It’s the question that’s been asked ever since the arrival of the theatrical poster and trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens: where is Luke Skywalker? And why is he absent from the marketing campaign? Well, Entertainment Weekly put the question to J.J. Abrams as part of their coverage of the hotly-anticipated blockbuster.
SEE ALSO: Star Wars: The Force Awakens ‘On the Set’ featurette offers more new footage
“No one forgot about him!” states the director. “We were hoping people would care, but there are a lot of things that are not on the poster, as busy as the poster is. Certainly Luke is a very important aspect of the story.”
“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,” he continues. “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.”
We’ve posted a couple of op-eds on Flickering Myth, speculating about Luke Skywalker and whether he’s actually Kylo Ren or a Sith Lord. Of course, he could just be a crazy old hermit, too…
SEE ALSO: Follow all of our Star Wars coverage here
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set for release on December 17th in the UK and December 18th in the States and sees J.J. Abrams directing returning stars Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), in addition to Adam Driver (Girls), Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year), Andy Serkis (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Silent Witness), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Ken Leung (Lost), Miltos Yerolemou (Game of Thrones), Max von Sydow (The Exorcist), Jessica Henwick (Spirit Warriors), Christina Chong (24: Live Another Day), Simon Pegg (Star Trek) and newcomers Crystal Clarke and Pip Andersen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=lJSdv333_EI
Originally published November 14, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
