Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has revealed why he decided to cut what feels like a crucial scene between Rey and Luke from the movie. The scene in question centered around the relationship between the grizzled old Jedi and the up-and-comer, and sounds full of emotion, conflict, and even a little comedy for good measure.
Picture it: Rey runs to save a community that looks as if it’s being attacked on Ahch-To, the planet where Luke Skywalker had sequestered himself away for years before Rey found him. But when she arrives and gets a closer look, she realizes the village is in the midst of a celebration rather than under attack. All of the residents stare at her with black, confused faces. However, when Rey waves her lightsaber in a friendly manner, they once again burst into joy.
“Was this a joke?” Rey later asks to Luke. “I thought they were in danger, I was trying to do something.”
“And that’s what the Resistance needs. Not some old, failed husk of a religion.” Luke replies.
Rey ends up storming off, and tells Luke that she was “wrong” to believe in the legends that surround him.
Mostly pace, and something about it always felt a little repetitive, coming at a point in the movie where we want to hit the gas and start escalating towards the finale. I love the scene, it was a tough (but ultimately good) cut.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) April 15, 2020
When a Twitter user @logan_swish asked Johnson why this scene was deleted from the final cut, the director said that is was mostly due to pacing issues. “Mostly pace, and something about it always felt a little repetitive, coming at a point in the movie where we want to hit the gas and start escalating towards the finale,” he said. “I love the scene, it was a tough (but ultimately good) cut.”
You can decide for yourself whether you think it was a good cut or not. As for Johnson, although we haven’t heard anything new in a while, he’s still supposedly creating a new trilogy of Star Wars movies. “I’m still talking to Lucasfilm but they haven’t announced anything on their slate yet,” he told Variety earlier this year.
I’m excited to find out where these new movies might fit in the Star Wars timeline, which seems to grow more and more complicated every day. But with productions around the world shut down because of the coronavirus, don’t expect to hear much of anything for a while.
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