Writer/ director Rian Johnson defends Luke Skywalker's controversial character arc in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens proved to be a massive hit, introducing audiences to a new cast of characters like Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe (Oscar Isaac), while also bringing back a number of familiar faces from the original Star Wars trilogy. The film's sequel, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, sees the return of Mark Hamill's Luke, albeit a more skeptical and self-isolated version of the beloved character.
Although Star Wars: The Last Jedi earned great reviews from critics, fans were significantly more divided on the film. Many took issue with Johnson's portrayal of Luke and Star Wars lore in general, claiming the director strayed too far from the franchise's roots in an effort to deconstruct and subvert them. The film sees Luke still reeling from the events of the past, convinced that the Jedi must fade into obscurity after his failed training of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). After spending much of Star Wars: The Last Jedi living as a hermit on his island, Luke eventually emerges from hiding and uses the Force to face off against Ren in an effort to give the Resistance time to escape, ultimately dying in the process.
In a new interview with Empire, Johnson defends Luke's arc in the film, explaining that he sees the character's final scenes as an affirmation of the Skywalker myth rather than a deconstruction of it. The director goes on to say that Luke ultimately embraces the mythical version of himself during his final Force fight with Ren, which goes on to inspire a new generation of heroes and Resistance fighters. Check out Johnson's full comment below:
“The final images of the movie, to me, are not deconstructing the myth of Luke Skywalker, they’re building it, and they’re him embracing it. They’re him absolutely defying the notion of, ‘Throw away the past,’ and embracing what actually matters about his myth and what’s going to inspire the next generation. So for me, the process of stripping away is always in the interest of getting to something essential that really matters.”
Many fans were displeased with the notion of "throwing away the past" that Luke subscribes to in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Johnson's comment would suggest that he sees the film's ending as just the opposite – an embrace of the past. Throughout the film, Rey pleads with Luke to take up his lightsaber and fight, to be the Jedi Master of legend, but Luke refuses. In the end, however, Luke fully becomes his legendary old self, which, as shown in the film's final scene with the young stable boy, inspires a younger generation to take up arms.
Although the fan discourse surrounding Star Wars: The Last Jedi seems to have softened somewhat in recent years, as repeat viewings reveal new thematic subtext, the film still remains divisive. The release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was a course correction in many ways, is widely considered the worst of Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy, suggesting the franchise may have been better off embracing the ideas Johnson presents in his entry and further building upon them instead of abandoning them entirely. While Johnson's comments are unlikely to sway fans who still feel betrayed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi, they nevertheless shed further light on his own thought process when it comes to Luke's character arc.
Source: Empire