J.J. Abrams Discusses Luke Skywalker's Mythos in STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Luke Skywalker may be absent from most of the marketing for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but this film does continue his story. In another interview with EW, director J.J. Abrams opened up about his role in the story and how many of the characters in the film see him. In fact, it's Luke's story that heavily inspired Abrams to make this movie:
“It was the thing that struck me the hardest, which was the idea that doing a story that took place nearly 40 years after Jedi meant that there would be a generation for whom Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia would be as good as myth. They’d be as old and as mythic as the tale of King Arthur. They would be characters who they may have heard of, but maybe not. They’d be characters who they might believe existed, or just sounded like a fairy tale.”
Abrams uses Daisy Ridley as the perfect example and explains how someone in her situation would think of a legend like Luke Skywalker.
“To someone who is living alone and struggling without a formal education or support system, who knows what that person in the literal middle of nowhere would have ever heard about any of these things, or would ever know, and how much that person would have to infer and piece together on their own. So the idea that someone like that would begin to learn that the Jedi were real, and that the Force exists, and that there’s a power in the universe that sounds fanciful but is actually possible, was an incredibly intriguing notion.”
He goes on to talk about the other side of the spectrum. Earlier today we posted an article that talked about what The First Order thinks of Luke, and how they teach their young soldiers that Luke was a villain. So someone like Finn grew up thinking the guy was an asshole that blew up the Death Star and killed the Emperor. Of course that view of Luke changes for Finn over the course of the movie. John Boyega talked a little bit about this:
“For Finn, he’s been raised from the ashes of the Empire. He’s been taught about Luke Skywalker, he knows about his history. For him it’s like joining the army and then learning about one of the great enemies of your country. It has that effect on him. But in terms of the Force, and the magical stuff that happens, that is the point where Finn kind of questions what is what. What is the Force, what part does Luke Skywalker play in all of this?”
I believe that we won't even get to see Luke until the end of the film. It could be the big reveal that gets fan extremely pumped up for Episode VIII. That's just me speculating, I could be way off, but either way, when Mark Hamill shows up on screen, the audience is going to go batshit crazy!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters on December 18th, 2015.