LOS ANGELES • Movie studio Disney announced on Monday that the title of its next film in the main Star Wars franchise will be Star Wars: The Last Jedi, causing a disturbance in the Force on social media.
The film, which opens in the United States on Dec 15, is written and directed by Rian Johnson, who told USA Today this month that Jedi knight Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) will be an "emotional entry point" for the film.
Luke was last seen at the end of 2015's The Force Awakens, when young scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley) finally found him living like a recluse on Ahch-To, the site of the first Jedi temple, and handed his old lightsaber back to him.
Whether "the last Jedi" is literally meant to refer to Luke or perhaps Rey, the title certainly signals that Episode VIII will centre on family ties and lineage. Theories about the plot made the #TheLastJedi hashtag the top trending item on Twitter on Monday, with about 152,000 tweets in just one hour.
Fans noted that Jedi - those belonging to the Force for good - can be singular or plural in the Star Wars universe. "If it's called #TheLastJedi, my honest and bold prediction is that Luke Skywalker has to die," said one fan.
WASHINGTON POST, REUTERS
