The latest episode of the Star Wars saga is less than a year away, but it's been missing one important thing. It didn't have an actual title. This morning that has changed. Lucasfilm and Disney have officially announced the title by way of the movie's first poster. If it was possible to become even more excited for the next movie, now we are. The movie will be called Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The official Star Wars website just announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII has been officially subtitled The Last Jedi. The posting on the site is brief, thanking the fans for being the best fans in the galaxy, and leaving the vital stats of the movie, including the list of producers, the name of director Rian Johnson, and the December 15 release date.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi finished filming this past summer and basically went into radio silence after that. We went through San Diego Comic-Con and Star Wars Celebration London expecting to hear the title or maybe see early footage but to no avail. At this point, we were prepared to not even learn the name of the movie until the first trailer hit, and we were prepared to not see that until May the Fourth or so. A few rumored titles came out now and then, but those turned out to be incorrect.
Now that we have a title, we can get to the all important task of debating what it means. The previous film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was all about a character finding the Force inside them for the first time. Supreme leader Snoke specifically makes reference to an "awakening" at one point. So what does Star Wars: The Last Jedi mean for the events of the new film? Which of our two Force-using heroes does the title refer to?
Certainly, up until the events of the previous film, Luke Skywalker already was the last Jedi. Yoda had trained him before passing away. Of course, we expect that the new movie will include Luke training Rey, so perhaps that's what the title is referring to. However, if the title refers to Rey as The Last Jedi, then it would seem to already have made a statement about the future of the Jedi order. If Rey is the last, is the title telling us that there will never be another after her? Is the Star Wars saga truly coming to an end?
The title will give us plenty to talk about until we get to see the first trailer from the movie, whenever the hell that will be. Disney clearly has a plan regarding how they're going to release news and now that the title is out, we would expect the plan is to wait awhile before publishing trailers.
What do you think of the title? Is the name Star Wars: The Last Jedi getting you more excited for the film? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out everything else we know about Star Wars: The Jedi here.
