Star Wars: The Last Jedi Rumors That Weren't True

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for director Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in theaters now.

Director Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi was one of the most anticipated films of the year. The follow-up to J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the movie had the tough task of bridging the gap between the first entry in a new trilogy and the climactic conclusion.

Naturally, a healthy rumor mill developed around The Last Jedi, with veteran Star Wars fans and newcomers alike pouring over teasers, trailers, magazine covers and interviews, all looking for the single, overlooked detail that might reveal the film’s most secretive plot points. Message boards and Discord channels burned bright with round-the-clock extrapolations. A new costume design or a misinterpreted quote had the power to send rumormongers into a tizzy, each time stoking the flames of speculation anew.

The results were, to say the least, staggering. If there was a thing that could be theorized about The Last Jedi, make no mistake: it was theorized. Some rumors managed to tower over others, though, either because they were highly believable, or fans wanted to believe them. Whatever the reason, lots of people thought the following five rumors were all but assured. Sadly, they all turned out to be false… for the most part. So, what were these big rumors that just couldn’t be put down, and how did they eventually crumble?

Rumor: Luke Turns to the Dark Side

Status: FALSE

Early images of Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi revealed a new look for the Jedi languishing in self-imposed exile. Gaunt and garbed in dark robes, many thought Luke had turned a new, extremely evil leaf. After all, his attire mirrored that of the late Emperor Palpatine, whose black robes and withered face created a terrifying visage that haunted the Rebel Alliance throughout the original trilogy. It would have been a major twist if the eponymous last Jedi was only the last of his kind because he had turned to the Dark Side.

A cool premise for fan fiction, but not the way Rian Johnson decided to go. It turns out Luke is still terrified of the dark; he’s downright baffled when Rey gravitates to the Dark Side of the Force in her first training session. The closest Luke gets to turning Sith is in a flashback that sees him realize Ben Skywalker has been tainted by Supreme Leader Snoke’s influence. He has a momentary crisis of conscience and nearly strikes down his apprentice, leading to the creation of Kylo Ren. Despite that, it’s clear Luke has not gone full Dark Side.

Rumor: Kylo Ren is a Resistance Agent

Status: WRONG

Everyone wants to hold out hope that the bad guy will turn in the end. Some even theorized that Kylo Ren was a deeply embedded member of the Resistance, trained by Luke Skywalker to mask his true intentions so that he might gain access to the most powerful man in the galaxy -- Supreme Leader Snoke. Rumors said the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa would turn at the last moment and pledge his fealty to the Resistance, teaming with Rey to take down Snoke.

Things sure turned out differently, huh? It turns out that Kylo Ren had no interest in serving Snoke, but only because he wanted to rule the galaxy himself. He is the one who ends up doing in ol’ Snoke and his praetorian guards, but immediately pivots to new emperor mode, inviting Rey to rule the galaxy alongside him. Now that’s one heck of a deep cover.

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Rumor: Luke is the Last Jedi

Status: ACTUALLY, NOT RIGHT

This one will no doubt frustrate Star Wars fans who were paying close attention to The Last Jedi’s news cycle. For the longest time, everyone was puzzled over the identity of the eponymous last Jedi. It took confirmation from Rian Johnson to convince fans that it was Luke who was the last Jedi. Luke Skywalker would be the last, the final Jedi to ever exist. No doubts there. Pure confirmation. Done deal.

And then the last act of the film happened, in which Luke, having watched the ghost of Yoda seemingly burn the sacred Jedi texts, astonishingly backpedals and implies that Rey (who actually holds the texts) will be a Jedi. Now, Rey will no doubt be a radically different kind of Jedi, but everything leading up to The Last Jedi implied that there would be no more Jedi after the film’s conclusion. The Jedi might be dead in spirit, but it seems they will live on, if only in name.

Rumor: Rey and Kylo Ren Will Develop a Romance

Status: HECK NO, ROMEO

Rey and Kylo Ren share a deep connection throughout most of The Last Jedi. The two are linked psychically through the Force and have conversations over vast distances. In any other film series, this would be the premise for a romantic comedy. That’s how some thought it would play out, at least. It was theorized that The Last Jedi might feature a courting sequence like that of Anakin and Padme from the prequel trilogies. Not so much.

Instead, it’s revealed those psychic communiques were tainted by Supreme Leader Snoke’s mental tampering. Kylo Ren vanquishes Snoke and saves Rey’s life, but the buddy cop movie ends there. Kylo Ren then invites Rey to join him in ruling the galaxy, and after that the two can’t stand to be in the same room, let alone psychic headspace. So much for an enduring, prequel-like romance full of rolling around in the flowers and gentle mullet-tussling.

Rumor: Snoke is the First Jedi

Status: DOESN’T MATTER!

This is a rumor that came to life late in the game. The filmmakers behind The Last Jedi were adamant that Snoke and Kylo Ren were not Sith, they were simply Force-sensitive bad guys who just happened to act a whole lot like the Sith. This led many fans to wonder if The Last Jedi was free of Sith because it was actually full of Jedi. If Luke was the last Jedi, then was it possible that Snoke was the first, fallen into disgrace generations ago and kept alive by the Dark Side of the Force?

Well, who care now? Unless his corpse has some talking to do, Supreme Leader Snoke might have been the biggest red herring in the Star Wars franchise. The villain was seemingly put in the new trilogy to give Kylo Ren a master to usurp. His sudden, surprising death likely means we won’t be learning anything new about the misshapen despot’s origins. Perhaps he’ll be given the Captain Phasma treatment and his story will be explored in comics and novels.

In theaters now, director Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi stars Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico and Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo.