Movies Action & Adventure Movies

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Deleted Scene Reveals Why Rey Left Ahch-To

By Tim Karan

It's not Luke Skywalker's mysterious third lesson, but it definitely taught Rey something.

In the theatrical cut of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, we never see what prompts Rey (Daisy Ridley) to cut short her training with Luke (Mark Hamill) and leave the planet of Ahch-To. However, a new deleted scene from the Blu-ray paints a vivid picture.

In the scene (below), Rey believes the village that's home to the planet's Caretakers (those strange, amphibious nuns) is under attack by a warring tribe. She races down the shoreline with her lightsaber in hand, ready to defend the defenseless. It's a shot that was actually in the trailer, but it didn't appear in the movie. 

When Rey gets to their village, she's surprised to see the Caretakers aren't in any danger. They're actually throwing a party with Chewbacca and R2-D2. Turns out that Luke deceived her, and Rey isn't cool with it. 

Writer-director Rian Johnson told Entertainment Weekly the scene was meant to serve a specific purpose. "Originally it was just a breaking point for her. 'Okay, he's gone too far,'" he said. "This is the point where she finally says, 'Okay, if you're not gonna help, then I've wasted too much time here.'"

The plan was to use the scene to lead into an important Force conversation between Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). But Johnson decided that interaction actually worked better without the argument. In the final cut, it seems like things are going relatively well with Luke's training when she speaks with Kylo Ren, which makes it all the more heartbreaking for Luke. 

"When we take that segment out, suddenly she's coming into that Force connection after leaving things in a hopeful place with Luke, at the end of the temple lesson," Johnson said. "It's much more of a crushing reversal when Luke finds her in the hut [talking to Kylo]. You get the sense that she and Luke were actually making progress, as opposed to, oh, things were screwed up."

Still, Johnson said this isn't the third lesson that Luke never got around to teaching. Instead, he said fans can choose to interpret their own ideas about Luke's final instruction to Rey. He doesn't want to reveal it because it could be something that J.J. Abrams explores in 2019's Episode IX.

Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives on Blu-ray on March 27.

Recommended