ICYMI: The Last Jedi trailer is out! Did anyone else get feels seeing the back of Carrie Fisher’s head? The Star Wars director sat down to discuss semantics, via Polygon:
It all started with a disputed bit of trivia. Faris asked, quite plainly, if The Last Jedi was singular or plural.
“It’s so funny,” Johnson said, seeming amused by the whole situation. “When the title was announced, I never even pondered that question. That seems like, to me, the most uninteresting question. In my mind it’s singular. In my mind it is. Absolutely.”
So is Luke Skywalker the last Jedi, Faris asked?
“If you say so,” Johnson said, looking suddenly defeated. “I mean, they say so in The Force Awakens. He’s going to find the last Jedi temple, and Luke is the last Jedi.”
So there you have it. Now we’re only left with the temporal nature of the word “last.” Is Luke the last Jedi for the duration of the film? At some point does Ridley’s Rey become the second Jedi, temporarily doubling the sum total of Jedi in the universe before Luke vanishes — as Jedi are wont to do? We haven’t got a clue.
The balance of ABC’s interviews portray a cast conflicted by the direction of the film.
“It was as shocking to me to read what Rian had written,” said Mark Hamill, “as I’m sure it will be to the audience.”
“I went to Rian’s office,” said Daisy Ridley, “I was like, ‘We need to have a talk about what’s happening here.’”