Just when we thought we had Star Wars: The Last Jedi figured out – the porgs, Canto Bight, those hulking gorilla walkers…you name it – Lucasfilm pulls the rug out from under us all by dropping the sequel’s first full trailer, spawning countless fan theories in the process.
And so, after drawing attention to Kylo Ren’s remodeled lightsaber, Crait’s indigenous, downright beautiful wildlife, and Finn’s imminent duel with the formidable Captain Phasma, a new rumored plot point for The Last Jedi has surfaced online, and it’s all about Kylo’s history with Luke Skywalker.
Thanks to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it flashback in The Force Awakens, we know Kylo Ren is responsible for the destruction of Luke’s Jedi Academy, when Han and Leia’s estranged son slaughtered all of his fellow students and pledged allegiance to the dark side and, by effect, Supreme Leader Snoke. But it seems there may be another wrinkle to that story.
Amid shots of Rey training on Ahch-To and Poe Dameron rallying the troops, The Last Jedi‘s full trailer included another flashback to Luke’s academy engulfed in flames. So far, so familiar. But as the promo continues, we then see Luke’s robotic hand bursting out of the wreckage, hinting that Kylo Ren may have tried to kill Mark Hamill’s Jedi Master upon seeing red.
Out of all the rumors ricocheting around the four corners of the Internet, it’s arguably one of the more convincing, as it would explain Luke’s hesitance to train Rey on the minutia of the Force. “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before,” he muses. “It didn’t scare me enough then. It does now.” Surely that raw strength is the same one coursing through the veins of both Kylo and Rey? We’ll find out soon enough.
Meanwhile, tickets for Star Wars: The Last Jedi are now on sale ahead of the film’s December 15th release.