The second film in the original Star Wars trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, is by far the saddest entry in the franchise. (Sorry, Malakili.) Luke loses his hand, Han is frozen in carbonite, and that helpless Tauntaun collapses and dies.
But The Last Jedi, the second film in the new Star Wars trilogy, is coming for The Empire Strikes Back‘s depressing crown. For one thing, there’s that title: The Last Jedi, the implication being that Luke Skywalker isn’t long for the world (unless it’s a trap.) Plus, the movie’s theme was performed by The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, the Empire Strikes Back of singer-songwriters.
Okay, so “The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi and Eats Their Bones” probably isn’t going to make the movie’s final cut, but Darnielle and The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson are buddies, and after Episode VIII‘s title was announced, Darnielle dejectedly tweeted, “My five-year campaign to sell Rian on the title ‘The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi And Eats Their Bones’ has come up short.” He wasn’t ready to give up, though: Johnson wrote, “So [Darnielle] and I were joking around, one thing led to another, he recorded this song and now it’s canon.” I’m sure Disney is cool with lyrics like, “With the dust of Jedi bones piled up like parsnip on his plate / Specifically just their bones / All the soft parts you can keep.”
You have to hear Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes’ cover. It’s amazing.
