Over the years George Lucas had many and different variations for the sequel trilogy, which he never actually created. In one (or many) of them Luke Skywalker was supposed to die in the final Episode IX!
Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi ahead!
One of the saddest deaths in the whole Star Wars franchise is sure the passing of Luke Skywalker at the end of The Last jedi. Rian Johnson’s version of that event, however, was quite different than what George Lucas wanted for his famous Jedi. The Creator had many and different ideas, plans, sketches and thoughts about the sequel trilogy that was supposed to follow after The Return of the Jedi.
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Lucas never made any of these publicly known or at least not entirely. Recently Mark Hamill revealed before IGN that his character was supposed to die in Lucas’ version as well, but it was going to happen one movie later – in Episode IX. Luke was also going to train Leia. After all, that crazy (and very controversial) move she pulled off in the beginning of The Last Jedi, must have come from training…
“I happen to know that George didn’t kill Luke until the end of [Episode] 9, after he trained Leia. Which is another thread that was never played upon [in The Last Jedi].
George had an overall arc – if he didn’t have all the details, he had sort of an overall feel for where the [sequel trilogy was] going – but this one’s more like a relay race. You run and hand the torch off to the next guy, he picks it up and goes.
Many of the theories and rumors that we have heard over the years, for how Lucas was planning to continue the Saga, were contradicting and excluding each other. In some versions Luke, Leia and Han were to return and take central role once again, while in other versions the Broken Empire took the stage to tell a story from its point of view.
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You might say that bits and pieces of Lucas’ ideas were taken and implemented into Disney’s sequel trilogy, but noting happened the way Lucas planned it. Whether you blame Rian Johnson for ruining Star Wars for you or you love him for introducing new and in some ways a bit weird additions to the Force and the Universe, what we witnessed in The Last Jedi was indeed the new canon.
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When asked about his potential return in the form of a Force Ghost or any other way for Episode IX, Hamill’s answer was simple – nobody had spoken to him about Episode IX yet. Of course, this could never stop the actor, who recently got his very own Walk of Fame Star, from speculating on what might happen or what he would like to happen in the next movie.
