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Credit: LucasfilmStar Wars is rewriting its Jedi Order history–and it starts with the sequel trilogy era.
Nearly seven years after release, Star Wars: Episode IX–The Rise of Skywalker (2019) remains divisive, especially its ending: after defeating Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) on Exegol, Rey (Daisy Ridley) buries the Luke Skywalker and Leia lightsabers on Tatooine and tells a passerby her name is “Rey Skywalker.” Critics saw it as walking back 2018’s Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi‘s theme that heroism doesn’t require a famous surname, reading it instead as a title Rey conferred on herself.
Supplemental media has since tried to shore up that ending. An updated edition of “The Secrets of the Jedi: The Chronicles of Luke Skywalker: added a first-person passage from Rey explaining she took the name to honor Luke’s sacrifice and continue his fight, not to claim a bloodline — framing “Skywalker” as an inherited set of values rather than an inheritance. A 2025 Marvel comic adaptation by Jody Houser and Will Sliney also visualized the previously audio-only “All the Jedi” sequence, giving faces to Force ghosts like Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Luke.
This reassessment comes amid real uncertainty about the franchise’s future: after a seven-year film gap, The Mandalorian and Grogu released in May 2026, with Shawn Levy’s Starfighter set for 2027. Three previously announced films (from James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy) have stalled, and producer Simon Kinberg is separately attached to a new trilogy — leaving Rey’s future role unclear.
The most significant new reframing comes from Madeleine Roux’s novel “Star Wars: Legacy,” set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. According to reports, the book’s final chapter shows Rey and Leia Organa repairing the shattered Skywalker lightsaber together on the planet Tython. Afterward, Rey tells Leia the weapon “belonged to your family,” adding, “I don’t know if I could have done this without you. And this isn’t just mine; it belonged to your family.” Leia responds, “Rey, I think you know that it still does.” The novel’s final word is simply: “Belonging.”
This exchange retroactively changes the meaning of Rey’s Tatooine declaration in the film. Rather than a spontaneous, self-authored claim to a name and legacy — the reading many fans and critics pushed back on — it becomes the fulfillment of an invitation Leia had already extended before the events of Episode IX. In other words, when Rey says her name is Skywalker, she isn’t inventing a connection to the family or crowning herself; she’s accepting a place Leia had already told her she belonged to.
This matters because it directly answers one of the ending’s biggest criticisms: not just why Rey chose the Skywalker name, but who authorized her to. Combined with the earlier Luke-focused passage from “The Secrets of the Jedi,” the ending now has two distinct threads of justification pulling from both surviving mentor figures — Luke providing the “why” through values and sacrifice, and Leia (via “Legacy”) providing the “says who” through explicit familial welcome.
Together, these two pieces of supplemental canon transform a moment once seen as abrupt into the culmination of two relationships the films gestured at but never fully closed. The films themselves remain unchanged, but as “Legacy” circulates more widely, it’s reshaping how the ending is understood — turning Rey’s declaration from a name she claimed into one she was effectively given twice.
That novel is also changing how George Lucas’s Jedi Order was set up to function.
Daisy Ridley’s Rey is breaking with one of the Jedi Order’s most fundamental teachings as she moves toward building her own New Jedi Order.
Since the prequel trilogy, the Jedi have operated under a strict doctrine: attachment is dangerous. Possessive bonds — romantic love, family ties, even personal loyalty — were treated as a path toward fear and, eventually, the Dark Side. Anakin Skywalker’s (Hayden Christensen) secret marriage to Padmé (Natalie Portman) and his refusal to let her go stand as the clearest example of that rule in action. Luke Skywalker’s own struggles decades later echoed the same warning.
Roux’s “Star Wars: Legacy” challenges that foundation directly. The book follows Rey and General Leia Organa as they study Jedi history and texts while repairing Luke’s broken lightsaber, a journey that pushes Rey to question the Order’s past failures — including isolated temples built around trials and riddles, the destruction of Luke’s school, and the practice of taking Force-sensitive children from their families.
That questioning leads to a direct rejection of the anti-attachment doctrine. Rey tells Leia: “Jedi were taught to let go of all attachments, but everyone needs something to fight for, and more than just ideas, people.”
The line reframes attachment not as a weakness to be trained out of Jedi, but as a source of strength worth protecting. It signals that whatever Order Rey eventually builds will look nothing like the isolated, emotionally restrictive institution seen in the prequels.
This shift lines up with themes the sequel trilogy has already raised. Luke himself criticized the Jedi’s failures in The Last Jedi, and Rey’s arc has consistently centered on found family and belonging rather than doctrine. “Legacy” gives that instinct textual weight, positioning Rey’s future teachings as an evolution of the Jedi rather than a return to the old ways.
This break from the original Jedi tenet is likely to be explored in the upcoming movie from Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy that was announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London, United Kingdom. While the so-called “New Jedi Order” project has seemingly stalled, it has not been canceled altogether. However, there is a likelihood that the movie could be folded into Simon Kinberg’s trilogy plans.
Lucas’s Jedi teachings can be traced back to the original 1977 movie, when Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) set Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on his journey with the Force. As the 50th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode IV–A New Hope nears, Disney and Lucasfilm have confirmed a new version of the movie, complete with a whole new cast.
Announced at the National Eisteddfod, Star Wars: A New Hope has been fully dubbed into Welsh in a partnership between Lucasfilm, Disney, S4C, and the Welsh Government via Creative Wales. Titled Star Wars: Gobaith Newydd, the dub will broadcast on S4C and its platforms starting Christmas Day, arriving ahead of the film’s 50th anniversary in 2027.
The project leans heavily on Welsh acting talent: Matthew Rhys voices Han Solo, Rhys Ifans takes on Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Aimee-Ffion Edwards plays Princess Leia. Mark Lewis Jones voices Darth Vader, while newcomer Osian Morgan steps into Luke Skywalker. The supporting cast includes Llyr Ifans (C-3PO), Nia Roberts (Aunt Beru), Richard Harrington (Grand Moff Tarkin), Owain Arthur (Red Leader), and Rhodri Meilir (Gold Leader). Ellyn Stern directs, with Michael Kohn, Lucasfilm’s Director of Distribution Operations, producing.
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