Updated
"This is not going to go the way you think," according to Luke Skywalker.
If the Jedi Master's words in the latest trailer for Star Wars The Last Jedi ring true, then we will likely have a hard time guessing how the plot will pan out.
It's been two years since cinema goers left Rey standing on that rocky hillside offering up a lightsaber to Luke.
So if you're a little fuzzy with where we left everyone and what the big unanswered questions are, strap yourself into our Millennium Falcon and prepare to make the jump.
A note about spoilers: If you're the type of person who has avoided the trailers and various news articles, back out now. This article draws on publicly available material like The Last Jedi trailers and cast interviews. This includes Luke's first three words to Rey. There are no direct spoilers for the plot beyond that public material and all previous films, but there are some educated guesses based on what we know so far.
Where did we leave everyone?
- Luke Skywalker: Still standing on a rocky island on the planet Ahch-To, home of the first Jedi temple. He's not too pleased his long-running game of hide-and-seek has ended.
- Rey: Handing Anakin Skywalker's blue lightsaber over to Luke (who last saw this weapon when Darth Vader relieved him of it, and his hand, on Lando's cloud city Bespin many decades ago)
- Finn: Recovering at the
RebelResistance base on D'Qar after a nasty back wound he acquired in a lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren. - Leia Organa: Also at the resistance base.
- Poe Dameron: Resistance base, as well. The hotshot X-wing pilot returned victorious after destroying Starkiller base.
- Kylo Ren: He left Starkiller base to go meet up with his boss, Supreme Leader Snoke. We don't know where he's hiding.
- Han Solo: *sadface*
So… who are Rey's parents?
This is by far the biggest question we were left with.
Rey's latent force powers hint at her coming from a family strong in the Force. Perhaps the Skywalkers?
We can guess that she's not Luke's daughter because Luke seemingly doesn't know who she is (his first word to her: 'Who are you?').
A crazier theory is that she is Han and Leia's daughter, perhaps a twin to Kylo, and the reason they don't realise is because they may have been led to believe she died as an infant.
Someone left her as a young child on Jakku — either intending to pick her up again after a danger had passed or to abandon her, perhaps because they were fearful she may show an aptitude in the Force.
Let's not forget Rey shares the same skills of daring flying and tinkering with engines as Han Solo.
Curiously, actress Daisy Ridley said Rey's parentage was answered in The Force Awakens, but then kept her lips sealed when she realised no-one else knew what she was talking about.
Are we missing something?
Why does Luke want the Jedi to 'end'?
"It's time for the Jedi to end," Luke says, presumably to Rey, in the trailer for The Last Jedi.
We have a pretty good theory already about why that might be.
Remember the prophecy in The Phantom Menace that Anakin Skywalker "would bring balance to the Force"?
Well, he did bring balance.
The Jedi were enormously powerful and he helped wipe them out, and then for good measure when the Empire had grown so powerful, he killed the Emperor.
There were no Force users left, aside from Luke. Everything was pretty level.
And then after the events of Return of the Jedi, Luke sets out to create a brand new Jedi academy and starts training new pupils. This has pushed the 'balance' out of whack.
Ben Solo turns on him and destroys the academy, killing the pupils.
Finally, Luke understands that the Jedi need to come to an end so that the evil Sith do as well. Otherwise there will always be a tug-of-war of extremes.
That might explain why the last surviving Jedi Master in the galaxy is hiding himself on a barren island. He's taking himself out of the picture.
This is Carrie Fisher's final film — will that affect the plot?
Carrie Fisher's sudden death last December came as a shock to the entertainment world.
She had finished filming for The Last Jedi, but we don't know if her death means the final film in the new trilogy will need to change.
Director Rian Johnson told ABC News Breakfast that he didn't have to recut The Last Jedi in the wake of Fisher's death, and that the entire performance was still there.
"She's so good in the movie, it's such a beautiful performance and it's a complete performance. We had totally shot the whole thing," he added.
Whether Princess Leia lives or dies in The Last Jedi, we know that that outcome was what was originally intended.
What is Supreme Leader Snoke's agenda?
Being evil and stuff, probably.
Snoke's motivations were not developed at all in The Force Awakens.
Who is this crumple-faced dude? Why does he want to destroy the New Republic? Where did he get all these tens of thousands of First Order followers from?
Hopefully The Last Jedi answers some of this. Otherwise his character is simply 'evil guy who wants power'.
It's not even clear why anyone would follow him.
At least Emperor Palpatine was actually emperor of the galactic government. He had a lot of backers.
Why would someone join the First Order instead of take part in the New Republic? Who knows.
Actor Andy Serkis, who plays Snoke, has said the character has unlimited resources, and like all tyrants, is fearful of losing his amassed power.
His twisted, crumpled body gives the character a degree of vulnerability.
Will we meet the Knights of Ren?
The Force Awakens gave us the briefest of glimpses at Kylo's posse — the Knights of Ren.
Rey sees a vision of them destroying Luke's Jedi academy when she first touches the lightsaber.
The six members we've seen, plus Kylo, all look like they belong to a Darth Vader fan club. And maybe that's what they are.
Reporting to Supreme Leader Snoke, Kylo seems to be in charge of the group.
Here's hoping we'll get to see a lot more of these guys and their funky Vader cosplay in The Last Jedi.
How does Captain Phasma get out of the trash compactor?
The most woeful character in The Force Awakens has to be Captain Phasma, which is a shame, because she's played by the wonderful Gwendoline Christie (Brienne in Game of Thrones).
Phasma looks shiny and menacing but does nothing all film until at the end she's crash-tackled by Chewbacca and, with a blaster to her head, brings down the shields at Starkiller base for the Resistance.
Finn and Han decide to then throw her down a garbage chute instead of take her with them as a prisoner. Not that much later Starkiller base explodes, killing everyone left there.
So how does she survive to appear in The Last Jedi? Maybe we'll never know.
At least it looks like she's got some cool fight scenes this time around.
Topics: film-movies, science-and-technology, arts-and-entertainment, united-states, australia
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