Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017): Cast, Plot and Release Date

Star Wars: The Last Jedi follows the Resistance as it flees the First Order while Rey tries to persuade Luke Skywalker to return to the fight. The film picks up directly after the Starkiller Base battle that closed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so the story starts with the Resistance already in retreat, a bit like a road trip that begins with the fuel light on.

The Resistance is forced to abandon its base as the First Order closes in. Poe Dameron disobeys orders to mount a costly attack on a First Order dreadnought, and the fleet is then tracked through hyperspace and attacked again. Much of the leadership dies, and Vice Admiral Holdo takes command of a dwindling, fuel starved fleet. Meanwhile, Rey has found Luke on the island of Ahch-To and asks him to join the fight. Luke refuses at first.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi runs from the Resistance's flight from its base to the standoff on the salt planet Crait, and it ends with Luke Skywalker's death on Ahch-To.

After the Starkiller Base battle, the Resistance flees its base and is pursued by the First Order. Poe disobeys Leia and destroys a First Order dreadnought, but at heavy cost. The First Order then tracks the fleet through hyperspace, and an attack kills most of the leadership. Leia survives, and Holdo takes command.

On Ahch-To, Luke refuses to help, then reluctantly agrees to teach Rey. Rey and Kylo Ren begin to talk to each other through the Force. Luke admits he once considered killing Kylo, which led Kylo to destroy his Jedi students.

Elsewhere, Finn and Rose go to Canto Bight to find a codebreaker who can disable the tracker. They are betrayed by DJ and captured aboard Snoke's flagship. Rey goes to Snoke, and Kylo kills him and fights beside her against his guards. He then asks her to rule with him, and she refuses.

Holdo sacrifices herself by ramming the flagship at lightspeed, which cripples the First Order fleet, and Kylo declares himself Supreme Leader. The survivors reach Crait and are besieged. Luke appears and faces Kylo, buying time for the Resistance to escape in the Millennium Falcon. Kylo realizes during the duel that Luke is a Force projection, and Luke dies peacefully on Ahch-To.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released in US theaters on December 15, 2017, after a world premiere on December 9, 2017, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. According to The Walt Disney Company, the US date is confirmed and the international rollout began from December 13.

In the UK and Australia, the film opened a day earlier, on December 14, 2017. Both of those dates are marked as reported rather than confirmed, with Screen Daily covering the UK opening day and Box Office Mojo listing the Australian release.

Certifications differ by market: The Last Jedi is rated PG-13 in the US, 12A in the UK and M in Australia, and the runtime is 152 minutes. For how it fits among the other titles, see Star Wars movies in order, where it sits tenth by release and twelfth chronologically.

At the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker dies after holding off the First Order on Crait with a Force projection, Kylo Ren becomes Supreme Leader, and Rey is left with the few Resistance survivors.

On Crait, Luke's projection buys the time the Resistance needs to flee in the Millennium Falcon. Luke then dies on Ahch-To after the effort. Only a few survivors remain, and Leia tells Rey the Resistance can rise again. Back at Canto Bight, a stable boy uses the Force to move a broom, hinting that hope is spreading. Kylo is left as the Supreme Leader of the First Order.

How the ending is built. The sequence works as a reversal of the film's own setup. Kylo, who has just killed Snoke and declared himself Supreme Leader, orders the assault on Crait believing Luke is standing in front of him. Only during the duel does he realize he is facing a Force projection, while the real Luke is on Ahch-To. Luke's last stand therefore saves the Resistance without a single blow landing, which is a different kind of Jedi victory from anything in the earlier films. As an opinion, that is the film's clearest statement of its theme: the fight is won by buying time and inspiring others, not by one fighter defeating another.

Comparison with the series. Star Wars: The Force Awakens ended with Rey finding Luke, and this film opens by picking up straight after the Starkiller Base battle, so the two function as one continuous story. Frank Oz returns as the voice of Yoda, which ties Luke's Ahch-To storyline back to the Jedi teachings of the original trilogy, and the film's Luke is a reluctant teacher who admits he once considered killing Kylo. Holdo's lightspeed ram on Snoke's flagship is the other turning point, and it is the moment where the Resistance fleet is cut down to the handful of survivors who board the Falcon.

Who is the very last Jedi? One common reading is that the title refers to both Luke and Rey; the broom scene suggests the Force reaches beyond the Jedi order. Luke is the last Jedi Master and the one who dies, while Rey is the student carrying the work forward. This is interpretation, not something the film states outright.

Production context. The Crait battle scenes were shot on the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and the Ahch-To scenes were built from Skellig Michael plus a rebuilt Skellig village at Sybil Head, because Skellig could not be closed to tourists for long enough (Moviefone, Wikipedia). Principal photography wrapped on July 22, 2016, and Carrie Fisher died in December 2016, so Leia's closing exchange with Rey sits in a film that is dedicated to her.

The controversy around the film comes from its story choices, which turn away from the setup left by The Force Awakens: Luke refuses to train Rey, Poe's attack is punished, Kylo kills Snoke midway through, and the Canto Bight mission ends in betrayal by DJ.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was filmed mainly at Pinewood Studios in England, with location work in Ireland, Croatia and Bolivia. Each location stands in for a specific place in the story.

Pinewood Studios hosted the main studio production and sets, starting at the 007 Stage. Skellig Michael in Ireland played Ahch-To, Luke's island, while Dubrovnik in Croatia played Canto Bight. The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia was used for the Crait battle scenes. Malin Head is a further Irish coastal site used for the film.

Skellig Michael could not be closed to tourists for long enough, so the crew rebuilt the Skellig village at Ceann Sibeal (Sybil Head). The finished island is therefore partly a composite of real places.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was filmed under the working title Space Bear, with principal photography running from February 2016 to July 22, 2016. The dates differ because each marks a different stage: second unit work began at Skellig Michael in Ireland on September 14, 2015, and the first day was cancelled because of weather.

Production began at Pinewood Studios on November 15, 2015, with 125 sets reportedly built on 14 sound stages. Principal photography then started in February 2016. Dubrovnik was filmed for Canto Bight from March 9 to 16, 2016.

Carrie Fisher died in December 2016, and the film is dedicated to her. That falls about five months after principal photography wrapped. John Williams then recorded the score from December 2016 into spring 2017, and the world premiere followed on December 9, 2017.

If you are planning a rewatch, the Star Wars movies hub shows how this film connects to the rest of the series, and Where to watch Star Wars lists current streaming options. For the numbers, see the Star Wars box office page.