The story of Luke Skywalker’s doomed Jedi school will find its way onto our screens very soon, and it’s going to be super bleak.
Rumors are circulating that Star Wars: Episode VIII will feature huge chunks of flashback scenes about the good old days with Ben Solo training with Luke before everything went to hell. Meanwhile, a third animated Star Wars TV show is also potentially poised to focus on the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
Writing for The Nerdist, Eric Diaz makes a convincing argument for the feasibility of Lucasfilm’s next animated Star Wars show actually focusing on Luke’s Jedi Academy. Not only did Rebels and Clone Wars producer Dave Filoni just get promoted to supervise “other projects”, he’s also visited the set of Episode VIII. While we’re almost certain we’ll see some kind of flashback to Luke’s Academy in the next film, any rendering of these events — in the movie or a new show — will be undoubtedly depressing.
In the old “Legends” continuity, the early days of Skywalker’s Jedi school — then called a “Jedi Praxeum” — were riddled with conflict and death. In Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy Luke loses at least one apprentice to the Dark Side: an angry young Jedi named Kyp Durron. Kyp betrays Luke, murders people, and steals a doomsday weapon called “The Sun Crusher” which doesn’t at all sound like “Starkiller Base.” As much as Kylo Ren seems inspired by Han and Leia’s non-canonical son evil son “Jacen Solo,” Kylo also has shades of Kyp Durron.
And yet, Kyo Ren/Ben Solo is way more evil than Jacen Solo and Kyp Durron put together: He’s killed tons of young Jedi, murdered innocents as a First Order bad guy, plus, um … killed his father!
If the contemporary version of Luke’s Jedi Academy finds it’s way into both Episode VIII or a new animated show, it’s going to be a bloodbath. But, for the sake of fan service and a nod to old continuity, we can still hold out hope that Luke’s base of operations could — once again — be at the old and beautiful Rebel Base amid the Massassi Temples on the planet Yavin IV.
