Star Wars: The Last Jedi has dropped a trailer, and like the first teaser, it’s left us with more questions than answers, and more tantalizing hints than concrete clues. Still, there’s a lot to unpack here.
What’s This Red Planet?
The trailer features a string of shots that clearly all take place on the same planet with a red motif, from the Millennium Falcon swooping through a cavern to Kylo marching down a bridge to a massive AT-AT fight:
What’s not clear is what’s on this red planet, and why both the Rebellion and the First Order are so intensely interested in it. It’s clearly central to the plot of the movie, and there may be a hint or two about why in the trailer. But we’ll get to that.
Kylo’s Stronger And Far More Dangerous
The opening of the trailer is all about Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Whether he’s looking pensively at a droid factory:
Marching into what will likely be a key battle on a planet we see a lot of in this trailer, complete with ape-like AT-ATs:
Or, in the most telling shot, his heavily refined, much better-looking lightsaber:
It’s obvious Kylo isn’t the whiny console-trashing punk he was in The Force Awakens. He’s far more dangerous, although it’s not clear whether he built his sleek new lightsaber or whether it was a gift from Snoke. If the latter, that implies he’s still Snoke’s pawn. If the former, well, Snoke should remember that always two, there are, because the Sith betray each other.
…And Rey Is Depicted As Just As Dangerous
Either way, right after Snoke (Andy Serkis) notes there’s something “truly special” underneath Kylo’s raw power, we see this:
The contrast being drawn between Kylo, the traitor, and Rey (Daisy Ridley), the raw recruit with shocking power and an uncertain grasp on it, is fairly clear. Right from the start, Luke seems less than thrilled that a new Padawan has turned up. Remember, in the teaser, Luke flatly states he believes the time of the Jedi is past, and there’s still some argument over the exact meaning of the title. Is it “The Last Jedi” as in there’s only one left? Or is it “The Last Jedi” in the sense that Luke is the end of the Jedi belief system? We know Luke is the last Jedi in the title, since Rian Johnson confirmed as much, but that’s about it.
The sense that Luke chooses to train Rey more to defuse a bomb than find a protege is rife in the trailer, and that’s only reinforced as we take a look at Rey’s training, which has more than a few nods to Luke’s time on Dagobah in a few shots:
There’s also the matter of this bookcase, which we saw in the teaser trailer, and even got a close-up of icons carved into it.
And we now know that’s Rey’s gloved hand checking out those symbols. It could be that Rey is going to have to reconstruct just why Luke doesn’t trust her.
And, building on the lightsaber long shot we saw in the last movie (sorry, conspiracy theory fans, that’s not Yoda watching Rey), we see that yes, Rey really is incredibly powerful. And unrefined. And potentially dangerous, all facts on Luke’s mind.
Or, as Luke puts it in the next sequence, he’s seen this level of strength before, and what happened scared him. Mostly her strength’s communicated through the rock-lifting scene in the teaser, a nice little callback to Return of the Jedi. It’s also evident Rey is not exactly sure why her would-be mentor is freaking out.
This hints at a larger theme in the trailer: Rey has met her hero, and he’s not at all what she was expecting.
Kylo Has Torn Loyalties
There are two sequences, close together, that heavily imply Kylo, as powerful as he may become, isn’t entirely on board with the Dark Side. Or, if he is, he’s got a very different dark side. In one sequence, he smashes his helmet:
While in another, well, this sequence of shots sure has some implications:
Fans are arguing a lot over this sequence. Some think that Rian Johnson and the Disney marketing department are pulling a fast one. But, then again, we know Kylo has crossed this particular line before.
Poe And Finn Get Short Shrift
Leia and Kylo seems to be a part of a huge space battle where the First Order ambushes the Rebellion, and it doesn’t look like the Rebellion gets out in good shape. The teaser features an exploding X-Wing, and, intriguingly, the few shots we see of Poe (or BB-8) seem to come entirely from this bit. But he does get a heck of a line “We are the spark that will start the fire that will burn down the First Order.”
Still, while we don’t see that much of him, it’s Finn who gets arguably the most awesome shot of the trailer, where he goes up against Phasma, retractable bo staff against overly elaborate cattle prod:
Interestingly, we do see bits of the Millennium Falcon, but notice Finn’s outfit here. He’s dressed like an officer in the First Order, which would imply he’s trying yet another uniform swap. Considering he’s in a fist fight, he’s clearly no better at it than Han.
“This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think.”
There’s an intriguing sequence here with Luke delivering this line, soaked, knocked over, and not in a good mood. It appears, in a later sequence, that he’s confronting an angry Rey. But is Rey going after Kylo, like Luke went after Vader in Empire? Or is this about something else?
Snoke Appears
After only seeing him as a hologram, Snoke turns up. And, surprisingly, he turns up in the flesh. Snoke appears not to be a motion-capture CGI character, but Andy Serkis in full makeup, live on the set. But, as you can see, he’s also torturing Rey. But how does she fall into his grasp? And is he trying to break her? Or is he just a complete monster? But Snoke’s biggest threat might not be the Rebellion, as the ending of the trailer tells us.
“I Need Someone To Show Me My Place In All This.”
And then, well, then there’s that ending.
Is this a fake-out with some sneaky editing? Is Rey actually talking to Kylo or could it be Luke? Is Kylo inviting Rey to join the Dark Side? Or are Kylo and Rey done with masters, Sith and Jedi alike, and out to forge a new path? After all, the Sith and Jedi are in balance, and if there’s no more Jedi, that implies the Sith are done, as well.
Any theories or ideas? Let us know in the comments!