Although Luke Skywalker's adventures during the original Star Wars trilogy era continue to be explored through novels and comic books, when it comes to Luke's life after the destruction of the second Death Star, we know very little. With 30 years having passed between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, needless to say a lot has happened to the now-Jedi Master, and we'll learn more about some of his recent history when Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens next month. But according to Rian Johnson, Luke's grand return after so long away could have been a lot weirder, as there was a period when the director was considering making the protagonist blind. Johnson explained to Mark Hamill:
Did I ever tell you that early on when I was trying to figure out the story for this, I had a brief idea I was chasing where I was like, 'What if Luke is blind? What if he's, like, the blind samurai?' But we didn't do it. You're welcome. Didn't stick.
Talk about an idea that lacks vision (I couldn't help myself). But in all seriousness, Rian Johnson acknowledged that he came up with this idea before Donnie Yen's Chirrut Îmwe, one of the Guardians of the Whills, was introduced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It's for the best then, that Johnson decided to toss that particular concept aside. Not just because it would have made Luke a little too similar to one of Rogue One's main characters, but as Mark Hamill noted while he and Johnson were speaking with Rolling Stone, not being able to see would have been especially problematic for Luke given that he's living on one of Ahch-To's islands, thus would be in danger of falling off. Surely we would have gotten to a point where Rey would have to exclaim, "Luke, not too close to the cliff!" It would have been shortsighted to take that approach with Luke (still not sorry).
So what do we know about Luke Skywalker's more recent past? Well, as was revealed in The Force Awakens, his nephew, Ben, was originally his apprentice, but Ben was seduced by the dark side and now serves Supreme Leader Snoke as Kylo Ren. After embracing his anger and hatred, Kylo Ren helped slaughter the rest of Luke's apprentices, destroying all his work into rebuilding the Jedi Order. Feeling guilty about what happened, Luke left The Resistance and has been living in exile on Ahch-To ever since. After The Resistance pieced together the map showing Luke's location, Rey went to Ahch-To with Chewbacca and R2-D2 in The Force Awakens' final minutes to bring him back his old lightsaber. Although Luke and Rey won't get off to the best start in The Last Jedi, eventually the former will train the latter in honing her Force abilities. But taking into account all that's happened to Luke, let's hope he can keep his eye on the proverbial ball in the long run (okay, now I'm done).
We'll see what's in store for Luke Skywalker when Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in theaters on December 15 (don't forget to pre-order your tickets). Look through our 2017 premiere guide to find out when the year's other remaining movies arrive.
