After Star Wars: The Last Jedi divided the fandom and left some viewers feeling like Rian Johnson’s subversive take on Luke Skywalker was a betrayal of the character, the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX seems set to deliver one last hurrah for the franchise’s most famous Jedi, as Mark Hamill reprises his role as the son of Vader.
Speaking of which, there’s a rumor currently going around that next year’s trilogy-closer will be packing one big surprise when it comes to the Skywalker bloodline. While there’s no telling at this point what the specifics of this twist might be, you can bet that the minds of some fans will immediately jump to the young Rey, and the preexisting prediction that writer-director J.J. Abrams is planning to retcon the reveal of who the heroine’s parents were.
It remains up for debate whether the filmmaker would really be willing to backpedal on one of the boldest reveals from the last episode, but seeing how Abrams had previously planned for Rey’s mom and dad to hold more significance in the saga than a pair of lowlife junk traders, it’s hard to rule this possibility out quite yet.
What’s more, it’s been reported that when Hamill films his scenes at Pinewood Studios next month, he’ll be doing so on three different sets, with one of these sets scheduled for an exchange between Rey and Luke, another for a scene with Kylo Ren and Luke, and a third for all three. If this is all true, then it sounds like Luke could have more of a presence in this film than we previously thought, even if he’s only featuring in Force Ghost form.
Naturally, all of the above should be taken for the speculation it is, but we’ll see what Abrams actually has in store for Luke when Star Wars: Episode IX lands in cinemas on December 20th, 2019.
