As of January 23rd, Lucasfilm released the title of the next Star Wars episode: The Last Jedi.
I was absolutely ecstatic with this announcement. As an avid Star Wars fan, this is something huge. The titles tend to subtly hint at what will happen in the film or a theme within the film. The first film, Episode IV: A New Hope is all about how Luke is learning how to become the "the new hope" for the Rebellion by learning about the force. Also, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is just that. It shows how Anakin left the Jedi, became Darth Vader and began the Empire as a Sith lord. Finally, the latest in the newest trilogy, Episode VII: The Force Awakens hints at how Rey becomes a force user in a time of the First Order and Luke being the last force user.
Now George Lucas has done something that is making the internet analyze one word: Jedi can be both singular and plural.
You can have one Jedi but then you have multiple Jedi in the Jedi Order. So what does this do for Episode VIII?
Well, you can look at the film one of two ways. First, you can take the title in the singular assumption. In the opening crawl of Episode VII: The Force Awakens, the first sentence is "Luke Skywalker has vanished, In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER as risen from the ashed of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed".
It literally states that Luke Skywalker is the Last Jedi at the time of Episode VII. So for the new move, you can say that Skywalker will be the Last Jedi. He may be killed before he can train Rey in the Jedi ways. But if that happens, then he may die, leaving Rey as the Last Jedi in the Universe.
However, if you look at the title as a plural of the Jedi, then both Skywalker and Rey could be the last Jedi and they go head to head against the First Order and Kylo Ren. If you have seen Episode VII, then you will know that Kylo Ren was originally taught in the Jedi ways by Skywalker but turned to the dark side after being taught. So it could also be hinting at Kylo coming back to the Jedi Order and joining Skywalker and Rey in the battle of light vs. dark.
In my opinion, I would hope and love for a mixture of the both. As much as I love Luke Skywalker and the original trilogy, there are a lot of parallels in the Star Wars cannon. You have a young hero that doesn't quite know they are a hero until a force user comes into their lives and becomes a mentor. However, that mentor has been killed by a Sith before they have finished their training and the hero must find another force user to train them and defeat the Dark Side. In the trilogy and prequel, the heroes are Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker and their mentors, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn were killed before the training could be finished. Now apply these parallels to Episode VII. Rey, a new young hero who doesn't quite get that she can use the force, and at the end of the film, she finds a force user who can train her to make sure her ability to control the force in under control. Soooooo.... as much as it hurts me, Luke Skywalker almost needs to be killed by someone on the Dark Side to further Rey along on her life mission.
But knowing Lucasfilms, there will be a huge twist and something will happen that no one would have ever guessed. Now all we cna do is wait for December 15th, 2017 to see what really happens.
