Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi

"Darkness rises...and light to meet it."

- The Last Jedi tagline

Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, marketed as Star Wars: The Last Jedi, is a 2017 film written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman, along with executive producer J.J. Abrams. It is the second film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. The film sees the return of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis. New cast members include Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and Kelly Marie Tran.

The Last Jedi begins immediately after the events of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, set thirty years after the conclusion of the original Star Wars trilogy. It continues the story of Rey and her discovery of the exiled Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, along with the story of the war between General Leia Organa's Resistance and the First Order.

The film was released in theaters on December 15, 2017. A sequel, Star Wars: Episode IX, is scheduled for release on December 20, 2019, marking the conclusion of the sequel trilogy.

Synopsis
"This is not going to go the way you think."

- Luke Skywalker

Resistance Evacuation
Resistance fighters led by General Leia Organa, now widowed by the slaughter of Han Solo, evacuate their main base as a First Order fleet reaches them. After the fight, the Resistance vessels jump into hyperspace to escape but are unwittingly tracked by the First Order. Organa reprimands the brave young Poe Dameron for a successful but costly counter-strike while Supreme Leader Snoke reprimands General Armitage Hux for his failure to block the evacuation. Hux, however, is tracking the Resistance and a long pursuit begins, with the Resistance relying on their spaceships' mobility and shields to survive while their fuel supplies dwindle. During an attack, Leia's dastardly young son Ben Solo, alias Kylo Ren, manages to destroy the Resistance fighters, including a young gunner named Paige Tico, to leave the capital ships defenseless but hesitates to attack the lead Resistance ship after sensing his mother's presence onboard. However, TIE fighters destroy the bridge of the Raddus, killing many Resistance leaders, including Admiral Gial Ackbar. Leia saves herself, using the Force, but is seriously incapacitated, leaving Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo in command. Disapproving of their leaders' passive strategy, Poe, Finn the ex-stormtrooper, BB-8 the BB droid, and a young Resistance mechanic named Rose Tico, Paige's younger sister, embark on a secret plan to disable the First Order fleet's tracking device.

Training on Ahch-To
Having arrived on the water world of Ahch-To with Chewbacca the Wookiee and R2-D2 the Naboo droid aboard the Millennium Falcon, Rey the ex-scavenger from Jakku meets Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Luke refuses to initiate her in the ways of the Force because of his past failure when teaching Ren, even after learning of Han's massacre. Unbeknownst to Luke, Rey and Ren begin communicating with each other through visions. Prodded by R2-D2, Luke eventually agrees to teach Rey. Luke and Ren give Rey differing accounts of the incident that swayed Ren toward the dark side of the Force, with Luke confessing that he contemplated killing Ren upon discovering his corruption by Snoke. Unable to convince Luke to join the Resistance, Rey leaves Ahch-To without him to confront Ren. Luke decides to destroy the Jedi Texts, but relents after seeing the ghost of Yoda, who destroys the Ahch-To temple for him, anyway, with a bolt of lightning. The ancient Jedi Master tells Luke that failure is the greatest teacher.

Escape
Holdo reveals her plan to discreetly evacuate the remaining Resistance members using small transports. Believing her actions to be cowardly and risky, Poe instigates a mutiny. Finn, Rose, and BB-8 recruit the slicer DJ at a casino on Canto Bight, believing that he will be able to help them disable the tracking device. They infiltrate the Supremacy, Snoke's starship, but are captured by the wicked Captain Phasma, though BB-8 manages to escape. Meanwhile, Rey lands on the same ship and is seized by Ren, who takes her to Snoke. During a confrontation with Snoke, Rey tries to turn Ren to the side of the Resistance. Snoke reveals that he controlled the mental connection between her and Ren as part of a plan to destroy Luke. Ordered to kill Rey, Ren instead kills Snoke with Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber which now belongs to Rey and works together with her to kill Snoke's guards. Ren invites Rey to rule the galaxy with him, but Rey refuses, and asks him to join the Resistance. Using the Force, they struggle for possession of her lightsaber until they break it in two. Rey escapes while the First Order are distracted by the battle, and Ren declares himself as the new Supreme Leader.

Battle on Crait
Meanwhile, having recovered, Leia neutralizes Poe and allows the evacuation to begin. Holdo remains on the main ship to mislead Snoke's fleet as all the others escape to an old Rebel Alliance base on the nearby planet Crait. However, DJ reveals the Resistance's plan to the First Order, and the evacuation transports are targeted with heavy losses. However, Holdo commits suicide by ramming Snoke's flagship at lightspeed to stop the barrage, ripping the vessel in two. BB-8 frees Rose and Finn, who escape after defeating Phasma, and join the survivors of the evacuation. When the First Order arrives, Poe, Finn, and Rose lead a charge with old ski speeders, but take heavy fire, and suffer heavy loses. Rey arrives in the Falcon and draws the TIE fighters away, while Rose saves Finn from a suicide mission to destroy the main enemy cannon, which then blasts a cavity in the Resistance fortress.

Luke appears and confronts then Ren alone, giving the surviving Resistance fighters time to escape. Ren strikes down his own uncle with his lightsaber, but learns that he has been fighting a projection, and Luke is still on Ahch-To. Luke defiantly tells Ren that he will not be the last Jedi, as Rey clears a blocked tunnel behind the base so the remaining Resistance fighters can escape. Luke's body vanishes as he dies in peace and becomes one with the Force. The remaining Resistance fighters escape aboard the Falcon, and Rey looks at the small numbers hopelessly. Leia, however, reassures everyone that the rebellion now has all that is needed to rise again. On Canto Bight, one of the stable children that helped Finn and Rose escape is briefly seen summoning his broom with the Force and hopefully gazes up into space.

Development
"The second film is where we start zooming in on the characters and getting to the heart of them, challenging them, and pushing them deeper."

- Rian Johnson

Unofficial reports claimed in November 2012 that Lawrence Kasdan&mdash;who originally wrote the screenplays for both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi&mdash;and Simon Kinberg would divide writing responsibilities for Star Wars Episodes VIII and IX, and both would co-produce all three films of the upcoming sequel trilogy. However, in February 2013, Disney confirmed that Kasdan and Kinberg were working on standalone films, not saga films. On June 20, 2014, a spokesperson for director Rian Johnson confirmed that he would write and direct Episode VIII, as well as pen a story treatment for Episode IX. Ram Bergman, Johnson's frequent collaborator, was also confirmed to be brought onto the project as a producer, working alongside Kathleen Kennedy.

As Lucasfilm had not developed a story beyond that of The Force Awakens, Johnson was allowed to develop his own story based on access to the script as well as footage screened for him by The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams. (Abrams's friend Greg Grunberg claimed that Abrams was so impressed by the script that he regretted not directing it himself. ) According to Johnson, "I saw it as the job of this middle chapter to challenge all of those characters—let's see what happens if we knock the stool out from under them." .... "I started by writing the names of each of the characters, and thinking, 'What's the hardest thing they could be faced with?'" While writing, Johnson regularly met with the Lucasfilm Story Group and members of the cast to share ideas and drafts of the script. John Boyega later told Vogue that the script was "darker" than the one for The Force Awakens. To prepare for Episode VIII, Johnson and crew screened select classic films such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gunga Din, Letter Never Sent, Sahara, Three Outlaw Samurai, To Catch a Thief and Twelve O'Clock High.

Production
Preliminary filming took place in September 2015 on Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of mainland Ireland. The island stands in for the planet Ahch-To, which first appeared at the end of The Force Awakens, but is featured prominently in The Last Jedi; Production design was inspired by the real-world elements of Skellig Michael. This sequence was filmed with IMAX cameras. Before leaving, the crew donated €10,000 to the ferry service that had transported them to-and-from the island.

Production officially began in England in February 2016, under the working title of "Space Bear." It utilized 14 stages at Pinewood Studios and a total of 125 sets, with many of the crew from Episode VII returning. From March 9-16, production took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, followed by a return to Ireland for twelve weeks in County Cork. Several members of the production likened the experience of making the film to working on an independent production. Johnson took a lot of the behind the scenes photographs himself, and also shot a brief bit of content for Episode IX. Carrie Fisher worked with Johnson on some of the dialogue, in sessions that he described as "stream-of-consciousness ad-lib." Per a suggestion from Fisher, several of the film's characters wear jewelry of some type. Hamill was surprised by the changes in his character, and had to forumulate a personal backstory for the character so as to play the character effectively. In an interview with Polygon, Hamill described the security measures on set: "You get your pages in the morning, and they take them from you as you walk so they can shred them before it somehow leaks. You have security lines you have to walk through, both to and from set. And, not to mention, you have to wear these big monk hoods to protect your costume from drones." By June 2016, filming was "in the home stretch." Principal photography wrapped on July 22, 2016.

Post-production
Johnson began editing on August 15, 2016. His first cut ran over three hours, and included full sequences that were cut from the final film. Carrie Fisher passed away on December 27, 2016. Though she had completed filming, she had yet to record ADR. This required significant work by the film's sound editors. On September 21, Johnson revealed that post-production was complete.

At a Tanglewood concert in August 2016, John Williams confirmed he was scheduled to start scoring Episode VIII "in the next few weeks." Williams began recording the score in December 2016, which was expected to be completed by March or April 2017. In May 2017, however, members of the film's cast attended a recording session for the score. The film's soundtrack was released in physical form and digital download on December 15, 2017, the same date as the film's theatrical premiere.

Release
Disney chairman Bob Iger originally announced the release date for Episode VIII of May 26, 2017, forty years and one day after the release of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, though the release date was later pushed back to December 15, 2017. Rian Johnson first publically discussed the film in a panel at Celebration Europe. The film's title, The Last Jedi, was announced on January 23, 2017. The title announcement was accompanied with a release of a logo for the film featuring the Star Wars logo in red rather than its traditional logo. This coloring change, previously seen with Return of the Jedi and with "Brothers" and "Revenge," installments of Star Wars: The Clone Wars focused on Darth Maul, led some to speculate that the film's creators may be hinting at dark events within the film. The title's announcement also launched a frenzy of online speculation in regard to the identity of the "last Jedi," with some noting that the term "Jedi" can be used plurally. (Foreign translations also had the title as plural.  ) However, Rian Johnson later said that it refers specifically to Luke Skywalker.

Footage of The Last Jedi was shared with Disney shareholders in March 2017, including a look at the beginning of the film, which happens immediately following the ending of The Force Awakens. Disney CEO Bob Iger, having seen the film, referred to it as a "perfect chapter" in the saga, stating, "I can promise you it's worth the wait." On April 11, Hamill and Ridley appeared on Good Morning America to promote the Force for Change charity; One of the three rewards was a trip for two to the premiere of The Last Jedi. Cast and crew featured in a Last Jedi panel at Celebration Orlando. At the end of the panel, Johnson debuted a teaser poster and teaser trailer. The film was featured in the May 2017 issue of Vanity Fair (for which the cast and crew were photographed on-set by Annie Leibovitz) and both the August and December 2017 issues of Entertainment Weekly. Johnson and the cast again appeared at July's D23, during which a behind-the-scenes featurette was released. In the lead-up to release, cast and crew made various media appearances to promote the film, including Ellen, Good Morning America, Live with Kelly and Ryan, The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Conan and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert''. Cast members were also spotlighted in contemporary issues of Elle, TIME, Esquire , Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, and Johnson and the cast participated in Facebook/Twitter Q&As.

The theatrical trailer and poster debuted on October 9, 2017 during Monday Night Football, after which tickets went on sale. Johnson advised spoiler-weary fans to avoid the trailer. On October 24, USA Today published an exclusive behind-the-scenes video. A TV spot known as "Awake" debuted during the November 1 broadcast of the World Series. Behind-the-scenes content is being shown before theatrical screenings of other Disney movies. The official Star Wars Tumblr held a contest in which fan art was showcased at the film's world premiere, which was held on December 9, 2017.

Merchandising
The film's product line debuted on September 1, 2017, known as Force Friday II; Target launched its Force Friday campaign early with a video centered around Rey and female fans. Like with The Force Awakens, the months leading up to the debut of The Last Jedi saw the release of several novels, short stories, comics, reference books, and activity books known collectively as Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The media, written and created by several different authors, cover various topics related to The Last Jedi as well as other aspects of the Star Wars universe. Toy merchandise includes many plush toys based around the porg creatures introduced in the film, as well as various action figures, including action figures of porgs.

Lucasfilm arranged licensing tie-ins with Ample Hills, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Cargo Cosmetics, Christian Louboutin, Dole, General Mills, Hot Topic, Nissan, Philips, rag & bone, Samsung, Verizon and Vizio. The UK's Royal Mail released a series of The Last Jedi-themed postal stamps. Disney added The Last Jedi-themed content to its Star Tours: The Adventures Continue ride, including the new planet Crait. The video game Star Wars Battlefront II features sequel trilogy characters as they appear in The Last Jedi. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes introduced The Last Jedi characters and material. LEGO released an online minigame, "The Last Jedi" 360 Experience. ILMxLab's Star Wars: Droid Repair Bay is a virtual reality experience that ties into the film.

Reception
The film topped polls from both Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes as the most anticipated film of 2017. It generated the highest level of film discussion on social media for late 2017,   and analysts expected a $200 million opening. As of December 16, 2017, the film had a 93% Fresh rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, with 265/285 Fresh reviews and average rating of 8.2/10. The site's consensus for the film states that "Star Wars: The Last Jedi honors the saga's rich legacy while adding some surprising twists -- and delivering all the emotion-rich action fans could hope for." Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger praised that "Rian Johnson clearly remembers something that Lucas' most fervent followers sometimes forget: These are movies for the young, or at least the young at heart.", while Peter Howell of the Toronto Star praised Johnson's ability to "find the humanity within technology," similar to his well-known film Looper. Star Wars creator George Lucas called the film "beautifully made."