Luke Skywalker is confirmed to appear in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, however, in what capacity is still unknown. Here are a few possible scenarios.
After the character’s apparent death at the end of The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker’s role in the Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker has remained a mystery.
While he was confirmed last summer to be appearing in the final installment to the sequel trilogy, in what capacity remains unknown, with some reports stating that he will return either in flashbacks with his sister Leia or as a force ghost, while others say his role could be limited to just a cameo.
Last April at Star Wars Celebration during the preview for The Rise of Skywalker, Luke’s voice could be heard speaking to Rey throughout the trailer. This added some credibility to the theory that he would return as a force ghost, as it wouldn’t make sense for him to be saying this in a flashback, and the character is still confirmed to be dead.
As a force ghost, his role will likely still be to mentor Rey from beyond the grave, in order to prepare her for her next confrontation with Kylo Ren, who is now the Supreme Leader of the First Order.
Recently, Vanity Fair published several photos to help promote the upcoming movie, and one of them was of an older Luke Skywalker with R2-D2 by his side, standing in front of burning grass and a cloud of smoke. It is important to note Luke does not have a blue glow around his body in this picture, as force ghosts normally do.
This, however, does mean that Luke will be appearing alive in the movie. This image does make me believe it is a flashback, as the setting seems similar to other flashbacks of the destruction of Luke’s Jedi temple after his falling out with Kylo Ren.
More from Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
- How many Oscars has Star Wars won?
- Looking back at 10 years of Star Wars: The films
- Domhnall Gleeson up for returning as General Hux
- Star Wars fan’s epic poster is The Rise of Skywalker ending reimagined
- Star Wars 25 features the first post-Rise of Skywalker canon story
In what we have seen of that moment in previous films, Luke was alone with R2-D2 in front of his burning Jedi Temple, so this could be another flashback to that moment.
However, in this image, Luke is wearing a white cloak, similar to the one he has at the end of The Force Awakens and in The Last Jedi, but in the previous flashbacks, he was wearing a black cloak.
The explanation to this could be this is a flashback to a different scene, such as when he left the map with R2-D2 before he exiled himself following his fall out with Kylo, or that his scene will be of him as a force ghost and the blue glow was not edited in yet.
The bottom line is, Luke Skywalker will be appearing in the film and will be interacting with Rey in some capacity, as the voiceover heard in the trailer implies. It is also likely that he will be appearing in one or more flashbacks over the course of the movie.
However, how much we see of him is still unknown, but seeing as he was promoted in one of the first released images by Vanity Fair, I believe he will receive a fair amount of scene time.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released in theaters on December 20th, 2019.