In a talk with IGN, Mark Hammill has revealed what George Lucas’ ending to Star Wars: Episode IX was. It was previously revealed that Kathleen Kennedy, the new Darth Vader of Star Wars, scrapped all of Lucas’ ideas, as he had an entire outline/treatment for the sequel trilogy. In fact, in 2012 Disney acknowledged that they were not only purchasing Lucasfilm and Star Wars, but the extensive treatment that Lucas had for the trilogy. This is from Jay Rasulo, the CFO of Disney in 2012.
“What we’re buying, along with the overall company, is a pretty extensive and detailed treatment for what would be the next three movies. The [new] trilogy.“
Mark Hamill has shone some light as to what was in store for Luke in the original version of the Sequel Trilogy.
“I happen to know that George didn’t kill Luke until the end of [Episode] 9, after he trained Leia. Which is another thread that was never played upon.“
The tragic loss of Carrie Fisher makes this all the more powerful and would have been a perfect plotline for the trilogy. Star Wars has always been about family, and Luke training Leia would truly connect the Sequel Trilogy to the Original Trilogy. Luke would pass on the torch to his sister, who probably had children of her own in Lucas’ drafts, and the legacy of the Jedi would be intact.
In The Last Jedi Luke doesn’t really train Rey at all. She steals some books and gets a few lessons on why the Jedi were failures but didn’t learn how to use the force. She simply “knew”, and this is a huge plot hole. Luke and Anakin had innate abilities, but still needed training. Rey beat Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, who was trained by both Luke and Snoke, when she had never even wielded a lightsaber before.
.While The Last Jedi was a bit of a mess, it’s now up to JJ Abrams to pick up the pieces and hopefully end the trilogy in a cohesive and emotionally riveting manner. It’s a shame we will never see Lucas’ version though because even though some were a bit disappointed with the prequels, the man is a master storyteller and has created the greatest saga of all time.