According to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Luke Skywalker still has a role to play in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's 2025 Star Wars movie.
The upcoming film was officially announced at Star Wars Celebration in April and is set to focus on an older Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
Plot details from the film are scarce, but it has been reported Ridley's Jedi Master is set to fall into a role as "the Luke or the Obi-Wan of the situation" as she "rebuilds the new Jedi Order."
And while it remains unknown if any more familiar faces besides Rey will pop up in the latest Star Wars epic, it seems at least one classic Jedi will be key to the proceedings.
Luke's Role in the Next Star Wars Movie
Despite his death in Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker will have a key part in 2025's Star Wars film from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
Speaking in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy remarked that the upcoming blockbuster will see Daisy Ridley's Rey "building the New Jedi Order, based on the text that she was given and that Luke imparted on her:"
“We’re going very far back, we’re looking at the present, and now we’re moving 15 years after 'The Rise Of Skywalker.' The First Order has fallen, the Jedi are in chaos – there’s even a question of how many exist anymore – and Rey’s building the New Jedi Order, based on the text that she was given and that Luke imparted on her.”
While not a direct confirmation of Mark Hamill's iconic Jedi making an appearance, it does confirm that even in death, Luke Skywalker will still have his presence felt throughout the Star Wars universe.
The texts mentioned were taken by Rey during the events of Episode VIII and include key teaches of the Jedi way, including the mythical origins of the Force, early discoveries related to wielding it, and how one would repair a Kyber Crystal.
This last technique was likely employed by Rey to fix/repair Anakin/Luke’s lightsaber in The Rise of Skywalker.
How Luke’s Sacred Text Will Play Into the Rey Movie?
It remains unknown exactly how the sacred Jedi texts will play into the happenings of the Rey movie, but seeing as the film focuses on Daisy Ridley's Jedi trying to rebuild the order, the texts surely would be important.
The recently released Star Wars #31 comic from writer Charles Soule revealed that not only do these texts feature some of the most important teachings for the Jedi way, but also (as transcribed by Comicbook Resources) "history, sites of great power across the galaxy, [and] hints at places where [one] can learn even more."
Perhaps instead of seeing Rey ready to train the next generation of Jedi at the beginning of Obaid-Chinoy's 2025 film, it follows the master - along with some students - on a journey to discover one of these "sites of great power" to establish the next Jedi Temple.
This would provide great synergy with one of Lucasfilm's other recently announced Star Wars movies - that being James Mangold's take on the origins of the Jedi.
What if one of these Jedi sites ends up being where Mangold's film will resolve? Maybe audiences will even see these texts of Luke's getting written in that first Jedi film, forming a nice narrative bridge from Mangold's movie to Mark Hamil's Luke Skywalker, all the way through to Rey and the New Jedi Order.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Star Wars film is supposedly set to release on December 19, 2025.
