At long last we have an official title for Star Wars: Episode VIII. And, naturally, the chosen name, The Last Jedi offers up a galaxy of possibilities. Or perhaps it's a clever sleight-of-hand and simply refers to one person? Director Rian Johnson and his cast and crew aren't saying (no surprise there), so we thought we'd look at a few options. Some likely, some not so much...
It's Luke Skywalker
Shocker! That would be most people's first thought upon learning the name of the movie. In the crawl for The Force Awakens, Mark Hamill's character is even called that very title. And Supreme Leader Snoke refers to Luke that way in his discussion with Kylo Ren. Plus, given his lonesome status on the island of Ahch-To at the end of that movie, we can assume he doesn't have other Jedi with him. But then you have to consider...
It's Rey
Daisy Ridley's plucky young pilot and adventurer doesn't know her history, and neither do we, yet. But she's shown definite signs of being strong with the Force, so perhaps the title refers to Luke training her up to become the next Jedi warrior. And then... No, we don't want to think about the on-screen loss of another iconic Star Wars character, but after last time, we know the current iteration of the franchise has no qualms about killing them.
It's both of them – and more
The more reassuring interpretation is using the plural form of "Jedi". Stop trying to say Jedis, it sounds weird. But there could be more than one Jedi out there, and Luke's quest had been to find the Jedi temple, so perhaps he knows where more might be lurking. It's a big galaxy, and we certainly could use more of them to help battle the evils of Snoke, Ren and the First Order. Plus, didn't Yoda once point to Leia as another possible hope? The late Carrie Fisher's character rarely seemed to display much in the way of Force powers (beyond some sensing abilities), but she is Luke's sister and Anakin's daughter. If she was to have played a bigger role in Force matters going forward, Fisher's tragic death might mean a change in plans.
The Last Jedi of the comics
Star Wars story development executive Pablo Hidalgo tweeted an image of an old Marvel Star Wars comic, in which Luke, Leia and the droids find a brain-injured former Jedi who sacrifices himself to save Luke from the story's villain. Do we think posting this means anything? We do not – Hidalgo has a fun history of playing with the fans, and the story surely has no connection to the movie other than the name. Still, the idea of missing Jedi being discovered remains compelling.
The Last Of The Jedi books
Again, nothing to see here. This series of YA books was written by Jude Watson and featured a story set between the events of Revenge Of The Sith and the original Star Wars. So unless someone is looking for Star Wars Story material a la Rogue One, this will have zero connection to the new movie. See also: Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's title The Last Jedi.
Johnson's primary source is the story begun in The Force Awakens, one that changed significantly between the original drafts and the final movie. He's also worked with the Lucasfilm story team, so while there are possibly elements that have snuck in from outside the main films, it's not very likely unless it's shows such as Rebels.