It's been a big two days for the Star Wars community. Because the upcoming installment into the main franchise revealed its title yesterday, the ominous sounding Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This revelation basically broke the internet, as the rabid fandom quickly began debating and dissecting the title, as well as who the titular "last Jedi" could be. And while the fans were surprised by this reveal yesterday, so was Star Wars legend Mark Hamill. And luckily he stepped into an interview shortly after it went public.
Mark Hamill recently sat down with The Associated Press, where was promptly asked about his opinion on the title. While a bit nervous to finally openly discuss the matter, Hamill revealed his feelings about the title, saying:
It's got a real samurai --- you know --- it's straightforward and minimalist and I like that.
If there's one thing that the Star Wars franchise has certainly not been called in the past, it's minimalist. However, The Last Jedi has a certain ring to it that is unique to its predecessors. Perhaps that means the film itself will be similarly dissimilar to the franchise's past.
Concerning Episode VIII's new title, it's certainly doing a great job at keeping people talking. To start, there's the title itself, and the debate as to which character may indeed be the last Jedi. There are cases for quite a few characters, actually. The most obvious choice is Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. The opening crawl for The Force Awakens explicitly referred to Luke as the last Jedi, especially after Kylo Ren killed all of his Padawans. But fans have also been considering newcomers Kylo Ren and Rey as potential last Jedi, considering they're both using The Force rather well. Plus the word Jedi itself functions as the plural for the word, meaning it could be all of the above.
Regarding Mark Hamill's comments about the The Last Jedi, it's interesting that he equated it to a samurai feel. Luke Skywalker seems to be a major focus of the sequel, after being absent for The Force Awakens. We'll likely be shown Luke's sordid past, and his tutelage of his nephew Ben. The Force Awakens functioned very strongly as a Han Solo story, so it's safe to say that The Last Jedi will be largely focused on Luke. But does this mean Episode IX was Leia's movie? Let's hope not.
Watching Mark Hamill talk about The Last Jedi is pretty enjoyable. He'd just learned that the news dropped before walking in, and you can see his trepidation when opening up about the title. Check it out.
What a gem. I think I speak for the entire Star Wars community when I say I can't wait to see Mark Hamill back at the head of the franchise he's loved for. Luke is back, and I'm ready for him to be a certified badass.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will fly into theaters on December 15th, 2017.
