‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’: Novel Reveals Luke Wanted To Leave Ahch-To With Rey

The official novelization for Star Wars: The Last Jedi reveals more things that fans did not see in the film.

This comes as no surprise, seeing that even though it is the longest one in the saga so far, a ton of scenes still did not make it into the final cut. Thankfully, some are revealed in the book, details of which are shared by a Reddit user.

The biggie is that Luke Skywalker was prepared to leave Ahch-To with Rey to fight the First Order. In the Star Wars: The Last Jedi novelization, the deleted scene featuring the caretakers of the village in celebration, which will be added in the Blu-ray release, also included a part where Luke and Rey even join the revelry to dance.

Sadly, the party ends with Rey storming out because Luke tells her that the galaxy needs her and not him. But after reconnecting with the “Living Force” and finding Leia again, the Jedi master eventually realized he was wrong. Right then and there, he decides he is coming with Rey to help the Resistance.

He was ready to tell her that she was right, that is, until he walks in on her and Kylo Ren’s Force bond. As fans who watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi know, things started to go off the rails after that, and Luke shooed her away once more, which led to her ultimately leaving the island without him.

Learning about Luke’s change of heart, many fans now wish the scene was included in the actual Star Wars: The Last Jedi film. Without this part, the impression was that he had zero plans to leave Ahch-To, which they deemed uncharacteristic for the Luke they remember in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.

Although a Luke and Rey team-up was never going to happen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, that scene would have let fans know the Jedi master at least made such realization and that at some point he actually thought of getting out off the island to physically reunite with his loved ones.

Some, however, are even more upset that Luke stayed and did not end up rejoining the Resistance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi despite the possibility already laid out.

It calls back to how the folks over at How It Should Have Ended envisioned the ending of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the video of which is embedded below. There, Luke and Rey take on the First Order on Crait together, with the former showing off his full range of abilities such as using the Force to stop the blasts from the walkers mid-air and directing the shots back to them.

Star Wars watcher and YouTuber Bastion of Kuul speculates the part about Luke’s change of mind might just be damage control and that it was just added as a last-minute attempt to appease the fans who are not happy with how Luke was portrayed in the movie.

If it happened in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, so much would have to be changed to accommodate it. In fact, it would have been a totally different film, and some fans are fine with that.