With all the Mark Hamill-related reports that have been making the rounds this past year, the Star Wars: Episode IX rumor mill has practically storyboarded its own Luke Skywalker standalone film by now, all while providing little in the way of actual evidence. One recent piece of hearsay, for instance, teased a scene between the Jedi and his recent apprentice Rey, and it seems that this rumor is adding dubious fuel to the speculation that the character will somehow be coming back to life in J.J. Abrams’ film.
The alleged scene description reports of an exchange between Daisy Ridley and Hamill’s characters in a jungle region, with Luke holding his old green lightsaber, albeit unignited. But what’s really egged on the theorists is the claim that Luke isn’t transparent or giving off that typical Force Ghost glow, and seems to have a genuine physical presence in this place. Moreover, the character is clean-shaven and has shorter hair than we saw in The Last Jedi, implying that this can’t be a flashback to Rey’s time with Luke in the previous movie.
Yes, it’s a shaky report to build any sort of theory on, but let’s assume for a moment that the rumor’s legit. Taking this as a sign of the character coming back to life still seems like a bit of a stretch when the simpler explanation is that Luke’s ghost is simply capable of looking like he’s physically there. After all, the character pretty much pulled this exact trick at the climax of The Last Jedi while he was still alive.
In short, these theories of a resurrected Luke still come across as wishful thinking, but we’ll see what plans Abrams has in mind for our hero when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.