On January 23rd it was officially announced that the newest movie in the "Star Wars" franchise would be titled "Episode VIII: The Last Jedi". With a title like that, it's no wonder there's a lot of speculation about who the last Jedi is. We've been introduced to some Force-sensitive beings already, so who can it be?
General Leia
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First, we know that she is force sensitive when Luke tells her in "Return of the Jedi" that "The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. And… my sister has it. Yes. It's you, Leia ". Rather than train as a Jedi, Leia instead opted to found the Resistance, but it's possible she's needed for some weird brother-sister Jedi thing. HOWEVER, this doesn't seem a likely case because Disney didn't freak out too much at the unfortunate passing of Carrie Fischer. If Leia was to be the ultimate Jedi and the reason for the title of the movie, I'm sure we would have seen Disney freaking out. We have confirmations that they won't use CGI to capture her performance and that her work on "The Last Jedi" is finished. That being said, I'm certain that the galaxy's favorite general/Princess will be important to the sage, but Leia won't be the last Jedi.
Finn
Kylo Ren
Kylo is, clearly, skilled with the force. He can stop laser blasts and his power is scary. Kylo had begun his training as a Jedi before he destroyed the Jedi Temple and turned to the dark side, but does that mean he can't be a Jedi? Let me remind you of the end of "Return of the Jedi". Luke is wounded, the Emporer seems to have won, and suddenly Vader throws the Emporer into the reactor core of the Death Star. Vader has a turn of heart. He realizes what he has done and wants to save himself, albeit knowing he is too far down the path of the dark side. Could Kylo do the same thing? It's possible but seems unlikely. While we did have the moment of wanting to be redeemed just before he killed Han, that seems more like a ploy than anything else. Also, in terms of the plot devices, there are always two Sith in the galaxy, one master and one apprentice. Kylo is Snoke's apprentice, and it doesn't seem like that will change anytime soon.
Luke Skywalker
Rey
We saw Rey's force awaken in "The Force Awakens", so it's very likely that she will play a key role in this next chapter. However, if she is the last Jedi, this means an unfortunate demise for Luke, leaving one Jedi. To be honest, it doesn't feel like Luke is going to be killed. The public outcry it seems would outweigh the effects of his death, plus they already killed off Han. So if it doesn't make much sense that it's Luke or Rey, but what if it's...
Luke & Rey
WHAT? Am I crazy? Yes, yes I am. See, the thing about Jedi is that Jedi are like fish. Specifically, the plural form of fish which is fish. The plural form of Jedi is not Jedis but Jedi. Mace Windu says this in Attack of the Clones: "...you must realize there aren't enough Jedi to protect the Republic. We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers." Mace refers to the Jedi in the plural sense as Jedi. It makes sense then, that the Jedi in the title actually is a plural form. I mentioned before that there are always two Sith, one master, one apprentice, so why not the same with Jedi? That's the way it was done before the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan was Qui-Gon's Apprentice, then Obi-Wan became Anakin's master. It makes sense that Luke would train Rey and together they take on Snoke and Kylo Ren, which of course probably wouldn't happen until "Episode IX". The above photo was behind the scenes of "The Force Awakens", but could they have spoiled "The Last Jedi" then?
Other Things to Consider
This is the teaser image that was posted to officially announce the movie. Notice something different? Yes, the color is red. It's not terribly uncommon for movies in the Star Wars Universe to have different colored titles. We've seen the classic yellow, blue, and red before (These were the original colors for the original trilogy). The red doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing, but anybody who knows anything about Star Wars knows that red=Sith. With a title as ominous as "The Last Jedi" and a red logo, this certainly seems like it could spell disaster for the Jedi.
OK, the Anakin/Chosen One plot is over, but it leaves behind an important detail. Every light needs dark and every dark needs light. You simply can't have one without the other. If we are to assume that Luke is the last Jedi, it doesn't add up that he would be killed as it would destroy the balance of the force. If this does happen, then it's up to Rey and, while she can hold her own, I highly doubt that she would be able to take on Snoke with her minimal amount of training. The implications of the Sith winning and everything starting all over again is way too much for a remaining movie, and I don't think Disney would be dumb enough to spawn a whole other franchise.
We know that Luke started to train more Jedi, including Kylo Ren before he went off the deep end. There is a slight possibility that there is a Jedi somewhere out there that was a pupil of Luke's that they now need to find. Perhaps Kylo/Snoke know this too and want to convert the "last Jedi" into a Sith, which would ultimately set up an awesome fight scene at the end. This does, however, seem to be more of a throwaway as we've already been introduced to viable candidates who are force sensitive and it seems backward to go find another one.
He also says we get a closer connection between Rey and Luke, as well as finding out more about the new characters introduced in "Force Awakens". For most, this should be a relief. So long as nobody brings back a certain Gungan, it seems this installment will be free of major heartbreak. HOWEVER, there is a thing called delusion. It's not a guarantee, but maybe Johnson is not telling us all the facts. Certainly, there will be some funny moments, but does that mean everyone is safe from harm? Personally, I don't think so."Star Wars" can be funny and have death in it. Not just death but serious/main character death.
As I mentioned before, Carrie Fischer's death didn't seem to phase the producers too much. This could be for one of two reasons: Leia is so distraught by Han's death that she leaves and goes into solitude or whatever. Another possibility: Leia dies. Again, this is all speculation. Disney confirmed they were not going to use CGI to bring Fischer back to life. Is it possible they'll simply push her back and have her orders come from elsewhere? Sure. Or the plan was to kill off Leia, hence Disney's seemingly unphased reaction. (Note: By reaction, I mean to her role, not to the actual announcement of death. They did a good job with that). Even if she lives through "The Last Jedi", there is still the hole left by Fischer's death. Prepare to have your heart wrenched by whatever happens to Leia.
There is still a lot of time until the next installment comes out. There are rumors that publicity will be very sparse and contain little details. But we can now rest assured that "The Last Jedi" is in Post-Production and that they are making the title crawl (The image above! The creation of the crawl!). Hopefully, we'll get some more information soon, but we just have to wait until December 15th, 2017 to find out who is the last Jedi. Until then,
