'The Last Jedi' Deleted Scenes Reveal a New Breaking Point for Rey
We’ve known for awhile that Star Wars: The Last Jedi has more deleted scenes than any other Star Wars film ever, coming in at a whopping 14, but newly revealed details about one scene in particular shows a new Rey’s breaking point for Rey when it comes to her relationship with Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To.
On Friday, Entertainment Weekly revealed details about five Last Jedi deleted scenes. “I love each one of the scenes individually,” Director Rian Johnson admitted, noting that most cuts were made for pacing or clarity, not the quality of the scenes themselves.
These five scenes include Luke’s dramatic reaction to the news of Han’s death, Rey’s goodbye to the comatose Finn, a different final showdown with Phasma, and even a funny joke about how Finn isn’t quite the “big deal” Rose thought he was. But perhaps the most interesting and much-talked-about deleted scene is when Rey rushes down a beach to save a group of Caretakers with a lit lightsaber in hand:
Titled “Rey and the Raiders of the Caretaker Village,” the scene shows lights burning in the distance at a village full of Caretakers. Luke, ever the elderly troll, straight-up lies to Rey and tells her the lights are from an invading enemy tribe.
Luke uses this as a training opportunity. For millennia, the Jedi had a strict non-interference policy when it came to most conflicts galactic, local, or otherwise. Here, a Jedi would let nature run its course, but that’s not Rey’s way. So despite Luke’s advice that she not interfere, she rushes to help, only to find out that Luke lied and she’s literally just crashed a huge party.
“This is the point where she finally says, ‘Okay, if you’re not gonna help, then I’ve wasted too much time here,” Rian Johnson explained.
The scene complicates Rey’s relationship with Luke Skywalker and dramatizes exactly how and why she’s totally different than the Jedi that came before her. It also kind of proves Luke’s point about why the Jedi Order needs to end.
Rey has a complicated relationship with the Caretakers on Ahch-To.
Perhaps the tone of the scene is too similar to the “Force feather tickle” joke that Luke plays on her, putting a strain on their relationship while making Luke much more unlikable.
But another perfect explanation for why this scene was ultimately cut comes from looking at what happens before and after. Right after this is when Rey has her next-to-last instance of Force connection with Kylo Ren when Luke walks in on them. Instead of having this sore spot between Rey and Luke after the Caretake village fiasco, this scene happens in The Last Jedi while Rey and Luke are in an upswing in their relationship.
“When we take that segment out,” Johnson explained, “suddenly she’s coming into that Force connection after leaving things in a hopeful place with Luke, at the end of the temple lesson.” So rather than have Rey connect with Kylo Ren to spite Luke — who’s would’ve just mistreated her — we instead see Luke stung with surprise to see Kylo Ren.
The Last Jedi is out on digital release March 13 with the physical Blu-ray coming March 27.
Check out the special trailer just for The Last Jedi home release:
