be released in 2015, 2017 and 2019, it's those years in between that pose a huge risk for Disney and Star Wars itself. In those "off years", Disney plans on releasing a spin-off film. Star Wars: Rogue One is already slated for release in December 2016. However, this film will not be part of the sequel trilogy. Thus poses one of several risks Disney is taking. But first, let's look at their reasoning for this strategy.

Marvel Studios (which is currently owned by Disney, by the way) releases one or two of their movies every year. This has proven to be quite a success as the movies that fall into the "Marvel Cinematix Universe" are the biggest hits of recent years. I'm taking about the Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and of course The Avengers movies which all play in the same universe and are interconnected. Despite these relations, each film still follows their own characters in their own settings with some minor and major characters moving from film to film. Their strategy works because each lead character and each setting is different enough that there's little risk of confusing one movie from the next.

This has worked out both creatively and financially for Marvel and it's this formula that Disney seeks to duplicate with Star Wars. But Star Wars presents plenty of risks when tackling this strategy.

Risk #1: It's All Star Wars

One notable thing about the title of The Force Awakens (aside from having a cooler title than any of the prequels) is that it abandons the use of Episode VII. While personally don't have a problem with this and actually prefer it, the spin-offs will all subsequently follow the same practice. Thus increases the risk that casual moviegoers will go to the theater in December 2016 and expect to see the sequel to The Force Awakens. Instead, they'll find narratively unrelated Star Wars film. As a result, casual moviegoers may be turned off from going to see Episode 8 in 2017 because they won't know if they're getting a sequel to The Force Awakens, Rogue One or just another spin-off. With the Marvel movies, each standalone movie falls under their own character's name thus removing the risk of any confusion.

The easiest solution to this problem would be for Disney to just release the sequel trilogy every other year first and then launch into their spin-off movies. That way moviegoers won't risk getting confused between now and 2019 when the last of the sequel trilogy films is released.

Risk #2: The Characters

The biggest appeal of The Force Awakens is being able to see Luke, Han and Leia again. It's one of the film's big selling points and why the new teaser both includes a VoiceOver by Mark Hamill and the last shot being Han and Chewie. The sequels will primarily feature new characters but including familiar characters will bring a sense of familiarity to The Force Awakens so that those who are hesitant after the prequels will get a chance to see old faces while gettin to know new faces.

With the spin-offs, this familiarity is quite unlikely. While there's the potential to see a Han Solo origin story or a film featuring a young Princess Leia in the early days of the rebellion, they won't be played by Harrison Ford or Carrie Fisher. Moviegoers may not be as willing to accept younger actors in the roles especially if they still get to see the original actors every other year.

But the greater risk is that these will be new characters or ones featured only in novels or comics. If so, only the most die hard of fans will be excited to go to see characters who they alone are familiar with. While most moviegoers aren't very familiar with all of the Marvel superheroes, they at least have an idea of who Captain America and Iron Man are. The same cannot be set for Mara Jade.

Risk #3: The Setting

By the time Marvel released Guardians of the Galaxy, considered to be their B-level comic line, they had established their universe with almost ten movies before expanding it further. While there will have been seven Star Wars movies by the time Rogue One is released, the Star Wars universe is much more vast and covers a much larger period of time. All of Marvel's movies fall into the same time period, thus the dynamics of the universe are pretty much the same.

With Star Wars, if you tell a Han Solo or even a Yoda origin story, you're taking the franchise into different eras with each film. In a Yoda origin story, the Empire will have yet to exist. If you follow another character during a time between Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars (I will never refer to it as A New Hope), the Empire is in power under the Emperor. By jumping from one era to the next, you risk losing your casual audience. You can't have the Empire in power in one movie and then not in the next Star Wars movie. Those who don't follow movie news on the web will become lost and not know where they're at in the big picture story. If they get lost, they'll stop going to the theater.

Not to mention, you run the risk of space battles, blaster shoot-outs and lightsaber battles looking alike. People may start to feel one film isn't very different from the last one they saw.

Risk #4: Oversaturation

This is a risk that even Marvel runs especially with DC planning to release their own cinematic universe derived from Man of Steel. People will only be able to take so many superhero movies for so long.

The same can be said for Star Wars. The great thing about Star Wars for so long was that it was unique and rare. There were only so many stories to be seen. Now, though, there have been two animated series about the Clone Wars and now a third series is on the air about the early days of the rebellion. It's becoming not so rare anymore and now with the introduction of spin-offs in addition to the sequel trilogy, Star Wars movies and TV series will be all over the place. People might feel enough is enough, especially if the quality doesn't hold up. For a perfect example, look at the diminishing success of Star Trek in the late-90s into the earl-2000s when quality dropped because there were almost 800 TV episode. Only so many stories can be told that feel fresh. As I mentioned above, lightsaber duels and space battles can only be done so many ways so many times before they start to feel stale and old.

Risk #5: Even Regular Fans May Not Be Interested

You better believe that when Han Solo and Luke Skywalker return to theaters, I plan on being there to watch. But I personally have little interested in seeing Rogue One or even any potential Yoda or Han Solo origin stories. I'll go see the sequels but I'm gonna need to be sold on any of the spin-offs for me to not wait for them to hit DVD.

Thus presents the biggest risk: even big fans may cherry pick which films they go to see. The most die hard fans will likely go see anything Star Wars, but there are going to be those who decide to skip the spin-offs and just see the sequel trilogy, like myself.

I guess only time will tell how successful Disney's strategy will be. While I'm sure it may start off quite profitable for them, eventually that profitability will likely drop off. I, for one, only hope that the quality stays high especially with the sequel trilogy.

Time will tell.

Of course, I can't help but post the trailer!