It has been 16 months since we last got to see some fresh footage from the latest Star Wars trilogy and it has certainly been worth the wait. The first official trailer for The Last Jedi is now live (click here if you haven’t seen it yet) after being premiered at this year’s Star Wars Celebration mere moments ago. Much like the first trailer for The Force Awakens, it features a wealth of snippets with little context designed to tantalize conjecture as to what they might mean and we’re happy obliged such designs.
We open again like the first trailer for The Force Awakens with Rey gasping for breath just like Finn did in our first glimpse of Star Wars’ return 2 years ago. Unlike John Boyega’s “Phew, that was close” reaction, though, Daisy Ridley’s seems born of desperation and exhaustion as Mark Hammil’s first words in the new trilogy attempt to sooth Rey for the troubling times ahead. And thus with just this opening shot, the die is cast to tease a film that looks much, much darker in tone than The Force Awakens.
As the trailer rattles along at the furious speed we expect for the opening gambit of a new Star Wars, we catch glimpses of Poe, R2, General Leia, Kylo Renn, and Captain Phasma in amongst a flurry of frames that mainly concentrates on the newly minted mentor/student relationship between Luke and Rey (though that might not as straight forward as one would first imagine). One thing’s for sure, no one seems to be having a particularly good time here with most of the shots of the Resistance involving them either being on the run or something being destroyed in their vicinity. Likewise, the image of Vader’s mask laying shattered on the floor would suggest that Kylo has had another emo-meltdown about something or other but the First Order do seem to have the upper hand in the galaxy currently as they march menacingly through flames and debris.
So far, so Empire then. But, it is the final words of the trailer that cast a further shadow over proceedings and proffers that The Last Jedi could well have a different dynamic than the celebrated second installment of the original trilogy as Luke ominously states “The one truth I know is that the Jedi must end”. Now, that throws up a serious quandary as to how the relationship between himself and Rey is going to develop: does she have to convince him otherwise or will Luke train Rey on the proviso that she will indeed end the Jedi, essentially meaning she’s being trained as a Sith? I guess we’ll have to wait until December 15th to find out… just 245 days away.
Bryan
April 14, 2017 at 12:30 pm
Thought that was actually Kylo Ren’s helmet smashed on the ground? Small silver bit looks like the bottom half of his mask.
Marcus McNeal
April 14, 2017 at 1:03 pm
Good eye! Do you think this may foreshadow Kylo ditching his “Vader Light” swag and embracing his own unique persona?
David Murphy
April 14, 2017 at 1:28 pm
It looks like there’s a raised seam on the top of the helmet that would suggest it’s Vader’s and it has just shattered as one would expect the desiccated remains of it to do so. If it is Kylo’s, then I hope for his sake his head wasn’t in it at the time 😉