Luke Skywalker has seen better days.
Last we checked in on Mark Hamill’s Tatooine farmboy, he had helped conquer the Galactic Empire and restore peace and prosperity to Lucasfilm’s galaxy far, far away. But after his capricious nephew, Ben Solo, ruined any hopes of a Jedi Academy, Luke retreated to the safety of Ahch-To, and has spent the majority of the time between Jedi and The Force Awakens in a state of exile – until Daisy Ridley’s Rey shows up out of the blue with lightsaber in hand, that is.
And that’s where Star Wars: The Last Jedi begins. Where it goes from there still isn’t completely clear, but we do have a much better idea now thanks to the trailer above. Yes, as promised, Disney and Lucasfilm delivered the first full-length preview for the film tonight during Monday Night Football and let’s just say that it did not disappoint.
Thrilling, exhilarating and hugely exciting, it’s a tremendously promising look at the next chapter of the Skywalker saga, teasing another magical journey to that galaxy far, far away come December. Granted, it still doesn’t answer many of the questions that’ve been building around the film, and of course keeps it fairly light on those ever so precious plot details, but it’s certainly given us some food for thought and provided ample content to pour over, which we’ll be doing a little later in our complete breakdown, which will be posted tomorrow morning.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been penciled in for a release on December 15th and reportedly, it’ll include a poignant tribute to the late, great Carrie Fisher. As we’ve been told before, General Leia Organa will be written out of the franchise entirely, as opposed to being killed off – just don’t count on seeing Fisher resurrected through the power of VFX.
The next chapter, meanwhile, Episode IX, has since found a new director (J.J. Abrams) and release date (December 20th, 2019), placing it right alongside Warner’s Wonder Woman 2.