If one was to summarize Rey’s first impression of Luke Skywalker in a single word, it’d probably be ‘disappointing.’
Sure, Mark Hamill’s farm-boy-turned-Jedi helped restore peace and prosperity to the galaxy – at the expense of the Galactic Empire, no less – but after years spent in exile, the Luke we see in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a grumpy curmudgeon. A shell of the Star Wars legend who led the Rebel Alliance to victory.
With that in mind, you can imagine Rey’s surprise when she realizes that Skywalker is no longer connected to the Force – in fact, he traveled to the “most unfindable place in the galaxy” to die. Nothing more, nothing less.
But after much deliberation, Luke finally agrees to give Rey three fundamental lessons about the nature of the Force – its crackling energy, and how it binds all living things. As The Last Jedi unfolds, we see two of those lessons, and we now know what happened to the third. Spoilers from here on out!
Courtesy of /Film, today brings forth some new intel on The Last Jedi‘s deleted scenes, which include an additional segment in Canto Bight and more screen time for Benicio Del Toro’s crooked smuggler, DJ. But it’s Luke’s third and final lesson that will undoubtedly pique the curiosity of Star Wars scholars.
As Rey approaches the end of her training, Hamill’s Jedi Master points to the horizon to reveal a group of boats headed for Ahch-To. According to the report, Luke warns Rey to proceed with caution, as a group of bandits regularly visits the island for the sole reason of terrorizing the Caretakers and, should she engage, they’ll return stronger than ever. Aghast, Ridley’s protagonist then sees plumes of smoke rising from a nearby village, and rushes to their aid (see above) only to realize that it’s an innocent party of Caretakers, Chewie, Artoo and the porgs.
Rey leaves feeling relieved, yet betrayed, and utters the line: “That old legend of Luke Skywalker that you hate so much, I believed in it.”
Ultimately, Rian Johnson and his team decided to cut Luke’s third and final lesson on the belief that it would make him seem more unlikeable than he already is. Not only that, but it sounds like a pretty lengthy (unnecessary?) scene that only would’ve bloated The Last Jedi‘s story, don’t you think?
