Star Wars: The Last Jedi – watch the full trailer Read more

April’s debut teaser for Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi delivered the hefty revelation that Luke Skywalker apparently believes the entire Jedi order has to end. Now we have the final trailer for the follow-up to JJ Abrams’ The Force Awakens, and Johnson has already suggested we avert our eyes if we want to avoid finding out too much more ahead of the film’s release in cinema this December. “I am legitimately torn,” wrote the Looper director on Twitter. “If you want to come in clean, absolutely avoid it. But it’s gooooood …” Assuming you’ve ignored that warning, what did we learn from this latest glimpse of a galaxy far, far, away?



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Photograph: Youtube

Mark Hamill is owning this elder Luke Skywalker

Yes, he’s more curmudgeonly than Obi-Wan before his morning coffee, but there’s something remarkable about the sight of Hamill delivering lines as the Jedi master for the first time in more than three decades. Most of the new trailer centres on Luke, his continuing concerns over Rey’s burgeoning powers and his clear reticence to re-enter the fray after years of exile on Ahch-To. Could all this worrying get rather tiring? We have to assume Skywalker is just waiting to throw off the yokes of suffering and launch back into battle.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Boyega as Finn in Star Wars: The Last Jedi Photograph: AP

Finn and Phasma are going toe to toe

Prior to The Force Awakens, the trailers had us wrongly assuming that John Boyega’s Finn might be the Force-sensitive newbie in Abrams’ blockbuster, rather than Daisy Ridley’s Rey. No such luck for the one-time New Order grunt, but at least his lightsaber battles last time out seem to have stood him in good stead for a new spat with Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma in the sequel. This time around it’s Finn (rather than stormtrooper brute FN-2199, aka “TR-8R”) who’s wielding the melee weapon, while Phasma seems to be joining battle with her own high-tech staff.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi Photograph: Youtube

Rey seems to be reaching out to the dark side

Is this mere trailer-style smoke and mirrors, or is the galaxy’s latest great hope Rey suggesting that the evil Ren might be able to give her a little leg up on the road to Jedi level two? Nothing about this scene makes sense, unless it’s a dream sequence or some kind of ruse. Adam Driver’s Ren did seem to think he had a pretty good chance of converting Rey to the dark side last time out, so perhaps he’s up for another crack in part two. Who is Andy Serkis’ Supreme Leader Snoke training in that brief shot: Ren or Rey? And why does the latter seem to be wielding a white weapon, like Ahsoka Tano’s ex-Jedi radical in Star Wars Rebels? Is this just a trick of the light(saber)?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi Photograph: Youtube

Kylo Ren bears the scars of the past

Draped in a moody black sci-fi Band-Aid to stop his face falling apart, there’s no escape from Ren’s constant internal emo monologue in the new trailer. In The Force Awakens all this amateur psychology led us up to the point where he murdered his dear old dad, Han Solo. This time around he’s mumbling about “killing the past” – does he actually mean he’s about to blow up Carrie Fisher’s General Leia Organa? They wouldn’t, would they?



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chewbacca and a Porg in Star Wars: The Last Jedi Photograph: Youtube

Those Porgs could get pretty annoying

For those hoping the squeaky avian denizens of Ahch-To would appear only during early scenes on the rocky island, I’ve got bad news for you: there’s one on board the fricking Millennium Falcon as Chewie guides the venerable old ship through what appears to be the centre of a planet. Is this Johnson’s knowing nod to the noble Star Wars tradition of Annoying Creatures, the equivalent of Return of the Jedi’s ewoks or The Phantom Menace’s battling gungans? Where’s Han Solo when you need him to throw the stupid thing out of the airlock?

•This article was amended on 10 October 2017 to correct the description of the weapon Finn is seen handling.